When the discussion of greatest stage shows in Reggae music comes up, you’re likely to hear the same group names. The first, almost always, is of course Elephant Man. I can’t find an argument against that as, at his best, Ele tends to show no regard at all (and even a bit of disregard at times) for his own physical well being, climbing stage supports and leaping from really large speakers as if it were completely normal. Then you’re likely to hear the name Capleton. Outside of the physical antics of Elephant Man (although, if I do believe correctly, a few years back the Fireman did break a bone in his foot while attempting such a maneuver), Capleton exhibits more palpable ENERGY than probably anyone I know of performing these days (and he’s really to the point where I could literally see him doing what he does on a Soca Monarch stage) and combine that with the several really unique things Capleton does as well, such as the long lyrics and the full on free-styling as well, and his name has to be one in such a discourse. You’ll also hear of others like Beenie Man with his incredible stage COMMAND and even Morgan Heritage who, despite the fact that until very recently (apparently) I maintained a healthy apathetic view of, I (like anyone with semi-functioning eyes and ears) have to give them respect for their wonderful performance also. BUT! That being said, you don’t need to jump up and down and scream your audiences into oblivion like Capleton or Elephant Man; you don’t need to come armed with the lyrics of seemingly the command of EVERY tune you’ve ever done since you were a small child like Beenie; and you also don’t need to this large, encompassing and well-oiled-machine of a unit, like Morgan Heritage to impress on stage. You can just be ON POINT like Assassin or Vaughn Benjamin. You can be very close to being on point and just be pretty as hell like Alaine or, you can be totally and wonderfully ridiculous like Denise Belfon (I digress) or you can even just be pretty amazing and respected as such, like King Yellowman. OR, such as the case with the artist in question here, YOU CAN JUST SOUND SPECTACULAR. Everybody has been in the situation of having one of your favourite artists perform one of your favourite tunes and perform it in a way, seemingly oblivious to the version that you know and love. In Reggae, that occurs generally with the usages of ‘medley’s’ where an artist will go with bits and pieces of various tunes on a single riddim and, while that, in and of itself, doesn’t necessarily bother me, someone just kind of acting LAME and not quite pushing it to levels you’re familiar with and (more importantly) NOT EVEN TRYING TO, is pretty fucked up in my opinion. However, thankfully they’re people like Everton Blender who rather easily has to be one of the best SOUNDING performers I have ever heard in my entire life.
If my memory is accurate, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the Blender perform twice in my life and even if it isn’t accurate the number itself isn’t as important (although I’m pretty sure it was twice) as the distinct sound is implanted in my memory. You can hear it on form also, pick up an Everton Blender album (like the one I’m about to discuss) and you can definitely hear the attribute which has made itself probably the most reputed addition to his arsenal, THAT VOICE! Somewhere between that wailing type of singing that you hear from the likes of Junior Reid and Mykal Rose (biggup Yami Bolo sameway) and the far more straight forward tones of people like Luciano and even Sanchez), exists the wonder which is the voice of Everton Blender. The man is truly one of a kind and seeing him perform, if you REALLY love the music, it definitely well comes through. Apparently it comes through on an industry level as well as, despite being in this day and age where having a live performance album isn’t necessarily a very popular thing, the Blender (who, in terms of POPULARITY (certainly not in terms of abilities and skill) isn’t amongst the worldwide most well known Roots Reggae artists today) has quietly had two. The most recent of which, Everton Blender: Live In Berkley from a couple of years back, came was very well received and came via the always welcomed 2B1 Multimedia. But the first of which was the better of the two (in my opinion) and a little bit lesser known and came way back in 2000 from the once mighty Heartbeat Records (who did quite a bit of work with Everton Blender, releasing upwards of five or six albums from the Clarendon native), Everton Blender: Live At The White River Reggae Bash. The title is a bit ’deceiving’ as it’s more than just “live at the White River Reggae Bash”. The album actually takes place across (at least) two shows, one being at the WRRB, while the other(s) occurring on the Blender’s 1999 tour in support of his Rootsman Credential album from that year (also from Heartbeat). The listener can assume that the material appearing on the album was from one show, however, the album itself credits these tunes as being recorded “live during the Rootsman Credential Tour, North America, October 1999”, but it ultimately doesn’t matter as the real star of this show, Everton Blender, is in OUTSTANDING form wherever his tour bus stops. Live At The White River Reggae Bash sublimely features some of the biggest hits of the Blender’s entire career up to that point (which would have arguably been his prime years) and in lieu of the fact that Everton Blender DISGUSTINGLY doesn’t that one elevating type of FINAL greatest hits compilation (which is really a damn shame) to his credit at this point, the album is pretty solid (along with Live In Berkeley) as the greatest compilation of his very best material in a single place. Therefore, with its situation of being a live album and with its very nice complete package, Everton Blender: Live At The White River Reggae Bash proves to be a release worthy of both newer and more established fans alike.
So what do you get in an Everton Blender show? Well, besides the aforementioned and well documented spectacular vocals, you’re also going to get quite a bit of CLASS and classy performance and I don’t know who exactly constitutes the ‘Blend Dem Band’, but they’re on point as well and all of that comes through excellently on Everton Blender: Live At The White River Reggae Bash. The way the album is situated is that the first eleven tracks come from said White River Bash and the final six are taken from the Rootsman Credential Tour. After a brief, yet dazzling, ‘Overture’ to get things started (where the riddims from some of the Blender’s biggest tunes are displayed by the band), the first time we actually hear our star of the evening is on the performance of one of the biggest hits of his career. ‘Create A Sound’. Although the vocals (in terms of the volume) may have had problems here (and they may throughout also, but not to a frustrating degree at all, and at times, not at all), the message of just living up fully and truly CRAFTING a joyful noise is full on display and apparently the crowd, energetic throughout the set, were well in tuned to that message. Good for them! Speaking of popular tunes, another of Blender’s two most popular ring through in succession and on the same track (on the CD at least) in ‘Bob Marley’ and the MASSIVE ‘World Corruption’. This is about the time when levels kick in and the MOOD really starts to transfer of the show to the listener at home (or wherever the hell you may be) and you just get downright JEALOUS that you weren’t here and World Corruption, in all of its beauty probably is my favourite performance of either show on the disc. The start of the next tune, ‘Where Do The Children Play’ (a cappella style) is just so nice. This one has never been one of my favourites from the Blender (and I’m probably well in the minority on that sentiment), but the crowd reacts IMMEDIATELY when he and his backing singers jump in on the tune and their energy stays high throughout. I just always LOVE to see and appreciate the INFORMED and EDUCATED audience, apparently even more so than me in this case. The next three tunes ‘False Words’ , ‘Live Up’ and ‘The Man’, three of Blender’s lesser known gems (especially The Man on which he specifically calls for the Baltimore riddim which backs it) all comes in nicely and I’d definitely recommend a fan to check out them all in their original forms as well to become more acquainted. And as the set at the WRRB, Blender draws for some of his more well known material such as ’BLEND DEM’, ’Piece of the Blender’ and ’Family Man’, all of which sound so nice and receive good (if not great) crowd response, before he drops the BOOM and has them in the palm of his hand to end things with the always EPIC ’Lift Up Your Head’. TEARS! I love that song and it’s every bit as strong of a performance as ’World Corruption’ (call them ’1a’ and ’1b’).
As for the second stage of the album from the Rootsman Credential Tour, two (actually three) things stand out in my opinion. The first is quite clear: As is indicated by the tour’s title, you may not be familiar with these five tunes but they’re all from the Rootsman Credential album. Secondly, the band isn’t as strong as it is during the WRRB (but the volume levels are all around better throughout and it literally sounds like they have a different setup instrumentally speaking). After another Overture (this one not as strong as the first), Everton Blender and company dive in on the first selection of the set (and now listening to it even better, I’m all but sure there’re no tricks going on and the music is actually from the same show), ‘I Love Jah Jah’. This tune has never been a favourite of mine necessarily (it doesn’t do much and is VERY elementary), but perhaps I should go back and give it a next listen (I doubt it), because it sounds FINE here and is definitely one of the best of the five tune performances. It is, however, quickly outdone by the SUBLIME ‘Higher High’. This tune (as if you can’t tell already) definitely has been one of my favourite lasting pieces from the Rootsman Credential album/era and I was so happy to hear how the crowd seemed to almost overwhelm the tune to a degree even then. You have to think it would have been almost completely new to them at the time, therefore they would have almost exclusively been responding to the absolute STRENGTH of this MIGHTY praising tune for His Majesty. The very nice ‘We No Fear’ is in next and I also find myself responding to it even more so than I would and have to the studio version of the tune. I always thought this tune could have been HUGE if it had just a bit more in the way of urgency in its vibes and while that doesn’t come to fruition here (at least to what I feel might be the PERFECT degree), it’s a bit more than on the studio version of the tune and to my ears, obviously, that’s a very nice touch (and on the studio version, while definitely nice, it isn’t engineered well, it sounds SO much so like Everton Blender is in the studio and FAR away from actual instrumentation and while that is normally the case, it shouldn’t sound like that). ‘Danger In Your Eyes’ is the penultimate tune of the set and the entire album altogether and I should be completely honest and say that is my least favourite performance on the entire set and the reason is largely fault of the Blender himself. His vocals are just not as sharp as they usually are - as they are on the tune preceding it and as they are on the tune following it - so call it a fluke or whatever you like, but here you can’t call it ‘good’ by any means. And lastly, as I said, he quickly gets things back in order with the closer ‘Why Do We Have To War’, a BIG social commentary. While certainly a rather curious choice on which to finish a set (and with the way things go out, I’d be tempted to say that it wasn’t actually the final tune performed that night) the tune, in any form that I’ve heard, is a big one and its presence here is a plus to an album which definitely sets the table for it in fine style as only Everton Blender can.
Overall, I’ll reiterate the fact that pretty much regardless of what level of fan you may or may not be of Everton Blender’s, this one is well recommended to you. For the newer fan it’s kind of a greatest hits and thus, a wonderful introduction to the Blender and his vibes and you definitely get to see a more colourful side of the artist with him just talking several times and the vibes coming through how much he just generally enjoys singing hi songs. And for the older fans, I’ll use myself as the example: While I’m definitely not the biggest of Everton Blender fans you’ll find in the world, listening to some of the music here and writing this review, I cannot tell you how many times I stopped listening to the music on Live At The White River Reggae Bash and went back to the actual studio CD on which the particular tune appears just to see how the comparison was, or simply because I got caught up in the moment and NEEDED to hear the original and you too (even more so) will definitely enjoy the more colourful side of the Blender. All in all, while not the BEST live album I’ve ever heard, Everton Blender: Live At The White River Reggae Bash is just so enjoyable to listen to as the Blender proves it definitely is possible to entertain and do it greatly, sans the jumping, speaker climbing, million words per minute chatting, fire starting. . .
Rated 4/5
Heartbeat Records
2000
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