Do you remember way back in the day (a few years ago) when it seemed like Greensleeves Records was determined to release each and every halfway decent riddim which came out of Jamaica on album which then rival VP Records didn’t get a hold of? Greensleeves would release such albums on a yearly basis at what must’ve been a ratio of at least 4:1 to actual artist albums and this was despite the fact that they actually had artists under contract the entire time and ALL of the riddims they released were from contracted/linked producers. They made none of their own. If this does sound relatively familiar to you, then you may also remember the fact that a large deal of those albums would literally come STUFFED with twenty tracks, at least. So much so was this the fact that it almost seemed like GS would ignore riddims which they would have seemingly been interested in were it not for the fact that they didn’t have TWENTY different cuts available (slacking ass producers). Well, now a few years on and yes, I do have to admit that I am missing the good ole days just a bit, but my longing for the overindulging past of Greensleeves has quietly been satiated to some degree by their far more terrestrially active European native, the outstandingly consistent Pow Pow Movement from out of Germany. In terms of big labels with big names one could rather easily make the case (and I think I’m going to) that Pow Pow is the entire continent’s most popular and ‘successful’ singular label. Over the years Pow Pow has scored bonafide hits which have transcended Germany, Europe and subsequently the entire non-Caribbean Reggae listening world and have managed to do more than a little damage in the Caribbean and in Jamaica, which is definitely a BIG trick to pull off. The label, who unlike Greensleeves does produce their own material, has also quietly released a very nice stream of riddim albums across the years and as I started to do the research for this review, I noticed something which was quite unusual, but something which didn’t necessarily shock me to any degree: Pow Pow tends to voice about a billion artists on each and every single riddim they do. They’ve seemingly been inspired (not likely) by those producers who filled Greensleeves’ release schedules (most of whom are still producing and generally don’t do that anymore these days, for obvious reasons) because save for a few earlier pieces here and there, the majority of Pow Pow’s catalogue in terms of riddim album releases are literally OBESE with tons of different artists. But they’ve even outdone themselves this time.
As I said, if you go back and look at some of the label’s earlier work like the ‘Blaze’ and their remake of the ‘Shanty Town’ , Pow Pow’s riddim albums were fairly pedestrian in terms of their size, but things have definitely changed. By my examination, their ‘smallest’ release would have been their STACKED ‘Respond’ riddim which had eighteen tracks in full as between other pieces like the ‘First Sight’ and the ‘Gladiator’ (both of which came through with nineteen tracks) and the ‘Overstand’ and might ‘Superior’ (twenty), Pow Pow hasn’t been too discriminating in terms of who they’ve voiced. Thankfully, however, their work is generally top notch and CONSISTENT as they do choose artists, big and up and coming who mesh well with their compositions for the most part. Consistency is definitely something which will come in handy on their latest release, the ‘Surfer’, because, topping in at a fairly ridiculous TWENTY-SIX tracks (ALL of which will be mentioned in this review) (which is also ridiculous) it is definitely Pow Pow’s most ambitious release to date and at least seemingly SHOULD remain so for quite awhile. Another surprising aspect of the riddim is that despite the fact that they do have a history recording some of the biggest names in the business, both in Europe and Jamaica, the names which largely comprise the vocal tracks of the Surfer riddim are pretty new and unknown artists and I definitely feel that was by design as well (although I wouldn’t have done it myself). The Surfer itself is pretty good and sparkling although I’m not necessarily blown away by it. To my ears it actually sounds a bit like the ‘Istanbul’ riddim from a few years back, with a similar Spanish guitar sound highlighting the melody, so I kind of put it in those familiar terms (and I wasn’t exactly blown away by the Istanbul in retrospect either) and you might also. Still, despite the fact that it certainly won’t be amongst my favourite riddims of 2009, as it reaches album it definitely pops up on my radars and in a BIG way with that tracklist as, despite the fact that you won’t exactly find the Sizzla’s, Capleton’s and Richie Spice’s of the world voicing it, the Surfer does have quite a few potentially big guns and by its end definitely proves to be one of the (if not THE) most interesting riddim projects of the year.
Although the second half of the album definitely does contain more than its fair share of surprises and just good vibes, it is the first here which is the real high point of it for me personally. The fun on this MASSIVE set, the Surfer Riddim album begins with what is probably its single biggest name, Gentleman, appearing alongside the always welcomed Million Stylez on what is arguably (not to me), it’s finest tune, ‘Help Is On The Way’. It’s getting just about time that Gentleman brings forth a new album (Million also I believe) and I’m WELL looking forward to that because the man has been BLAZING on singles as of late and here both he and his European neighbour sound EXCELLENT on one of the biggest tunes on the riddim altogether. Up next is an even stronger tune for me as the even more welcomed Natural Black chimes in with ‘Gwaan Now’ which as IMPRESSIVE plea from the chanter to essentially be left the hell alone. The tune has one of the coolest choruses on the entire album and you, like me, will be left singing it several times over, but the tune itself also comes with the characteristic ‘hitch’ Black usually has in his vibes which is his and his alone and it helps make Gwaan Now a near master class. Then what is in my opinion one of the two biggest tunes on the album comes in (these two are so close, just call them 1a and 1b, I don’t even have a favourite for the first time in two billion reviews) as Junior X tips in the riddim’s title track. This tune kind of posited a very interesting question of exactly what was meant by the ‘surfer’ concept and X explains it as being someone “surfing the waves of life” and lyrically he goes on to stay on the entire water theme (“Jah keep my head above water”) and is definitely one of the best written tunes on the album and like I said the riddim doesn’t blow me away, but its namesake most certainly does. HUGE track. Following Junior X is the kind of out of place Lukie D who brings a pretty nice lovers tune, ‘Be There For You’ which is fairly typical for Lukie D (who sounds VERY GOOD). Also later popping up is one of my least favourite artists, Richie Stephens, with the decent ’Heaven’ (I liked it for all of a day or two) (again, I am kind of partial on that case, admittedly). Between the two accomplished vocalists runs two of the riddim’s biggest offerings, ’Trickster’ from Ginjah and ’Equal Rights’ from Natty King. I was just so happy to see both of them here and although in my opinion Equal Rights is the stronger of the two (and it actually features a very Leonard Bartley sounding Wild Life as well) Ginjah is slowly getting to the point where you just can’t ignore him anymore and hopefully 2010 brings us his official debut as well. Both tunes are big definitely. Another of the biggest names on the Surfer, Turbulence, continues a very small stretch of impressing, with his effort ‘Time To Rise’. I think it’s a damn shame that so much of his career has been WASTED on singing mediocre love songs. As evident by this tune, Turbulence is able to make WICKED Roots tunes despite not even being in his best form. When at his best, in my opinion he still has the ability to become a legend someday. Pow Pow also taps two up and coming females (actually more than two, just two on the first half, however) in the form of cutie Tina Nunezz and ULTRA-CUTIE (coming soon to a list near you) the eternally easy on the eyes Tifa. Nunezz’ damn near angelically romantic ‘Show Me’ is the better of the two, although Tifa’s dismissive ‘Go Away’ isn’t exactly off target, to say the least, keep an eye on both of them (and LITERALLY in Tifa’s case). You may just kind of blankly pass over the name ‘Rebellion’ here as unknown artist, but I’m 99% sure that it’s of ‘The Recaller’ variety which certainly makes a difference and makes his tune (whoever he is) ‘Amagideon’ less surprising, as it is one of the best on the album and ‘The Recaller’ definitely has such abilities. The same goes (potentially) for sweet voiced newcomer Nature whose anti-slanderous ‘Nasty Lies’ is another of the Surfer’s highlights and it ends the first half of the album on a high note. That, of course, is not to overlook the HUGE effort from veteran Raymond Wright ‘Wire Fence’ (1b from the previously mentioned situation). The big voiced veteran made his debut album Many As One (also for Pow Pow) earlier in the year and I’m now very tempted to go and have a bigger listen as Wire Fence is a pretty special tune and Wright’s rich and church-ish vocals are very nice!
The second half of the Surfer Riddim album is largely devoid of big names, but arguably the biggest of them gets it going as Gwada native Cali P returns to Pow Pow (following his big debut album, Lyrical Faya which was also released on the label), to drop a piece for the Surfer, ‘Nothing Is Impossible’. The tune sets forth a nice inspirational vibes which goes a few songs deep into a few tracks and does so in a nice way, although I’ve definitely heard better from Cali P and so have you. Next in is (ST. ANN’Z NATIVE!) Germany based singer Denham who continues the vibes with ‘Shine On Lady’. Denham has a very interesting and modern style (he sounds a bit younger than it turns out he actually is. He sounds like he could maybe be a teenager, but he’s apparently into his mid 30’s at this point) and I think it may be ‘his time’ coming up in 2010 and maybe even for Pow Pow and definitely check the lyrics on Shine On Lady, they are the real attraction there even in the face of an interesting style. You’re all but certain to hear quite a bit more from Danglin in the new year and his tune here, the VERY inspiring ’Heavenly Father’ may just be the very first listen for quite a few fans and although I’m not incredibly high on the singer, I will tell you that despite the fact that Heavenly Father is very well done, I’ve heard him do a little better, so well stay tuned. Jamaican R&B singer Kimberly Nain checks in on the Surfer and blesses it with one of its biggest impacts, the SWEETLY sang ‘Angel’. You may very well be looking more at Tifa (well definitely her) and Tina Nunezz, but Nain sneaks in and outdoes them both in my opinion. She has a very nice voice and one which may someday bring her international successes (she literally sounds like a member of R&B group En Vogue), being so young, but so interestingly talented. And wonderfully Nain’s isn’t the only feminine voice you’ll find on the second half of the Surfer Riddim album. She’s joined by veteran Crystal Axe and someone I don’t believe I’ve EVER heard of, Iyana. They both do quite well on their tunes, ‘Giving You The Best’ and ‘Wild World’, respectively and it’s always so nice to hear from the downright nomadic Crystal Axe, isn’t it? I think I’ve been seeing pieces from ‘MXT’ dating back nearly a decade or so now (it’s probably a lot shorter than that), but I have no idea who he is and his tune here is . . . Okay (I GUESS), ‘Too Big To Cry’. But it is topped by the two tunes which follow it. Canadian based singer Tony Anthony continues to impress on his very poignant ‘This Should Be Paradise’ and I suppose on a SOMEWHAT similar vibes, the eclectic Mitch also impresses with ‘Too Much Sad Songs’. You pretty much know at this point what you’re dealing with when it comes to Mitch, but if you don’t know about Tony Anthony then perhaps it’s time you became acquainted. You should already be on ‘speaking terms’ with the always impressive Zareb who (I STILL think has star potential) brings the single most impressive tune on the second half of the album in my opinion with ‘Reggae Music’. The tune speaks of the downright medicinal properties of the vibes and certainly this man, himself, has done quite a bit of healing on his own and with this tune, to my ears, he’s just done some more! Big tune there. The angriest man in the world, Fitta Warri, comes through with ‘Virtuous Woman’, sounding A LOT like Anthony B. The tune itself is very good, but I be damned if I couldn’t take my focus off the fact that I was listening to a next tune from Anthony B and not the typically fire on top of fire breathing Warri. There’s also ‘Yah Love Is Beautiful’, which is a tune you should take special note of because it comes from Shocking Murray, which is cool, but ALSO there’s Singing U. Singing U is a BIG singer and supposedly he has an album coming soon which I’m already looking for (literally, as I type here) and their combination here is . . . Well it’s beautiful and one of the best on the album, particularly on its second half. Lastly (FINALLY), there’s also a clean version of the riddim which was mandatory with so many damn tracks. I’m still not blown away by it necessarily, but you can well see its uniqueness and strength (that one-drop is NUTS! You also hear it nicely on Tifa’s tune) in the clean version.
Overall, yes I’m damn tired of the Surfer at this point and yes, in retrospect, perhaps it was a bit over ambitious to voice so many tunes because, unless you absolutely LOVE this thing (and you might), you’re almost certain to feel overwhelmed at some point. Thankfully it’s also available at etailers so you can go and pick and choose. What I take away from this one, however, is much more of a tangible thing in the form of new artists - not only in terms of WHO, but how far they’ve advanced along in regards to the opinions of Pow Pow. Voicing ANYTHING they do is an honour, particularly for a young artist, given their history, so you can very well expect to see big years from quite a few names here. In the case of the Surfer riddim particularly, it’s very well put together and although I’ve definitely heard better riddims in 2009 and quite a few actually, I KNOW that I haven’t seen anything coordinated to this degree. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect anything less from arguably the biggest name in European Reggae altogether, Pow Pow.
Rated 4/5
Pow Pow Productions
2009
{note: I shrunk the first time the word 'Greensleeves' appears in this review in order to (and only in order to) make it fit}
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