"Thank You": A Review of Caveman Culture Sound Vol. 1 by Various Artists

Someday, within the next two decades and five days when Reggae music takes over the entire world they’ll go looking for someone to write biographies and movies for some of the genre’s greatest champions and hopefully they’ll link little ole me to write for what is in my opinion the greatest of them all, Sizzla Kalonji. I can just see the film opening up now: I’d have to be precision on point with the story to introduce such a large segment of the population to this mysterious figure and despite the fact that I’d most certainly want to jump into ‘Sizzla: The Xterminator Years’, were I to do that I wouldn’t be very accurate. What I’d be ignoring is an even more mysterious past, which has kind of become clichéd over the years, but is evidently still very powerful. To all of the Sizzla fans out there, certainly these are random bits of information which you’ll definitely recognize, even if you may or may not be able to put them into proper perspective - ‘Homer Harris’, ‘Caveman’, ‘Caveman Hi-Fi Sound’. Okay, to my overstanding, Homer Harris (who is a big man, who you should know) is the absolute one who discovered and subsequently even NAMED the young Miguel Orlando Collins as ‘Sizzla’ (which is a GREAT name, you have to admit). And of course, all of this prior to the devastating reign of righteous TERROR the youth would go on to deliver to the masses during year after year of hits for the aforementioned Xterminator Records, for Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell and ultimately come into the controversial iconic status which he enjoys in the Reggae community. Even more than that, on a personal level, as I’ve said a few times, Sizzla’s’ music changed my entire life. If it weren’t for some of those timeless tunes that he’s made and continues to make, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now and in terms of the full statement, I’m sure there’re quite a few people around the world, near my age, who could probably say the same thing. So it is to that end that I do owe ‘Caveman’, whoever they may consist of, and Homer Harris a great big ‘THANK YOU’. So, all of that would make the forthcoming Crucial Times album even more of a ‘must get’ than it was already for simply carrying the name Sizzla because it is reportedly produced by Mr. Harris and Sizzla himself, but if I am able to pierce the tunnel vision I have in waiting for January 19th, perhaps I’ll be allowed to see an even more POWERFUL production.

Caveman Culture Sound Vol. 1. In doing the research for this review, I ran into so many WELCOME things which I had never heard before and I’m sure that in actually writing it, I’m going to run into a few more, which is wonderful. Lest you think that ‘Caveman’, whoever they are, had faded away into bolivion (biggup Mike Tyson), that most certainly isn’t the case. In fact, they’ve been active enough to put together this SUPERB and HUGE twenty-six track near masterpiece, haven’t they? And ‘they’ themselves become less and less mysterious because we now have faces and names to put behind the Caveman name. What I found most remarkable is the connection that the label’s originator, Stainton Moore (who I most certainly have heard of) is in fact the cousin of perhaps Reggae’s greatest genius, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Moore’s son, Everton, is actually the ‘Caveman’ himself, the inimitable ’Dr. Cave’ (who I also know of, small world) and the story becomes wonderfully clearer and clearer and I’m STILL writing that big movie script in my head, opening soon in a theatre near you! For the moment, however, I’m more than satiated with Caveman’s latest release, the sprawling CCSV1 and not only because of the Sizzla connection (thankfully because there are twenty-three tunes on the album which don’t feature him), but because this potentially landmark project which signals the international reawakening of a label I’m sure many Reggae heads didn’t even know was still in existence (and if they did, they may have only recognized it as the sound which it also still is), but has OBVIOUSLY been piling up the tunes and building artists along the way. This compilation is absolutely stacked and while you, like me, may not recognize each and every name which crosses the piece, there’re certainly more than enough household names, yes Sizzla is here and, such is the case on almost every single good compilation, amongst the new(er) and up and coming artists it does give us, several of them (and maybe even all of them) are very strong and the album gives you the impetus to learn more and more about them. Maybe ’the next big thing’ is even amongst them. All of that being said, from any possibly perceptible degree, you are not to let this thing just go flying by into the nigh, because it is absolutely EPIC and besides being a refresher’s course in Sizzla Kalonji and a precursor to Crucial Times, it’s a SIGNIFICANT piece in a major way.

On paper the list of artists to have passed through Caveman is comparatively probably just as long as the list of Sizzla’s catalogue and thankfully a VERY healthy cache of them are represented on this album, known and unknown, young and older. The album features a few different producers (including Dr. Cave) with a few different riddims in all and it is big vibes from beginning to end. Speaking of the beginning, Caveman Culture Sound Vol. 1 begins in the way in which you KNEW it would with Sizzla himself taking the honours with ‘Hungry Children’. Yes, I’m partial as hell, but the tune is the best that I hear on the album altogether and you know it! It’s nearly vintage Kalonji as he espouses on the millions of ‘hungry’ (generally meaning ‘LOST’ in my opinion) around the world and he’s hoping to steer them in the right direction. The tune is very simple and straight forward and is just BRILLIANT on so many levels. Staying on that same track (before we get to Mr. Locks), is Norris Man, another big name artist to have made his way through Caveman studios along his musical journey. His tune, ‘Children Live What They Learn’ goes one step further than the opener conceptually as the Trenchtown chanter goes on the notion of the children being set a bad example for and thus, growing up to be unfocused and just generally BAD adults themselves. This one reaches to the parents in a big way, but you have to REALLY pay attention and it’s one of Norris’ better tunes that I’ve heard in awhile. On that same Howard Christian produced piece are a few other big named artists as well. Mikey General gives the inspirational title track to one of his most recent albums, 2007’s Confidence In Self and listening to it here I am perhaps more fond of it now than I’ve ever been. There’s also Lutan Fyah with the broken hearted ‘How Could You’, this one might take awhile to grow on you (the chorus is a little strange), but in his typical fashion it is consistent ‘bright’ (intellectually speaking) Lutan Fyah. Natural Black comes in even better to my opinion with ‘Work To Be Done’, a tune I initially didn’t like too much when I first heard it. This ‘version’ is SLIGHTLY more laid back than typically, which is interesting because the BIG tune is essentially him telling the masses to get off our collective asses and get the necessary work of the world done. Blessing the tune however, with its finest tune in full, ’Born To Be Rasta’, is the very active Fred Locks who appears on no less than four tunes on CCRSV1. This one may just be his best on the album also as the veteran declares the purpose of existence, however, if you’ve been following his career, you already knew that. At one point, Locks relates a story from his youth when he says, “When I was much younger my Mama said to me, ‘son when you grow up tell me what do you want to be’ I told my Mama, ‘I wanna be a Rastaman’, so right now I’m fulfilling. Fulfilling the master’s plan”. BIG! Locks later return for his final effort on the album, the KNOCKING biblically guided ‘My Redemption’ which may not be the best tune, lyrically, but with its entire presentation, certainly had my attention from the first drop (love the drum on the Dr. Cave produced tune also). Locks’ first tune on the album is also very strong, the rather emphatic ‘Stop Picking On Me’, where the singer tells a story of being stopped by the police on his way to the studio. And if ‘Born To Be Rasta’ isn’t his finest effort here, then that distinction certainly belongs to ‘Love Is My Weapon’. The tune is VERY much a Luciano type of vibes and of course it works and it’s just a nice tune, particularly from a sonic degree. Fred Locks’ elder peers Half Pint and Winston McAnuff also chime in with the decent ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘I Love You’. The strange latter is the stronger of the two, although both definitely offer nice quality. I’ll also add to this group the big voiced Wild Life who goes on the same heavy riddim as McAnuff and Locks [‘My Redemption’] and arguably outdoes his more famous peers with the call to arms, ‘Rasta Nuh Fraid’. Oh and do you remember that first guy I talked about??? Well HE has another effort on CCSV1, the scintillating ‘Zimbabwe’ a tune which I’ve heard before and one which is apparently on its way to being a very nice hit and BIG lyrics on that one, definitely.

Of the artists you may not be very familiar with, there’s a nice mix of veterans and up and comers, the vast majority (if not all) of them doing quite well. I remember Puddy Roots from a loooooong time ago when I was a child and his name here was definitely a shock and thankfully a nearly great one as his tune ‘Ethiopia’. This one has a SWEET vibes and the more I listened, the more I liked and it proves EASILY to be one of the best tunes on the album and it well STOCKS the information as well. I was also a bit surprised to see Ras Charmer here (although I shouldn’t be because the downright nomadic chanter is virtually everywhere) and the brilliantly ‘rugged’ sounding chanter is in a MIGHTY form on his ‘Thirteen Months Of Sunshine’ a big tune also for Ethiopia, like Puddy (although I do favour this one between the two) (and I think I know this tune from somewhere). You might also recognize poet Ras Haile Malekot whose ‘Gone Bad A Marnin’ also stretches to the heights of quality on CCSV1. Malekot is a PURE GENIUS if you haven’t heard of him (definitely check out his album from a few years back Destiny Of Man) and this tune, one which is not only about corrupt society, but also about those victims of said society remaining focused and see their true intentions as well, is certainly an excellent on which to start experiencing this little known master. The increasingly active Nature is also on board here with the big Rasta affirming ‘Yes Sah’. Nature is going to be a big artists TRUST ME and more efforts like this one can only help his future and Reggae music as a whole. And speaking of potentially big artist, Black Warrior has been around from quite awhile already and probably should already be a big artist (and in terms of talent he is). He further extends the message of ‘Yes Sah’ on his tune ‘Jah Earth’. I always ‘save’ room on my players for talented and FIERY chanters like Warrior and I’m definitely hoping he can have a big breakout year in 2010. You may also recognize Cadia from awhile back (I’m assuming it’s the same person) and while her tune on the album, ‘You Don’t Know Me’, isn’t one of my favourites here, it definitely has a firm foundation as does this artist (particularly lyrically speaking) in terms of her talents. Of the newer artists, there’s a tune very early on (third) on CCSV1, the WICKED ’Be Still’ featuring two artists that I’ve NEVER heard of, Malchest & Chaos. One of them is a pretty unique sounding and NICE singer (I would guest Malchest) and the other is a chanter VERY similar to Natural Black (he literally sounds like Black with a slightly different tone. Same pacing, that kind of ’grunting’ that Black does and everything) and these two combine on this tune which is ultimately one of the finest to be found here in my opinion. On that same serene one-drop, the up and comer singer G-Nius (not that one) makes his first of two appearances on the album with ‘Friends’, a tune speaking on the virtues of having good friends and surrounding oneself with great people in general. And he returns with a next artist in Yambio, who I don’t believe I’ve heard of, on ‘Africa Rise’. This one is pretty good also and you should definitely keep an eye on G-Nius, the artist has already done big things and certainly figures to continue (and this being my first dosage of Yambio, I’m also quite impressed). And you may not know Simon Splinter, but he is either an actual member of Sizzla’s Judgment Yard camp or a good friend, because that’s where I know him from, rolling in those circles (and his presence on an album like this would make me even more secure in that thinking). ‘Bear Mind Control’ may just be his very first tune on such an international release and thus, the very first time many people worldwide would have gotten a hold of his music and what they’ll find is kind of an old school vibed chanter and they, like me, will almost certainly be impressed. Lastly, there’s ‘Too Much War’ which is a powerful tune featuring like 600 artists featuring, amongst others, the aforementioned Wild Life, Chaos and Black Warrior who steals the show in my opinion on the BIG anti-violence number.

RIDICULOUSLY, there’s also a big mix at the end of the album, which is over an hour long and features the tunes from the album. This is as about as of a ‘bonus’ one could think of and in total it actually pushes the length of the entire project to a quarter shy of THREE HOURS!

Overall, although Caveman Culture Sound Vol. 1 ostensibly has ‘COLLECTOR’S ITEM’ written all over it, it certainly shouldn’t have. Should you want to pick it up and show it off, do so, but LISTEN TO IT FIRST! Besides being just strong in my opinion, there’s also a type of quiet congruency at work here where many of the tunes flow so nicely together nicely in terms of message and not just with the riddim(s) backing them. There’s truly something to be said here I feel and you don’t always get that on a compilation (without reading far too much into things which is what I usually do anyway. So, should you go back through your own catalogue and line information up and you can’t go back further, in regards to Sizzla (and Mikey General) than Xterminator, you’ll pick up CCSV1. OR if you just like excellent modern Roots Reggae music, you’ll do the same. Although I do recall so recently saying this not too long ago, I’ll reiterate: I’ve only heard on better compilation from this year. VERY WELL DONE!

Rated 4.9999999999/5

Afrojam

2009