The Best Reggae Album of 2009: The Burnin' Melody by Lion D

The Best of The Best

Lion D - The Burnin' Melody [Bizzarri Records]

Awhile ago, I made a Prediction Post of what exactly I thought 2010 would bring in the musical sense, after a 2009 which was just as puzzling as it was impressive. That post included a variety of post, some ridiculous, some merely bordering on ridiculous and if almost ANY of them come true, I’d probably be fairly surprised. That being said, however, NOT A SINGLE prediction in that post, not a one, coming true will surprise me as much as would someone predicting in December of 2008 about the forthcoming 2009 that the ’album of the year honour’ would belong to some obscure, unheard of UK export to Italy talent by the name of ’Lion D’. Had anyone made that prediction before the year began (or hell, maybe even six months deep into the year), then I’m prepared to declare witchcraft at play. In one of the biggest SHOCKS in my entire Reggae memory, Lion D’s The Burnin’ Melody album was THE BEST new album I heard. It also, essentially, introduced me to an artist whose name I hadn’t ever heard of before for the most part, from a label I hadn’t heard of, period. Lion D has virtually no equal on this list and in a not too good of a way. Off the top of my head I’d say that his is (and perhaps is BY FAR) the least accomplished name you’ll find at any stage of my list. He’s very young and not actually a veteran of anything in life and certainly not Reggae and as far as I know, this album was his very first and only. However, on the strength of a natural, dirty, often unrefined and just WICKED style which dominates his vibes and an obviously natural ‘feel’ for his work, he pushed The Burnin’ Melody to be the absolute best album it could be. He also pushed it to The Best Reggae Album of 2009.

The Music

#1. Money

The album’s colourful opener ‘Money’, in retrospect, was a very fitting choice because it put Lion D on a proper track in accordance to where he would ultimately go in terms of his subjectry, concerning social aspects (which he certainly does dig into throughout the album), but it doesn’t do it in a stale and clichéd type of way. That KNOCKING riddim simply will not let it be lame and sound like something you’ve heard 300 times already.

Line of the song: “Dem talk bout dem gi wi some. Still dem nah gi wi none. So man haffi rise and tek weh ah fi him own”

#2. Good Ganja Herb

Thankfully ‘Good Ganja Herb’ doesn’t let the vibes (in terms of their joviality) established on the opener drop too far and in fact, in that regard, it may actually pick it up a bit on the album’s obligatory herbalist tune. Again, here’s a subject that we’ve dealt with literally THOUSANDS of points at this time, but Lion D, seemingly without directly trying to AT ALL, makes the tune a big standout.

Line of the song: “I do not expect to be justified by the laws of men. Mi smoke the herb, cause it’s the Holy Sacrament. So, fool dem, nah fi bother with no foolish argument. If you know the thing, you better gwan go tell your friends”

#3. This Time

We had to wait until the third track on The Burnin Melody to slow things down in terms of pacing, but the vibes most certainly do not drop. It’s around this point that you kind of start to see a nice little ‘hitch’ to the Lion’s style where he doesn’t necessarily always choose the most obvious route terms of his lyrical approach and we should be grateful for that, because it’s exactly what energizes a tune like this, calling for man to do the same for himself ‘This Time‘. Energy.

Line of the song: “Nobody couldn’t stop me from try. Mi tell di whole a dem I man blessed by The Most High”

#4. Thanxgivin’

Back to feeling good and this time around, Lion D almost seems to MANDATE that you get into this one and do it with an intention to get UPFUL! This one is MIGHTY. Big knowledge packed vibes which are done very well and not only does it not have to sacrifice anything in the way of ‘melody’ or simple appeal, but ‘Thanxgivin’ actually seems to pick up in both categories, which is very unusual and in a FANTASTIC way.

Line of the song: “Thanxgivin’, for the love that I’m livin’. Mi couldn’t be ungrateful to you, Jah Jah, for you fulfill my needs and wants”

#5. Show More Love

So now that you’ve identified a source to Whom to give thanks, it’s now time to go out and put that greatwill in action and the main way you’re to do that is to ‘Show More Love’. The Lion takes things to the basic simplicities of things when he says, “if you want to change this world, you have to show more love”. Which is such a nice thing and if you notice (even by the title of the next tune), it’s something which is CLEARLY very important to the artist and when he speaks of it, his commitment definitely is palpable every time out.

Line of the song: “More love and respect to the next man. Look how you flex son. Watch how you step, ah just life over death”

#6. Love’s Takin’ Over featuring Miss Linda

‘Love’s Takin’ Over’ is a tune which now features the aforementioned and explored concept of LOVE and takes it to a more personal level and more applicable level alongside labelmate. And that’s a problem in that, if you’re not following (for whatever reason) the direction and flow of the album, you can just as easily (as I did), just write this one off as a ‘love tune’, because that’s essentially what it is. But if you do that, you not acknowledge that LOVE, in his view is much more than just something experienced within a relationship: It’s a way of life. The only way.

Line of the song: “My girl, you need more than sex. My girl, you deserve the best”

#7. Cyan Seh Me Neva Seh So

This one is just KNOWLEDGE. Lion D goes on the very simple classic Dancehall vibes in order to get his point across and he tunes in what is essentially a HEAVY straight forward deejay style. This one is certainly up for debate in terms of its prevailing message, but what I came away with here is that Lion D is saying that in certain (MANY) matters, he (WE) are protected by His Imperial Majesty to a degree where it isn’t even an issue really. It’s something which has already been accounted for and dealt with by HIM. Indeed and you already knew that.

Line of the song: “So you can’t say mi neva say so. A longtime mi ah tell you but you neva waan listen. Rasta ovastand equal rights and justice. Wi fight against the flesh. Bun wickedness in high and low places”

#8. The Only Way

If you’ve been following along even semi-successfully you already know what ‘The Only Way’ is about, but don’t worry, even though you know that, it certainly won’t spoil this wonderful tune for AT ALL for you. I’ll touch more on this later certainly, but for me, this is definitely one of the most significant tunes on the entire album in REALLY overstanding the album’s ultimate direction and the direction of Lion D as an artist as well. HUGE tune.

Line of the song: “Dash weh di fussing, say fi dash weh di fighting. Can’t be dividing but we must be uniting”

#9. Take Care

I don’t think I noticed it up until a few days ago - the kind of clever duality of ‘Take Care’. Besides being a tune, clearly, which speaks out against corrupt society, it also seems to have a bit of a ‘green’ interest in terms of maintaining the world and properly caring for it and not letting it get spoiled at all. So he’s saying ‘take care’, definitely of oneself and also of one’s surroundings, which is just so very interesting.

Line of the song: “Work hard everyday, just to get a little pay. Did you ever wonder why it have to be this way”

#10. Acoustic Thing

Lion D & Bizzarri were apparently out to ruffle feathers when they chose to push ‘Acoustic Thing’ in the middle of the album, eschewing the ’time honoured tradition’ of plopping it at the end, of course, that’s their way. The tune itself is almost an intermission of sorts, getting the listener prepared for the second half of The Burnin’ Melody, but that certainly isn’t to say that you should overlook it. In fact, it just may be one of the most complex selections of the entire lot as Lion D goes about the tune in seemingly a freestyle type of order, fusing together biblical references with his own input and of this one I have a rather sneaking suspicion that it may be FAR more deep than it lets on.

Line of the song: “So I and I shall be, like a tree plant by the river. Tree weh ago bring forth fruit in its season”

#11. Behold

Following the tune it follows, ‘Behold’ comes in with so much strength that it alone almost makes it a standout. Thankfully, because it’s sticking out like such, the piece is also a VERY strong tune and becomes more increasingly so every time I grab it. The tune itself is one which, at least for me, is a bit more simple than it seems. Ultimately what Lion D is saying is to take a moment and to APPRECIATE His Majesty for what you have, even if only just for the moment through this OUTSTANDING tune.

Line of the song: “Stay focused. Be strong inside. Hold the faith and let The Most High Jah be your guide”

#12. Live Long

I’m still kind of struggling with identifying the prevailing message of ‘Live Long’ and while I think I’m close, I’m still at the point where I’m going to declare it, for the most part, a very BROADLY written piece which certainly isn’t the norm (if he has such a thing) for Lion D, but it also, just as certainly, isn’t bad. The tune seems to be saying to “live long” so you can enjoy being alive, almost to the point of ‘make the best out of a bad situation if you have to’ type of a thing which is something I didn’t necessarily notice the first few times around. Regardless of its ultimate purpose, however (and you know I‘m still working on that), the route ‘Live Long’ takes in arriving there is BEAUTIFUL and one of the finest on the entire album to my opinion.

Line of the song: “I say you gotta live long. You gotta grow strong, no matter what a gwan. You gotta know right from wrong. And make the fyah gwan bun”

#13. Practise What You Preach

I’m just going to take this one and take it into my own (almost certainly over-scrutinized) direction. I think ‘Practise What You Preach’ is REALLY about some of Lion D’s musical peers who he’s noticed haven’t quite been living (practicing) through with messages they push forth (preach) in their tunes. I’m able to do that because it almost seems as if in the verses, the Lion removes himself from the chorus SPECIFICALLY . . . Almost as if he didn’t want to elaborate and name names . . . Hmmm.

Line of the song: “You’ve gotta learn how fi stand up on your own two feet, cause inna babylon system you can’t be weak”

#14. Hypocrite

You see the progression now I’m sure. After telling ____ to practice what they preached, ‘mysteriously’, the Lion is now speaking to a group of individuals who he refers to as ‘Hypocrite’. Interesting. This tune is vibed primarily as a Dancehall track and when you get into the verses, you see just how EXTREMELY well done it actually is. This one shows off the ‘rough around the edges’ style wonderfully as it almost seems like Lion D is losing his spot at time, but he steadily keeps rhyming and does so impressively, casting down a cleansing fire on those who are living nasty, two-faced lives.

Line of the song: “Mi nah like di dutty work weh dem a perform. They take this wonderful world and turn it upside-down. Yow, mi show di people dem say nuttin nah gwan, but di ting weh mi ah talk bout, they can’t overstand”

#15. Some Bwoy

Keeping that same notion going. You can continue to see the progression going in the Lion’s demeanour definitely. After addressing the hypocrites, the walking and talking contradictions, Lion D is coming back RANDOMLY for ‘Some Bwoy’. This tune, is another one that I feel is quite important in really grasping the concept of the album because if you really think about it, most certainly this subject has been DEFINITELY explored in the nearly seven minutes worth of two tunes that proceed it, but there’s STILL this tune as if to even further drive home the point: If you’re not living too well and seemingly have NO SHAME about it, Lion D has a problem with you and justly so.

Line of the song: “Man a Rasta! Show me no disrespect. Tell di people dem, shouldn’t now misbehave”

#16. Don’t Ramp With Me

And just in case you didn’t catch up to what was going on with the three tunes just prior to it, there’s what is still my favourite tune on The Burnin’ Melody, ‘Don’t Ramp With Me’. For this BRILLIANT tune, the Lion pulls out an aggressive old school deejay style which he just LOCKS off seamlessly. This is the final tune on this subjectry and the Lion certainly saved the best for last as he just launches into the tune, literally destroying the SWEET Dancehall one-drop underpinning it.

Line of the song: “If dem bwoy no waan fi see wi rise above dem level - Tell dem nah fi ramp wid bumbaclaat me. Mi dem caan conquer tru mi unconquerable - So dem nah fi ramp wid bumbaclaat me”

#17. Stay Conscious

The very welcomed gong which begins ‘Stay Conscious’ IMMEDIATELY and abruptly informs the listener that we’ve just changed vibes and subject matter to some degree, but it’s not as big of a shift as one might think. Having just told you how incredibly FUCKED UP you are, Lion D is seemingly in a far more caring mood and is now telling you why. Perhaps you’ve lost focus and even if you haven’t, he intends to remind you exactly what could happen if you do on a tune which builds itself SO wonderfully by its end.

Line of the song: “Mi sight it from afar. Politician dem a gwaan like dem a big superstar. But if you put your trust inna dem you mussi mad. You better put all of your trust inna The Most High God, cause the whole a dem a fraud, dem from di same cookie jar”

#18. You Know That I Love You

The first ’love song’ on the album ’Love’s Takin’ Over’ definitely is a different type of tune than ’Just Like The Way You Are’ for several reasons and for reasons far more obvious (namely one that goes by the name of ’Miss Linda’), it’s likely to get the lion’s share of the attention between the two. And while that’s certainly, in its own right, not very much of a problem, if you go about things and COMPLETELY ignore this bouncing lovely tune, you’ll do so at your own detriment because it’s arguably just as sweet.

Line of the song: “Well a longtime mi deh yah and ah wait fi you baby. But you a gwan like you nah know none already. Hey girl you got the real thing, you really drive me crazy. Yow, this ah no ‘if‘, this ah no ‘but‘, this ah no ‘maybe‘ ”

#19. Just Like The Way You Are

Keeping the vibes from the previous tune going is the far more direct ‘Just Like The Way You Are’. This tune is more flashy and dynamic, but no doubt just as strong (and maybe even stronger on some levels). This tune struck me as more personal (and that groovy-ish type of riddim is simply not to be missed) and one which, again, I’m tempted to take as a bigger vibe than merely a one-to-one type of thing, because of just how relatable it is.

Line of the song: “Girl I love you just like the way you are. Why can’t you learn to love me how I am?”

#20. Rise [featuring Lutan Fyah]

Oh yeah, you knew we’d arrive here at some point. As if I needed like a ‘boost’ of sorts to know that I’d enjoy this album, there was ‘Rise’. Buried just one track before the end of this truly MASSIVE album is a tune which features none other than LUTAN FYAH (don’t you think it would have been cool had he named himself ‘Lieutenant Fyah’?!), as if the man himself were giving his own stamp of approval to Lion D and his Burnin’ Melody. Not surprising at all, I LOVE this tune. LOVE IT. The Fyah and the Lion make a big bad combination which, to my ears, is built on an inspirational vibes despite its aggressive nature and it is absolutely huge!

Line of the song: Lion D - “Come ah talk bout ‘Raspect is due’, but when you check it out, dem nah respect you”

Lutan Fyah - “IF A GRAVE DEM AH DIG, TELL DEM FI DIG TWO. DEM FIGHT AGAINST ME, DEM WILL FIGHT AGAINST YOU!”

[WHAT!]

#21. Nah Like Da Way Deh

And lastly on this sprawlingly gorgeous album is just a free flowing tune which finds the Lion exploring and voicing a few of his concerns about how corrupt society runs itself. I could actually make a VERY strong case for the tune being simply the best tune on the entire album (but I won’t) and I think it resonates on such levels that, although I won’t list it as one of the most significant, it is a living and breathing microcosm of the album itself and maybe even Lion D. It’s certainly not perfect, by any stretch of the definition of the word (unless you just make some shit up), but how many categories it has as been DAMN NEAR PERFECT is a wonder. Quite rough around the edges still and maybe it’ll always be so, but at the same time, I have a hard time tuning it out. Don’t you? [And I LOVE how the tune just stops at ~2:45 and goes straight instrumental, saxophone driven, until its end at 6:08!]

Line of the song: “Dem love fi chat and neva check it out dung deh. Some bwoy a talk, but dem neva take a walk dung deh. Ah whappn to dem? Mi see dem fraid fi come dung deh. True dem know say brim fyah ahgo bun dung deh”

Synopsis

Of course with a title like that the obvious question regarding The Burnin’ Melody is - Exactly what in the hell is it? And when I began to think about this album in terms of scrutinizing it to the point of doing such a post with it, it was the dominating thought and factour. However, after digging through just a few tunes, I’m well convinced that if ‘The Burning Melody’ is an actual concept and more than just a cool ass nickname (and it is) (and you know it is) for Lion D and his style, it’s completely crystal clear what it is: LOVE. I’d even go a step further, however, and say that even if ‘the burning melody’ isn’t love, it really doesn’t matter in regards to overstanding the point of the album, because LOVE clearly is the “point”. Just to explore that even further though, if that concept (of the melody burning) is actually a concept, it is one so very interesting that I simply have to talk about it in such terms for a moment.

Clearly if the melody which is burning is one which is related, in any dominating way, to the concept of the album named for it, it is a melody of love, burning a fire (or in a fire) which is also of love. You see this, not only in the early stringing together of tunes on the subject, but also later on when, in my opinion, the Lion begins a more harsh and judgmental stretch of tunes in order to show what happens in the absence of love. This string - ‘Practise What You Preach’ to ‘Hypocrite’ to ‘Some Bwoy’ and finally ‘Don’t Ramp With Me’, show an increasingly agitated Lion D, seemingly ‘swimming’ further and further away from love, so it (the attitude/approach) becomes increasingly necessary. STILL, at his absolute harshest, ‘Don’t Ramp With Me’, he still doesn’t go full on the offensive. Almost as if to show that he, himself, isn’t devoid of love Lion D leaves a gap of hope on the tune’s chorus:

“Me nah trouble no one

So mi nah waan no trouble”

And even on the other tunes, he only goes on the lyrical offensive when disrespected in some way, shape or form. And from there, I’ll go back to what I feel is the simplistic source of LOVE on the album, the tune ‘The Only Way’. As I said, I think this tune is incredibly important in gaining the fullness of the album, because it CLEARLY states the intentions and circumstances of the entire project:

“Love is the only way to move forward

Let’s get together and love one another”

You don’t need me nor my incredibly large vocabulary to interpret that for you. And you can take that line of tunes going back from the second tune on the album (yep, even ’Good Ganja Herb’) all the way to the ‘intermission’ of ‘Acoustic Thing’ and see love DIRECTLY discussed there, but of course, it keeps going throughout.

So should this burning melody be of any significance to the album, from a definitional point of view, it would most certainly have to be LOVE or something very closely related.

Getting back to the reason why I love this album so much, after scrutinizing it to the point of fulfilling a post like this, I’m an even bigger fan than I already was and even more convinced of the standing of The Burnin‘ Melody. The album has such a very unusual STRENGTH to it that I almost don’t know how to categorize it. I don’t know much of Lion D still, however, I would guess that he’s been very influenced by the same artists that have influenced me, such as Sizzla Kalonji and especially Capleton, because of the style which he brings is very much of this kind of ‘ghetto refined’ type which perhaps comes with the sense that while he may not have spent much time in a music school of any sorts (and I don’t know if he did or if he didn’t), but instead has much more of a NATURAL TALENT. Certainly he isn’t as refined as Nereus Joseph, Ras Attitude or Tarrus Riley. He isn’t as intelligent (musically speaking, of course) as Queen Ifrica, Sizzla or Lutan Fyah. And frankly he may not even be as naturally talented as Tiwony or Black Dillinger (and clearly Lion D isn’t as all around evil as Mad Cobra) (that goes without saying), but what he lacks in those dimensions, Lion D makes up for it by sheer determination, a clear TRUE belief in what he chants about and exercising something which he most likely received at birth. All of this is what helped to push his album to the head of the pack. Is it a modern classic? Of course, as are, arguably, each and every album in the top five of this list and The Burnin’ Melody is also The Best Reggae Album Of 2009. Period.