Modern Classics Vol. XXX: "Jah Guidance" by Batch

"Jah Guidance" by Batch [Carrion Brookes Production - 2005]

Journey ahead. When I make the point that a particular artist may be 'ahead of'' his or her respective time, typically we're going to be talking about people like Aidonia, Saïk and others who have managed to develop styles which seem to leap forward of many of their peers by taking established vibes and doing them in an extremely exaggerated manner. Years from now Dancehall may very well be full of similar voices and fans will look upon such names as pioneers and justly so.

But that’s not the only case which fits in this instance. On a personal level I'm always likely to look at the music of VI Reggae wizard, Ras Batch, as being fully ahead of his time. Half a decade ago or so I was just unable to appreciate his music in the way which, presumably, it was meant to be taken. Now, at the unholy old age of thirty years of age, not only am I able to do just that, but I'm able to see that previous material from the chanter from out of St. Croix was not only much better than I'd taken from the first spins through, but was MUCH better than just about anything anyone was doing at the time - and I don't think that I'm the only one who is to experience this. Years from now, hopefully, the better part of the Reggae listening community will wake up and take a listen to the material Batch has left - it is OUTSTANDING! While better known as a musician and a producer, he has made a lasting impression on me as a vocalist and for the keenest of listeners, going through his discography is a journey through some of the DEEPEST set Roots Reggae to be found from anyone over the past decade or so.

Should you want to get an early start on this journey, six years in reverse, I'd suggest starting with an album which has grown on me to an incomparable degree over the past few years. The time delayed BOOM of an album Batch dropped in 2005 and one of the SMARTEST modern Roots Reggae release you’ll ever hear - "Jah Guidance".

The Music

1. 'Healing'

Hopefully you haven't gotten this far, being this interested in reading this without knowing that when it comes to the ganja tune, Batch has gotten it down to a (social) science. The man is nearly without peer when it comes to making tunes celebrating the splendours of the herb and the opener to "Jah Guidance", 'Healing', is a MIGHTY example of that. This tune is so well done, but it's also very FREE, so what you hear is an abundance of intelligence - natural intelligence.

Best Lyrics: "Hierarchy astral plane communion. Ignorance is the problem. Cannabis is the solution. Every culture pon the earth it's made a contribution - for the animals and humans"

2. 'Control'

'Control' is definitely a social commentary in a song, but it is a VERY complex one. To really take a grasp of the message behind the tune you kind of have to get a mental glimpse of this awful futuristic world which Batch is describing - in the chance that society gives in to the will of the 'powers that be'. He goes to a biblical type of ancient level and he also leaps well ahead into the future (and sometimes in the same verse). Successfully traveling through time with Batch, however, does allow one to take hold of what is clearly one of the greatest tunes on this amazing album.

Best Lyrics: "Succubus get from ya! Under instruction orders from The Emperor! Dem will feel dis ya Lion when HIM ah roar. Buss weh dem mind control"

3. 'Jah Guidance'

The album's title track is, as is usually the case, very essential to gripping the prevailing concept of the album named after it (and probably for every tune Batch has ever recorded as well), so I won't elabourate on that too much. But what I will say is that is that there is a song like this which I think will eventually take this album to the proverbial 'next level' in the eyes (and ears) of many listeners. That riddim is just sublime and it literally cradles the pure chanting vocals for the track. EXCELLENT.

Best Lyrics: "Resisting the pestilence - horrible and dreadful unto the heathen. To live for Rastafari a life that's natural and pleasing. Reject HIS teaching, you'll have to get a beating"

4. 'Zion Kingdom Come'

Most interestingly 'Zion Kingdom Come' has become one of my two absolute favourite tunes on "Jah Guidance", despite the fact that it's one of the oldest songs here. It took me a few years (seriously) to realize that this same song was present on one of the earlier albums ("Keep The Faith"). There, it didn't hit me as much as it should, but here it comes out BLARING as one of the clear PILLARS on the album and one which we'll certainly revisit in closing.

Best Lyrics: "It's a privilege to seek of Zion Kingdom. And if you seek HIM then you know you will live long, cause Rastafari a di might and di wise One"

5. 'Praises Due'

'Praises Due' completes a trio of similarly vibed tunes on the album and while it may just be the least attractive of the three (not the worst, just the one which isn't going to grab your attention as much as the other three) , it's still one of the best songs, altogether, on the album. Again, the word here is just SMART, or maybe BRILLIANT in this case. Somewhere lost in the twisting and turning vibes of this tune is a JOY which isn't to be missed! TEARS!

Best Lyrics: "Whole heap a accident and mistake. Rastafari gi dem dem judgment so can't escape. Firmament inna di heavens and di earthquake. Shake up - shake!"

6. 'For Love'

What is, essentially, the album's obligatory love song, 'For Love' was one of the things which I always focused on in not doing the inevitable - writing "Jah Guidance" up as a 'modern classic' - and while it still isn't my favourite song here, it also has grown in the way I appreciate it. That riddim is still kind of video-gamish, but what you take in is the kind of 'detached' way Batch approaches it. It does its own thing while he does his and, in the end, they both make one lovely tune (especially him).

Best Lyrics: "Give thanks for the day she's born. Only way life ahgo gwan. The Sons of Solomon: Heaven and Earth communion"

7. 'High Chant'

In a perfect world (or my idea of it) there would have been MUCH discussion over 'High Chant' over the years because, in my opinion, it's easily the most interesting song on the whole of the album and - all these years on - It's also become my single most favourite as well. Besides doing exactly what the title indicates, in terms of the delivery on the song, the kind of 'exoteric' feel surrounding this one has just such a POWERFUL feel to it. You HAVE to pay it attention and when you do, it unwraps itself and reveals a lyrical level rarely matched and just a complete song which taps DEEP into the mind. GIANT!

Best Lyrics: "Oh wicked time ending, Prepare to leave, no time to blend in. Whole heap of talking and listening, still no comprehending. Whole heap of mixed bag and mixed signal sending"

8. 'Justice'

As one of the more, seemingly, straight forward selections on the album, 'Justice' remains somewhat of a mental 'refreshment', given that it doesn't require a great deal of thought to really grasp. However, what has changed for me through the years is my sonic appreciation of the tune. Ostensibly, it may not be the flashiest song (it isn't), but there was such a clear attention paid to detail in constructing it that it eventually shows itself to be one skillful and FULL trip.

Best Lyrics: "For the struggle of a people - fighting for respect to be treated as an equal. No reprieve from this cold recurring nightmare sequel. What cunning and intricate, to achieve maximum effect - Killing millions of people without regret"

9. 'Fighting Still'

BRIGHT! I always find myself smiling when 'Fighting Still' drops in and the smile doesn't fade at all throughout the longest tune on the album. This song is another one which is just so INTELLIGENT. I've said it in the (recent) past just how wonderful it would be if someone like Batch got to go around the world on some type of speaking tour and it's because of songs like this one which so nicely blend the spiritual and tangible worlds.

Best Lyrics: "Not longer to go. The seeds of this crop, I and I know it must grow. Cause Jah mek it sew. Free up di poverty youth dem from in di ghetto"

10. 'Truth'

Here we have a tune which, like the one before it, makes a great initial impression in 'Truth' and, just like its immediate predecessor, it also makes a great deal of common sense. The song is one which poses the question of who is going to teach the truth to the youth of Afrika and Afrikan descendants - of the history from which they come and the blood which flows in their veins. Batch rolls out the knowledge (even referencing Lucy at one point) in attempting to show just the level of royalty which resides in The Motherland and in Her children.

Best Lyrics: "We were the first to study astronomy, biology, human and the animal anatomy. First mathematicians. First physicians. Engineers and librarians"

11. 'Forward' featuring Afyah

I don't think there will ever come a point where we'll get an album from Batch's 'secret weapon', Afyah and that's really too bad. Still, the fiery chanter occasionally made his presence known and usually on Batch's projects and here was one of his standouts. 'Forward' almost came off as somewhat of a freestyle (which was probably Afyah's specialty), but it did have a curious message and it's one which Batch (and Vaughn Benjamin, incidentally) has spoken on in the past. It's a song about 'moving forward', but moving back to Afrika at the same time and in my overactive brain I've taking the word 'forward' and replaced it with 'progress' which is what Batch and Afyah are saying.

Best Lyrics: Batch "What a mental, spiritual, physical exodus! Who nah look forward, dem will turn to dust. Only idle talk dem waan fi discuss. Hold it dung wid di quarrel and fuss"

12. 'Fya Blaze'

Don't take its downright banal title as an excuse to take a course around 'Fya Blaze' because doing so will be a very large mistake on your part. You wouldn't expect this song to go through in one boring manner because it is a Batch song and it definitely doesn't. Lyrically it's one of the most impressive tracks here and when taken as a whole, with the sonic mix, it's just one of his better efforts from anywhere! FLAMES!

Best Lyrics: "Fire burning redemption righteous! Jah sun ah blaze, no, the moon won't smite us. Show generosity, they try to fight us. Fi skip psychology of the narcissist. Dis ya fyah blaze with a purpose! Fine tune ya third eye into focus! Dis a nuh limbo, dis a nuh circus. Jah children done bless - so no man curse!"

13. 'Bruck Down'

The riddim and delivery on 'Bruck Down' may just make it a 'changeup' on "Jah Guidance", but it well reaches within the messages with the majority of the tunes on the album. I'm going to call it VERSATILE because Batch shows another dimension to his style, with this kind of loose and basically deejaying hitch. Not surprisingly, he doesn't miss a single step.

Best Lyrics: "Michievous and hardened - SAME HOLE DEM AH DIG DEM AHGO FALL IN. Mentality of a warden, waan man beg dem fi pardon"

14. 'Sons & Daughters'

And lastly is another tune which appeared on the "Keep The Faith" album and one which now sounds MUCH better to my ears. 'Sons & Daughters' is just FLOORING! Reaching to the upper levels of quality on this album, and doing so on so many different levels, this is the song, probably more so than any other here, which surprises me that it didn't do much much more than it did. Years from now I can see someone stumbling upon it and just hearing what I hear now - A song so brilliantly espousing on the virtues of His Imperial Majesty and HIS children. Tears, smiles, everything! The song takes the willing listener on a nearly unmatched journey here and wraps up the greatest piece of work that Batch has ever done. "Jah Guidance".

Best Lyrics: "One heart, one aim and one destiny: To return us from across the sea and proclaiming an Afrikan victory"

Synopsis

"Eyes wide open, still dem blind"

To get back to my premise of this piece and the notion of Batch being someone who is musically so far ahead of the day when he is, perhaps, to be most appreciated, I get stuck on this lyric from 'Fighting Still'. In that song he’s speaking, in a more general and social sense, of being unaware and downright foolish at times and while I'm more than 99.9% sure that he wouldn't have drawn any similarities to the ability or the inability of the masses to appreciate his work, it definitely registered like that with me (and as I said, I used to be one of them) and was a bit of wonderful irony as well.

As for the album as a whole, "Jah Guidance" is very much an album with a purpose. One of the most striking characteristics of it, to my opinion, is the fact that within its fourteen tracks, you won’t find a single one which checks in at less than four minutes. What that tells me from someone who likely wrote, produced, arranged and set up the entire project is that Batch put SO MUCH of himself into this album. That type of quality, from anyone who has any type of discernible skill level, isn’t one, inherently, which is going to give an immediate gratification and it’s also one which, when it really does 'stand up' is likely to remain standing for a REALLY long time. That also (presuming I’m correct, of course), makes it quite difficult to find one consistent theme in terms of the direction taken here, but I think I've managed to find it. What I've taken, particularly as of late, from "Jah Guidance", is just this grand sense of PRIDE in oneself.

Throughout the album and pretty much at some point on every single tune, Batch finds an opportunity to give thanks to His Majesty. In this particularly powerful passage from 'Zion Kingdom Come' he probably takes it even a bit further. That entire song is one which speaks of taking pride in the various walks of life one may go, all within the guidance of HIM. And speaking of "guidance", on the album's title track, he once again gives the listener many opportunities to take pride in the roads we walk in life. I look at this song, especially, I'm also looking at and hearing it 'move' in the direction of seeking COMFORT and taking pride that you, as someone who follows the teachings of His Majesty have that available to you. While he does speak of things to take pride in, Batch is careful not to paint this flawless and rosy picture and he does speak of the harsh realities of the world today and of the future such as on 'Control':

"Dem a control - Your will and your soul
Trigger press button by remote
So convincing to cut your own throat
If you’re weak minded and you ah doubt"

But he ALWAYS shows you that, with the aid of The Almighty, these are not things which are absolute - they are avoidable. Subsequently, Batch shows us this through a way of offering not an opportunity to panic, but offering an opportunity to PREPARE for what is and what is to come. The title track is a culmination and combination of all of this.

"Newborn to ancestors -
Struggle so painful caused us to remember
Most High love never ends yah

One by one, HIS children gather
Remote antiquity from the predawn land yah
Where Ethiopians stretch forth their hands yah
Ababajahni allowed us to stand"

Finally I'll mention the tune which, clearly, is a huge source of pride, 'Truth'. This song basically speaks of POURING all the knowledge of Afrika into the next generation (and not only the children, but older people as well who don't know it) and, as I said, it goes to a great length to identify things. I also like the sense of personal responsibility it seems to instill in the listener. If you catch it - Batch is asking "who's gonna teach them the truth" - about these things which he is now telling YOU about. If there is no one to "teach them", then at the very least it should be YOU! That is SPECTACULAR in my mind because besides telling to you to take into account these great things on your own, if you haven't, it also empowers you to spread the word.

Do that and also "teach them" about all of the music of Ras Batch, particularly "Jah Guidance", a bona fide Modern Reggae Classic!

{review # 330}