"Not Too Strange": A Review of The Strange Things Riddim by Various Artists

When I first started taking emails for this here Reggae-like thing, one of my first and most consistent readers was a gentleman who was seemingly desperately seeking something which he might enjoy. He had fairly specific, but not necessarily outlandish or unmanageable tastes and I did my best to point him in the ‘correct’ area for him. One of his main complaints, however, once he got a grasp of the concept was the general course through which Reggae music uses ‘riddims’, meaning taking a single composition (often times not changing it in any way) for a variety of artists. He called the practice “lazy” and in terms of discussing with new or completely non fans of the genre it wasn’t an opinion which was foreign to me and I’ve even heard it several times since then actually. What’s most interesting to me in that case is that YOU and I, Reggae fans, not only is it something which inherently bothers us, but it’s something that we actually LOVE and would probably miss if it were to just suddenly stop and every tune that reached would have its own beat (that would just be fucking strange!), like in most other forms of even remotely popular forms of music. By literal contrast, almost as many times I’ve heard “lazy” claims from newer fans, from old heads, you’ll get the question of whether or not ‘that artist ever voice this riddim’ and a general sense of disappointment if the answer is in the negative (and I’ve been on both sides of that discussion). That being said, I kind of have the feeling that what Reggae shares with a very close musical form like Hip-Hop and R&B to some extent, is a kind of glowing reverence for the ‘old school’ type of the music and the usage of that musical within a modern concept and frame. For example, a few years back, both Reggae and Hip-Hop seemed to go through a phase where bringing back these older compositions (‘beats’ and ‘riddims’), seemed to be ‘all the craze’. In Reggae it was definitely overdone, but it was quite popular and birthed HIT riddims such as Lefside & Esco’s Throwback Giggy and in Hip-Hop simultaneously, so popular was it seemingly in that genre that it reintroduced a long used (in liner notes) term and entered it into the lexicon of modern music, ‘Sampling’. The exercise, in general, had pretty consistently inconsistent and polarizing views from the hardest of hardcore fans in both cases (yours truly included), with some calling it ‘lazy’ and some of the perhaps over-intellectuals going into talk of being ‘respectful’ and ‘knowing where one has come from’ and praising it.

Well, they were both right. It was, at times, pretty lame and it almost seemed as if producers got a bag and filled it with random riddim names and pulled one out and decided that was the one for that week. But sometimes they pulled the right one and they still are. I’m drawn to Europe right now because a very new label who is a proven ‘puller’ is Curtis Lynch Jr.’s Necessary Mayhem who is giving the up and coming artists from the UK and beyond a chance to ride proven BIG time riddims such as the Police In Helicopter and the Joker Smoker and you can’t really argue against what they’ve managed to do and on the scale (ever growing that they’ve managed to do it). Still, in terms of how far they’ve come, I think Lynch himself might even admit that his label would have a ways to go before equaling the BIG time successes of the seemingly ever-present Irie Ites from out of France. Besides relicking older riddims and just general producing GREAT material on their own, the label has also been responsible for the releasing of albums for (and by extension, the developing of) artists like Ras Mac Bean and most recently Lorenzo, both of whom are very talented and respected artists and seemingly some of the most popular Caribbean born in Europe. It is a status no doubt owed to their own natural abilities and personalities, but really if you’re going to bring their names up in almost any context musical, you won’t get very far from mentioning their works with the Irie Ites label. And that isn’t all of course, Irie Ites voices some of biggest names in Roots Reggae music altogether and a kind of core few with which they have established their name and continue to do so. The label is also quite fond of remaking old and classic riddims and have done very well doing so (definitely very ‘respectful’ and ‘knowing where they’re from’). To date, Irie Ites has worked on versions of Studio One’s Rocking Time riddim and the Down In Jamaica riddim which originated with Joseph Hill and Culture I believe and now they’ve done it again, striking arguably their biggest ‘rebirth’ to date, The Strange Things Riddim. This piece, I believe, was originally a ‘one-off’ of sorts from Phil Pratt for an old John Holt tune (which is probably around FORTY years old at this point) (further research confirms that) for the Punch imprint, which became a bonafide HIT for the legendary singer, so much so that the riddim just kind of became known by the same name of the song and the tune would also go on to have remakes of its own (Freddie McGregor has a very nice one) and its true origins may even be older than I know of, but the tune and riddim alike definitely went to help build John Holt’s sizable and seemingly infinite legend and deservedly so. Well, with a background like that, I don’t think the question of WHY Irie Ites chose the Strange Things as the next one on which to work on redoing is much in doubt at all and the only question would be exactly what they were planning on doing with it. To no surprise really at all, Irie Ites carried out the project to near perfection and they really seemed to put their promotional strength behind it as well. Besides just generally making a big fuss about it, the label originally released tunes on the riddim as 7” singles and put all of them together and released that as a digital release and they’ve now added a bit, in the way of twists and turns and have brought it back again. And this time it’s bigger and better than ever before.

Irie Ites, as they generally do, uses some of the best musicians for their material and on board this time are the usual likes of Mafia & Fluxy as well as venerable veterans Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and Bongo Herman so it is DEFINITELY in capable hands on the musical side. On the vocal side? Things are much the same. With the Strange Things Riddim from Irie Ites (or whoever else may want to deal with it someday), you just don’t get much more ‘capable’ than the hands of the master himself who shows himself to be just that on a version of the riddim title track to open things up. Say what you will about this woefully simple tune (and it is just that), but it is SO BEAUTIFUL that the classic label which it rather casually has worn for the past thirty years or so, so snugly fits it perfectly. With it’s very nice ‘love is in the air’ type of vibes, ‘Strange Things’ is as hypnotic as it ever was on this version of the original big tune (and check this nearly eight minute long extended version). It’s also the best tune on the riddim, but I’ll save that informal distinction for a next tune because the ground simply isn’t even with established and ‘aged’ brilliance like this. I certainly won’t slide it to Junior Kelly who wastes no time in giving the riddim its first (and arguably only) FLOP with ‘Shake It Woman’. This very strange tune just doesn’t do much for me as much as I’ve tinkered with trying to experience it, I just can’t get into it. It isn’t a total miss, however, as Kelly’s vocals (as misguided as they most certainly are) sound EXCELLENT and hopefully it’s a sound which carries into his forthcoming album Red Pond in April. Charged with righting the ship and SUCCEEDING and then some is Chezidek, a staple on Irie Ites’ recordings, who brings one of the biggest moments on the Strange Things, with the obligatory herbalist tune, ‘Bun Di Ganja’. I LOVE this tune. I just love it and Chezidek has shown himself time and time again to be one of the most talented herb tune vocalists in the modern era and this simultaneous ganja tune/social commentary has to be considered one of his greatest. HUGE TUNE!

The aforementioned Ras Mac Bean and Lorenzo are also on board here, as expected. Mac Bean actually comes with the very interesting Sena, from out of Ghana (more on her in a bit) for the tune ‘Traveling So’. The wandering and interesting tune is very strong, but not as strong as ‘A So Dem Stay’ (one moving, one staying still) from Lorenzo which was one of the highlights from his excellent album last year, also via Irie Ites, Movin’ Ahead and it’s a highlight on the Strange Things riddim album also. Another favourite of II, Lutan Fyah, also gives an effort for the riddim, with the very nice 'Work It Out'. This sufferer’s anthem of sorts is nearly EPIC and furthermore, it’s the typical lyrical brilliance that we’ve come to expect from Lutan Fyah (how we ahgo work it out when mystery babylon alone want di food fi dem mouth?). Still, speaking of lyrics, it is to my opinion that reigning supreme over tunes not made by John Holt is the genius that is exhibited by Sizzla Kalonji on ‘[Gonna Cause A] Revolution’. This piece is just BIG and despite its unevenness, it excels with a CRAZY melody and approach that Sizzla uses which accentuates his message of the impending GUARANTEED revolution. It’s far from conventional, but ‘Revolution’ is the finest thing I hear on the riddim (that John Holt didn’t make) altogether.

Tucked into between the two ‘segments’ are two instrumentals of the Strange Things, one being a nice and straight forward rinse of the riddim and the other being a very strong dubbed out version by veteran Calvin ‘So-So’ Francis. The instrumental is almost mandatory these days for me, but the dub is a BIG plus and a nice addition by Irie Ites and Francis.

The final six selections (more like 5½) on the Strange Things Riddim album are reserved for a Hip-Hopped out version of the riddim which is pretty good in and of itself and features some VERY interesting talents. The most interesting and probably the most talented of them all is definitely the first artist on the funkafied version of the Strange Things, Pressure Busspipe, who chimes in which ‘Ina Dancehall’. The song effortlessly gives a big credit to Dancehall music and Dancehall culture in general and it sounds like Pressure is having a great time just making the tune and expressing the messages and that’s always a plus. Also interestingly here is Cali P who tells us about ‘The Champion’. This one, like Pressure’s, has a general point of giving credit to the Dancehall, but I don’t think Cali P really hits the mark and the tune is kind of too ‘loose’ because of it and it lacks a kind of direction, in terms of sound and melody because of it. It isn’t a bad song actually, but I’ve heard much better from Cali P and expect to hear much better in the future as well. Irie Ites regular [Burning] Spectacular unsurprisingly gets an opportunity with this more aggressive style of the riddim and he does OKAY. I’ve long expressed my concerns with Spectacular’s style (when he’s on, he’s ON. When he’s not, he’s BAD) and this tune, ‘Badda Than Dem’ is typically really animated Spectacular and I don’t hate it, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it several times before from him. Returning, this time on her own, is Sena with the very impressive ‘Strange Days’. Sena has a very interesting FUNKY and BLUESY type of vibes to her sound and it’s well growing on me quite quickly so hopefully she takes an even more pronounced role on Irie Ites’ releases in the future, she’s very good. Frenchies Keefaz and Don Pako also do quite well on their offering for the Strange Things ‘Vendredi Soir Spécial’ [‘Friday Night Special’], which is also in the same nature as a couple of other tunes on this side of the riddim (Keefaz is a big artist) and is an excellent lead in to the closer, ‘In The Clash Tonight’, which is just a mix of the five tunes on the Hip-Hop version of the riddim and actually, I’m not the one for mixes, but this one is quite nice and given the nature and the way the album is compiled, this was yet another good idea from Irie Ites and a nice way to conclude matters on the album.

Overall, this one had a very good ‘feel’ surrounding it and I was quite confident that I would enjoy it when I saw it coming soon (and I even wrote a bit on it for UnitedReggae.com) and it wasn’t disappointing at all. I like the overall presentation as well, as usual with Irie Ites, the way it was carried out was TOP NOTCH and they really seemed to put every bit into promoting it (there were like impromptu and informal videos for a ton of songs on this thing) Irie Ites just seemed to generally and GENUINELY enjoy what they had in the Strange Things Riddim album. The question, of course, is will you enjoy it. I think you will, especially if you’re a more experienced fan of the music and can place it into some historical context (however slight), but even if you’re a newer fan (as long as that whole - using the same riddim thing - doesn’t bother you), the material here isn’t ridiculously hard, to the point where it’s likely to go over your head. So, while the debate of ‘relicking’ or ‘sampling’ older beats or riddims was once mighty and quite vicious, labels like Irie Ites continue to show that when done correctly, the results of doing just that can continue to impress, years and years on.

Rated 4/5

Irie Ites Records

2010

Irie Ites

Irie Ites @ Myspace