Strength & Resilience by Lutan Fyah!

"Strength & Resilience" by Lutan Fyah [I Grade Records]

1. 'Warning Dem'

2. 'Listen Mama'

3. 'Leader Before Me'

4. 'Just The Time' featuring Akae Beka

5. 'Strength & Resilience'

6. 'Pieces Of Broken Soul'

7. 'African Children'

8. 'Drain The Swamp'

9. 'Freedom Sound'

10. 'Secrets'

11. 'Protect Your Energy'

12. 'Days After Summer' featuring Queen Omega

13. 'Tomorrow Today'

PROBLEMS! Okay so, with 2025 (we made it!) well in progress, we look ahead at what and who might stop by to make for a suitable followup to a year in 2024 which may not have been brimming with greatness, but was quite solid in retrospect and... well apparently a pair of looooongtime favourites are providing us with what may just be the year's first TRULY great album release (it will be). Just about eight years ago now, the brilliant Lutan Fyah FINALLY officially linked up with the equally sagacious I Grade Records and the Zion I Kings to produce a long awaited by me album, "Music Never Dies". We reviewed it at a 5/5 [DUHHHHHH!]. It was fantastic and immediately became a favourite of mine from both catalogues of artist and label. Now, a few weeks shy of what will be its eight anniversary, a release is set for "Music Never Dies" as Lutan Fyah and IGR present "Strength & Resilience". I had NO CLUE that this album was in the offering and in the process of doing what I do every couple of weeks or so and just checking through a few sources, I came upon it and you can imagine just how DAMN HAPPY I was to see it. Though the Spanish Town chanter has steadily released singles and EP's over the years, the case could be well made that the "Music Never Dies" set was his last genuinely big album release and it is well overdue that the Fyah returns to scorch everything, everywhere.

2017

I've actually gotten to listen to a bit of "Strength & Resilience" already (courtesy of that one website with the long-winded previews) and it is EXACTLY what you would expect. OBVIOUSLY a lot of my attentions were focused on the pair of combinations, 'Just The Time' and 'Days After Summer', the former featuring oft-Lutan Fyah spar, Akae Beka, while the latter calls in, RIDICULOUSLY, the incomparable Queen Omega (a Lutan Fyah/Queen Omega tune....) (sometimes I have too many words) (sometimes I have none), but I also hear an uncredited guest on 'Freedom Sound' (pretty sure I know who that is, but if they're not saying it, then neither am I) and I also hear a song called 'African Children' which is the current leader for me here. 'African Children' is SOARING! 

I'm pretty sure the rest of the album is as well and you can join me in finding how just how high it does hit when "Strength & Resilience" releases on the 28th of February. TIME TO GET EXCITED.