Save Us Oh Jah

Weteran światowego reggae – Cocoa Tea powraca z albumem w 2006 roku z wyprodukowanym przez ekipę Xterminator. CD ma 3 dodatkowe utwory, których nie ma na LP-winylu.

Save Us Oh Jah to radosna mieszanka riddimów i pełnych zachwytu tekstów piosenek. Zainspirowany występami na żywo na Jamajce, czuć silny wpływ nowej muzyki na Cocoa Tea. Na płycie znalazło się sporo gwiazdy, w tym Sly Dunbar, Earl 'Chinna' Smith, Dean Fraser i Firehouse Crew.

1 Stay Far
2 Save Us Oh Jah
3 Let The Music Play
4 Indian Woman
5 How You So Hypa
6 Got You Now
7 Wave You Hand
8 Can't Tek The Fire Bun
9 Babylon Feel It
10 It Was A Charm
11 Don't Give Your Love Away
12 Biological Clock
13 Stop Him
14 Sex Drugs And Crime
15 Spin The Song Ya

"The combination of veteran dancehall-roots crooner Cocoa Tea and the Xterminator production crew — not to mention the participation of such A-list studio talent as Sly Dunbar, Dean Fraser, and Earl "Chinna" Smith — should have resulted in an all-killer, no-filler album. Perplexingly, though, Save Us Oh Jah is a disappointingly hit-and-miss affair, one that offers plenty of high points but also several flubs that are hard to explain. The album opens on an unpromising note, with the rhythmically disorganized and melodically haphazard "Stay Far," on which Cocoa Tea never seems to find the key center and the musicians never seem to find a groove. Things immediately get better with the title track and the sturdy, roots-wise "Let the Music Play" (which suffers only from the banal lyrics that have always been Cocoa Tea's biggest liability), and get even better with the funky and minimalistic reggae-R&B of "How You So Hypa" and the churning one-drop rhythms of "Wave You Hand." At several points in the program, Cocoa Tea's finger-wagging self-righteousness threatens to devolve into all-out Bobo Dread blood-thirst (note the hints of Bobo rhetoric on "Can't Tek the Fire Bun" and "Babylon Feel It"), and he's not above promulgating the usual "tricky woman" stereotypes either ("Indian Woman"). But there are some moments of real tenderness as well, and those Xterminator rhythms are able to cover a multitude of sins. Fans won't be disappointed."

(Review by Rick Anderson)

C r e d i t s

Neil "Diamond" Edwards / A&R

Deron D. James / Art Direction, Design

Robbie Shakespeare / Bass, Composer

Donald Dennis / Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards

Chris Meridith / Bass, Keyboards, Musician

D. Dennis / Composer

Sly Dunbar / Drums, Main Personnel

Kirk Bennett / Drums

Shaun Darson / Drums

Paul Daley / Engineer

Robert Murphy / Engineer

Newton Williams / Engineer

Philip "Fatis" Burrell / Executive Producer

Earl "Chinna" Smith / Guitar, Main Personnel

Mitchum Chin / Guitar

Courtney Edwards / Keyboards

Fabian Smith / Keyboards

Dean Fraser / Main Personnel

Paul Shields / Mastering

Cegricia Hamilton / Mixing, Vocals (Background)

Garfield McDonald / Mixing

Bongo Herman / Percussion

Martei Korley / Photography

Cocoa Tea / Primary Artist

Errol Hird / Saxophone