If someone would have said a couple years ago that one of the best reggae albums that i would ever hear was by a German artist going under the name "Uwe Banton" i would have laughed my ass of and said they where delirious and out of their minds. This however, is now a fact and i can't praise his album "Jah Roots" enough. I'm kinda going thru some rough times at the moment and this album is performing miracles as far as getting me in a better mood goes. Take any Jamaican or international roots artist you want but nothing will beat this (a few selected may be just as good though) album. It's straight fyah and positive vibes from start to finish.
It start of whit a favourite (even though that is a kinda silly statement as all songs on here feels like favourites), "Don't Cry" about how folks shall not give up when faced whit hard times cause Jah is always looking out for his children.
"But JAH is not sleeping, he’s watching over his children While we are weeping, the comforter takes up our burden, saying: Don’t you cry, hold your head high, ‘cause JAH is standing by He lives in the I, not just in the sky, you got to give love a try!”
If you ever wanted an inspirational and uplifting song this is "THE ONE", next up is another gem who goes by the name "I know" who continues in the tradition of the above mentioned first track telling us that no matter how much evil there is in the world and how enslaved we are "the lion of Judah" will break our chains
"But I know That in spite all these things we’re gonna make it And all those chains that hold us the Lion Of Judah will break it Redemption come - Babylon your system must go down No matter how rough it may seem We still keep chanting JAH Word, Power And Sound"
Then a couple more great tracks follow until we reach song 7, the title track "Jah Roots". It's a great roots anthem, very catchy and a perfect selecta choice to get every rootsman up on the dance floor and rule the soundsistim dance. The song reminds us to always pay attention to Jah and warns about false prophets who may cloud our judgement. It's kinda uptempo and energetic while still keeping the thoughtful spirit who runs thru this great album.
Another song that catches your attention is the highly controversial "11th September", no matter wheter you agrees whit the lyrics or not it sticks to your head and is of the nature that you will hum along to by yourself, sit on the buss singing, I am shure y'all know what i mean.
All in all there is 17 songs on here and 1 interlude and even though i have not mentioned every song in this review there is not even 1 "filler" track on here, all songs are essential rootsreggae tracks worthy to be on here. Uwe very much has his own style of 100% uncompromising roots reggae but for those who want comparisons to other artists you can absolutely feel hints of Freddie McGregor (at his rootsiest moments) and Israel Vibrations (thinking mostly of the ending track "The goal"). There's not to many features on here, on 2 tracks Uwe shares the spotlights whit toasters. They are given the perfect amount of time to shine while still not outshining Uwe himself.
Well, i love this album whit all my heart but do not recommend you to buy it, I ORDER YOU TO!!!!! Who knew one of the best reggae artists around would come from Germany?
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