Issiah Mentor - Rasta government

The first time i heard of "Issiah Mentor" was when he was going to have an concert in "Santa Fe" where i was living a copula of years ago. Regrettably I could not afford going, i have not been to a reggae concert in ages (and i miss it). Since then I've been visiting his myspace page regularly (as always with artists i like who has no releases out) and come to appreciate his music a lot. While being unknown to most he's no newcomer, he started out as "Lily Melodie" in the 80ies and did some very current sounding dancehall music.

Since then he has converted to RastafarI, changed name to "Issiah Mentor" and did finaly release his first album, "Rasta goverment" wich i'm reviewing here. It's to my understanding that he took a break from music for some years before this transformation into "Issiah Mentor". This album often has an 80'ies roots/dancehall vibe to it. Things start with "One love" a song wich kinda personifies my previous statement, it's a good uptempo dancehall cut with a hint of melancholy. It's good, catchy and easy to like and kinda set the tone for the album. If you like this song you will love the album, if not just move on to another cd. Next is "Fist class" with "Turbulence", it's more uptempo dancehall with a rootsy feel to it, not bad but not a favourite either.

Skip ahead one song and we come to the titletrack, "Rasta goverment" wich is the best song on the whole cd, i absolutely love it. It reminds me a lil bit about the first track but is way, way better. The riddim is kinda simple and repetitive but ohh so good and proves that sometimes less realy is more. Issiah absolutely kills things vocaly and lyricaly. It's about how Rasta forces needs to take over the government and change everything that is wrong. This is the kinda song u can put on repeat and listen to 10 times over. The next song,"Cry Africa" sounds very diferent, less Reggae and more contemporary Pop. It's not bad but i doubt that the peopole buying this album will be very interested in it.

A few songs further in the album we find "Save me now Jah", a song from the perspective of a "Shotta" (Jamaican gangsta) and how he finaly realises the wrongs of his ways and how he can't go on like how he has. I dunno if it's autobiographical or not but it's an amazing and moving song which shows "Issiah Mentor" in his very best light. There's a few songs on this album who feels as if they are kinda an atempt to create a crossover hit. The only one of these i realy like is "Show them father" where he has managed to scale down the reggae vibes without loosing any of his apeal.

There is a few songs on here i don't care for that much, "Issiah Mentor" sounds the best when he doesn't try to update his sound. When he goes for a more R&B/Pop sound he fails to captivate me (most of the time). However, out of the album wich contain 16 songs there is just 3 or 4 songs im not feeling that much. That still leaves me with about 12 songs of high quality Reggae and 1 super great song. Once the math is done id say that the few minor distractions does not change the fact that this is a great album. Fans of late 80ies-early 90ies roots/dancehall will not be disapointed.