ANTHONY LOCKS

Cry Freedom

(p) 2009-mar-06

CD:

Tracklisting:

01 Coming Out Of Di Dark  
02 Forgive Me  
03 Know Your Self  
04 Cry Freedom  
05 Terrible Day  
06 Ha Li Ho  
07 New Year (ft Yah Meek)  
08 African Truth (ft Shocking Murray)  
09 Brothers  
10 A Breath  
11 Interlude (ft Simyan)  
12 Trod Inna  
13 A Woman  
14 Missing Those Days  
15 Only You  
16 Greedy  
17 Rockers Man  
MKZWO / ROUGH TRADE , MKZWO 016-2 (EAN: 4260125420961) CD

REVIEW IN ENGLISH:
SOURCE: ROOTS MUSIC Reggae & Dancehall
AUTHOR: Teacha Dan



Anthony Locks is a Jamaican who lives in the German city of Stuttgart who has been steadily making a name for himself as a performer in Germany and in the Netherlands. Because of his many stage shows over the last couple of years he has become quite well known in the scene around these parts. The reggae rebel's latest album Cry Freedom boasts seventeen self-produced tracks of modern roots reggae.

After a false start, it is not until the third song that Cry Freedom really takes off and the tunes get better in inspiration, interpretation and flow. There are quite a few songs built around some spot on observations, notably 'New Year' and 'Brothers' and these provide the album with a powerful edge.

Anthony Lock's reasoning suffers from some sort of schism. He claims he is an African and Israelite in 'Know Your Self' and 'African Truth', he calls on Jah and becomes mad at Babylon for trying to steal his Caribbean culture in 'Greedy'. Yet he lives in Europe and derives his income from selling his culture to the same Babylon he so despises. Seen?

Cry Freedom uses mostly original but also some borrowed riddims. The uncredited use of Dennis Brown's 'Hot Like A Melting Pot' under the above mentioned 'Greedy', a song about theft of culture, is inconsistent at least. On the 'Interlude' he uses a stolen a hip-hop beat (50 Cent's 'Candy Shop') and later he claims to be a 'Rockers Man'. Wha?

Though Cry Freedom is a lot better than your average self-produced reggae album none of the songs on it leave a really lasting impression. Still, there is plenty to enjoy on Cry Freedom. Nearly all riddims are crisp and bouncing and roots inspired and Anthony Locks knows how to make the most from his limited vocal abilities. He switches amazingly easy from chanting to deejaying and vice versa. He has a way with words and certainly writes interesting lyrics.

(Teacha Dan, March 2009)