BUJU BANTON
Friends For Life				(p) 2003-feb
	CD:	LP:	TRACKLISTING:
	01	a 01	Paid Noy Played
	02	b 06	Tra La La
	03		One To One
	04	b 01	Exerpt Of A Speech By Marcus Mosiah Garvey
	05	b 02	Up Ye Mighty Race
	06	b 03	All Will Be Fine (ft Sons And Daughters Choir)
	07	b 04	Maybe We Are
	08		Mama Africa
	09		Hooked On The Love
	10	a 03	Get It On (ft Wayne Wonder)
	11	a 05	Friends For Life
	12	a 04	Good Times (ft Beres Hammond & Fat Joe)
	13		Damn
	14		La Da De Da
	15		Feeling Groovy
	16		Pensive Mood
	17		Spectacular
	18		What Am I Gonna Do (ft Nadine Sutherland)
	19	b 05	Mr Nine
		a 02	Teaser (ft Bounty Killer)
		b 07	Lame Thing	BACK
6674-2 (EC)				CD: € 19,90
83634-1 (US)				LP: € 15,90
Executive producer: Donovan Germain (Penthouse). Produced by Mark Myrie (Buju) together with Donovan Germain. The European CD is released by Dutch Anti, inc in collaboration with Penthouse. The US vinyl pressing is a collaboration of VP Records and Atlantic (an AOL Time Warner Company) together with Penthouse and Gargamel. Keep your eyes open for other pressings as well, as there seem to be eight (!!) different CD releases of the CD worldwide. REVIEW IN ENGLISH: SOURCE: ROOTS MUSIC Reggae & Dancehall AUTHOR: Douweh Congo Buju Banton: Friends For Life Almost 3 years ago Buju released his Unchained Spirit album. It was an album full of daring experiments with acoustic songs, ska tunes and even a (more or less) punk-rock stomper. Although it received critical acclaim, commercially it didn't do as well as expected. This time around Buju and his crew feel that the time is there to bust out big. With Sean Paul, Shaggy, Lady Saw, Bounty Killer and Buju's former spar Wayne Wonder charging the Billboard charts it might just be the time for Buju to rekindle his international reputation. His new album Friends For Life is supposed to do just that. Dancehall beats with a strong leaning towards Hip-Hop dominate some key tracks and will surely go down well in the clubs. Even a collaboration with the Puerto Rican/American rapper, Fat Joe is not shunned. Add to this Buju's take on the Diwali riddim and you realize that Buju is prepared to win back his original dancehall audience. But, fret not rootslovers. Where there is entertainment there must also be education! This time around we hear a speech by Marcus Mosiah Garvey, followed by the beautiful 'Up Ye Mighty Race'. 'Mama Africa' pays tribute to Peter Tosh and 'Mr. Nine' (on the Tune-in riddim) warns all the rude boys to put down the gun. Then there are also the "feel good" tunes by which we have come to know Buju. 'One to One' rides the same riddim as Sizzla's 'Thank you Mama' and the Duke Reid ska era is revived with 'Feeling Groovy'. The one track that will definitely go down well on Jamaican radio is the epic 'All Will Be Fine' with the Sons and Daughters Choir of Jamaica providing the angelic bombast to complement Mr. Banton's own deep raspy pipes. All in all this is an all round diverse album which will hopefully please music lovers on all different levels. (Douweh Congo)