GENTLEMAN
Diversity
CD: |
2-CD: |
Tracklisting: |
2-LP: |
| 01 | 1-01 | The Reason | A-01 |
| 02 | 1-02 | Ina Time Like Now | A-02 |
| 03 | 1-03 | Lonely Days | A-03 |
| 08 | 1-04 | Changes | A-04 |
| 04 | 1-05 | Regardless | A-05 |
| 1-06 | Nothin' A Change (ft Professor) | A-06 | |
| 12 | 1-07 | Hold On Strong | B-01 |
| 07 | 1-08 | The Finish Line | B-02 |
| 14 | 1-09 | Tempolution (ft Red Roze) | B-03 |
| 17 | 1-10 | Along The Way (ft Patrice) | B-04 |
| 16 | 1-11 | Help (ft Million Stylez) | B-05 |
| 1-12 | No Doubt About It | ||
| 1-13 | The Ceiling | B-06 | |
| 10 | 1-14 | No Time To Play | |
| 15 | 2-01 | Another Melody (ft Tanya Stephens) | C-01 |
| 06 | 2-02 | I Got To Go | C-02 |
| 05 | 2-03 | It No Pretty | C-03 |
| 13 | 2-04 | Moment Of Truth | C-04 |
| 09 | 2-05 | To The Top (ft Christopher Martin) | C-05 |
| 11 | 2-06 | Fast Forward | C-06 |
| 18 | 2-07 | Good Old Days (ft Sugar Minott) | D-01 |
| 19 | 2-08 | Everlasting Love | D-02 |
| 2-09 | Distant Away | ||
| 2-10 | Shut Eye Country (ft Jack Radics & Luciano) | D-03 | |
| 2-11 | Bridge Over Wall | D-04 | |
| 2-12 | No Time To Play (remix) | D-05 | |
| 2-13 | Intensions (ft Rebelion The Recaller) | ||
| 2-14 | Thinking About You (ft Cassandra Steen) | D-06 |
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REVIEW IN ENGLISH: SOURCE: ROOTS MUSIC Reggae & Dancehall AUTHOR: Teacha Dan 
After Gentleman showed the world his seriously moody and pensive side on his previous album Another Intensity (Four Music / Bushhouse Music, 2007), I was kind of hoping for a better tomorrow. Alas, Gentleman's fourth is more of the same thing only this time around he baffles us with a staggering twenty-eight tracks! Germany's main reggae export has grown even more international with his signing to Island (Universal) which must be every reggae performer's dream. Unfortunately Universal failed to steer the album in the right direction and released a rather depressing set of songs. I would have jumped for some more fun and big tunes. Not that all tracks on Diversity are dead serious but they all suffer from a too serious approach. While we all know that Gentleman can really rip it up he never goes the extra mile on this one. He is almost always sparing his voice and stamina like he has to run a marathon next. This makes that even a those rare tunes with hard hitting riddims like e.g. 'The Finish Line' sound tiring, even boring. Being a Gentleman admirer I at first checked out the twenty-eight track double CD but it proved to be too much, maybe I was too tired but I, umh..., fell asleep. I then spinned the songs in the single CD order and it made the album a lot better and enjoyable. Now I heard the beauty of some the songs that were really drowned by the limitless supply of the double CD. Nineteen songs is still an awful lot for any album especially when the songs are not all that different, but at least now I was able to listen to the lyrics and the production and believe me, there are some gems to enjoy. My favourite tunes are 'It No Pretty', 'Another Melody' with Tanya Stephens, and 'Along The Way' with Patrice. 'It No Pretty' is also a single and accompanied by a gruesome video clip that was rejected by (nearly?) all television broadcasters. You can check it here (On VEVO, so not allowed to embed), but be prepared, it probably should have received some sort of age restriction. The theme of the video is clear and it is this kind of depressive despair that is also omnipresent on Diversity. For the vinyl junkies among us Universal released Diversity on a double album and also as a superior limited edition box set that holds not only the double CD but also all twenty-eight tracks on fourteen separate 45rpm 7" vinyl singles. Check the photo below. (Teacha Dan, June 2010) 
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