GROUNDATION

Upon The Bridge

(p) 2006-oct-17

CD:

Tracklisting:

 
01 What Could Have Been  
02 Down  
03 Me Na In De  
04 Ratant Crow  
05 Nonbeliever  
06 Upon The Bridge  
07 Used To Laugh  
08 Fight All You Can  
09 Mighty Souls  
10 Sleeping Bag-O-Wire  
11 The Seesaw  
YOUNG TREE RECORDS, YTR-1230CD CD

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



Just the prospect of a new release by Groundation is enough to make my heart skip a beat or two. Groundation's original and brilliantly delivered rootsier than roots style has been part of me for some years now and their music has become a very fine companion, one who always warms you.

Being a big fan of their albums I have to say I was initially a bit let down by their latest album. The music on Upon the Bridge is heartfelt and pumping and swaying as always, but that might just in part be the problem. Groundation has always been able to reinvent themselves with every new release. Their second was better than their baffling debut album. Their third album, Hebron Gate, blew me away with warm vistas, tempo shifts and prominent guests and We Free Again rocked with brilliant panache adding backing vocals by Apple Gabriel. Upon The Bridge is a very fine album but lacking innovation when you know where it came from. At least that is what I felt when I first checked it.

Experience leads me to believe that a review of a Groundation release takes at least twenty or more listening sessions. All their albums have to grow on you before you can make up your mind properly. Upon The Bridge is no exception, I really do love it but still the thought that it could have been even better will not leave me.

When I learned that Upon The Bridge was to be flavoured with vocals by Ijahman Levi and Pablo Moses my expectations grew high-grade high. Both artists have a very distinguishing approach to reggae, very different but both seem to constantly be able to come up with beautiful melodies. And so does Groundation. When I received the disc I checked the notes to find out on which tracks the guests were featured. Disappointed was I when I first heard the seventh track, the first of four tracks with guest vocals by Ijahman and Pablo Moses. The track is very nice with perfect horns and very fine bass line, but it really is a Groundation track, Pablo Moses and Ijahman are only quietly chanting some sparse backing vocals or exclaiming bits of spoken word. The next track 'Fight All You Can' features Pablo Moses more prominently not only vocally but his style is also incorporated in some typical keyboard lines. 'Mighty Souls' again has both guests on backing vocals, but the true gem of the album is the delicious 'Sleeping Bag-O-Wire', a tune with that very soothing Ijahman feel to it.

For me the best songs of the album are the rocking 'Ratant Crow' and the afore mentioned very beautiful 'Sleeping Bag-O-Wire'. By the way, if anyone knows the meaning of the nonexistent word "ratant" please mail me.

The set is accompanied by a booklet containing a short fantastical story about a man on a bridge. This narrative has ideas and snippets of the lyrics of Upon The Bridge blended in. On the bridge the protagonist who’s main goal is to reach the other side, meets some other people, some help him, some are helped by him, some are illusive. What is to be found at the other end is not clear to anyone but the character reaches it just before the bridge tumbles down just like it happens in the last track of the album. Now that he is there he says; "I have no idea where the path in front of me leads or if I will ever return from where I came" (p12) and this seems to nicely sum up the state of mind of Groundation.

(Teacha Dan, November 2006)