GROUNDATION

We Free Again

(p) 2004

CD:

Tracklisting:

 
01 Praising  
02 Dem Rise  
03 Suffer The Right  
04 Music Is The Most High  
05 Wish Them Well  
06 We Free Agian  
07 Smile  
08 Fourth Dimension  
09 Feel Jah  
10 Cultural Wars I  
11 Cultural Wars II  
12 Cultural Wars III  
13 Cultural Wars IV  
14 The Seventh Seal  
YOUNG TREE RECORDS / YTR 1223 CD

Groundations fourth studio album. This time with the vocal aid of Apple Gabriel and Don Carlos. Comes in a digipack.

REVIEW IN ENGLISH:
SOURCE: ROOTS MUSIC Reggae & Dancehall
AUTHOR: Teacha Dan
(The original Dutch version of this review was published in the Cannaball paper, may 2005)



Groundation's previous (third) album Hebron Gate is a delightful album and the first of the band to receive international distribution. What a revelation for all reggae and non-reggae listeners who heard the album being squeezed through speakers. This is good, every tone is right, every tempo change effective and the collective play and the breaks are unprecedented. Goose bumps galore!

Directly after this brutal introduction I tried to find the previous albums of Groundation; Young Tree (1999) and Each One Teach One (2001). After a long search they were found and listening to them made clear that the quality of Hebron Gate was no coincidence nor a chance hit.

Groundation is from California (US) and was founded by a number of Jazz students at the Sonoma State University. Here they met and besides creating jams and deep reasonings they came up with a technically and emotionally brilliant reggae sound. After setting up Young Tree Records and their first own release they quickly came in contact with a host of legendary Jamaican artists. This is the how it came to be that the following Groundation albums were mixed by Jim Foxx, known by the (dub) albums he mixed for Black Uhuru, Israel Vibration, Culture and Don Carlos, amongst others. For their second album Groundation was strengthened by Ras Michael and Marcia Higgs and on their third outing the party became even more colored with the joining of Cedric Myton (of the Congo's) and Don Carlos.

On We Free Again (late 2004) Don Carlos is there again and he is in his usual form of excellence. On this album Apple Gabriel is also added to boost the sound, he does a lot of backing vocals just as he used to do with Israel Vibration which gives the overall singing a haunting quality and real rootical feel. Apple's voice matches fantastically with the voice of Prof. Harrison Stafford, Groundation's main singer. Stafford is not a singer in it's purest form, in fact he does not even have a real singing voice. He delivers a sort of creaking falsetto sound with so much intention and emotion that it becomes like an instrument. One of the many instruments of the band played with virtuosity: beautiful, surprising and gripping.

The arrangements on We Free Again are again very good. The album has a higher tempo and a more rocking feel to it than Hebron Gate. The soundscapish panoramic vista's are fewer but goose bumps are guaranteed thanks to the typical ripping gripping Groundation sound. Put the headphones on or put the speakers at maximum and experience that music!

(Teacha Dan)