Search - Gladiators :: Back to Roots

Don't Start Your Gladiator Collection With This One

Greg Ewertz | Palos Verdes Estates, CA USA | 06/28/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While I firmly believe the Gladiators are one of the best reggae bands around, and I like this album more each time I listen to it, I have to say it is not their strongest album. It is also not their worst. In fact it is a throw back to some of their earlier works, with a more rootsy sound and conscious rasta lyrics. Yet it doesn't have that cutting, ranking, skanking edge to it like most fans of the band are accustomed to. Dreadlocks The Time Is Now is my favorite album of theirs and in my opinion is one of the best reggae albums of all time(it's actually a compilation of their early work from the mid 70's). It is of course a 5 star album. I feel this one is about a 3.5. Yet, there are still a couple of gems to be found amongst the 14 tracks. "Marcus Garvey Time" (Track 1), "Prayer To Jah" (9), and "Streets Of Freedom" (10) are very solid cuts. And the last 4 songs capture The Gladiators live and are pretty sweet, especially their cover of Bob's "Talkin' Blues". If your a fan of The Gladiators, you definitely need to get this album, but if you want one and only one Gladiators album, try and get Dreadlocks The Time is Now on Frontline records. But it is a very tough album to find."

Good roots here

mrstillmanhr02 | new york, usa | 05/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"the gladiators released this album after being critized for losing their influential position in the roots world. in other words, the album was the group's attempt to prove their status as one of reggae's best band. and they did just that with this album. there are some old songs from the group's other albums as well as new ones on this album. the group does not hide that fact that they are highly influenced by bob marley. there are remakes of bob's songs (chatty mouth and talking blues) on the album. however, and i think it was a good move on the part of the group, they do not try to impersonate marley as so many reggae artist try to do but fail. i also recommend the gladiator's trench town (which was their first release and is a better introduction than back to my roots)"