Search - Richie Spice :: In the Streets to Africa

RICHIE SPICE NICE!

Locks Lion | Blue Mountain Peak | 02/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"IN THE STREETS TO AFRICA: Richie Spice finally graduates to the majors with this, his debut for VP - thereby qualifying for glossy packaging and even a bonus DVD - though in many ways this is very similar to his previous SPICE IN YOUR LIFE. Like SPICE IN YOUR LIFE, IN THE STREETS TO AFRICA is basically a collection of singles of various vintage, a couple of combination cuts, and a sprinkling of new tunes appearing here for the first time.



Richie Spice, a.k.a Richie Bonner, has rarely been sighted outside the studios in the last couple of years, and chances are good that if you're into reggae, you'll already be familiar with several selections, including the excellent Bobby Konders-produced OPEN THE DOOR and the massive YOUTHS DEM COLD (based on Johnny Osbourne's classic TRUTH & RIGHTS, of course), as well as definitive vocals for Down Sound's MAROON rhythm (the very spiritual, very beautiful MOTHERLAND CALLING) and Vendetta's HEAVENLY (the romantic BROWN SKIN). You've also likely heard TAKE IT EASY on the MY BABY rhythm that backed Kiprich's smash hit TELEPHONE TING, which must be close to three years old now. GROOVIN MY GIRL, which actually made it onto Richie's first album, UNIVERSAL (released back in 2000, if I remember rightly), is even less fresh.



Fortunately, the new material is all first rate. Highlights are the excellent minor key masterpiece SUNNY DAY, two great lovers lyrics, UPTOWN GIRL and BABY FACE featuring the Bonner brothers, Spanner Banner and Pliers, and the very melodic, motivational opener, GET UP. There's also a follow up to the huge hit MARIJUANA, the blazing HIGH GRADE, and a combination with the late and very great Joseph Hill on DIGITAL WAYS - amazing to hear how the Culture singer's voice survived almost entirely intact right up to the end. BABYLON A GALONG and CAN'T STOP LOVING JAH are also solid.



Probably the biggest surprise is the bonus DVD. More often than not these so-called bonus discs are throwaways, but VP has done a great job here. Included are videos for BROWN SKIN, OPEN THE DOOR and YOUTHS DEM COLD, and a well-made documentary featuring interviews with Richie and his family and friends. Best of all is a great street-side live session featuring just an acoustic guitar, two hand drums and a backing singer, and taking in favourites like BLOOD AGAIN, EARTH A RUN RED, GHETTO GIRL and BROWN SKIN. This is easily one of the best live performances I've heard from a roots reggae artist in a long time, even if some elements are obviously staged - Richie Spice is really feeling the vibes here.



On the whole, IN THE STREETS TO AFRICA probably isn't the classic long player that this artist is clearly capable of delivering. It feels a bit patched-up at times for sure, and almost half the playlist is previously released. On the other hand, with some crucial new cuts included and a bonus DVD that is actually a bonus for once, IN THE STREETS is definitely worth your hard earn-eds. Don't miss it.



Also, watch out for more Richie Spice in April, when the very much less than reliable Penitentiary label has something called MOTHERLAND AFRICA scheduled for release. Hmmmmmm...??"

Its Burning!. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 02/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While the year 2007 continues to line itself up there are several high-powered albums set to be released this year. Besides the expected new releases from Bounty Killer, his (ever shrinking) Alliance, Lady Saw, Elephant Man and the allowance of Sizzla's 3-4 albums, also perhaps in the offering are albums from, among others, Capleton, Assassin, I-Wayne, Chuck Fenda and the inevitable Aidonia and Mavado debuts. However, amongst roots reggae-heads, perhaps no album (besides maybe Jah Cure's first post-release album) carries more hopes and anticipation than those of Richie Spice's fourth full length studio album and debut on reggae major VPRecords, In the Streets to Africa. With 2006 proving to be one of the most pivotal years of Spice's career, as he ultimately established himself into the next echelon of roots singers and an almost guaranteed hitmaker in JA, it was only natural that he would be the next big artist of the few who gets a deal in reggae music, and the result is the somewhat complicated In the Streets to Africa.



Richie Spice is the younger brother of singers Pliers (of Chaka Demus & Pliers fame), underrated singer Spanner Banner (with whom he tours) and lesser known do Snatcher Dogg and he has without a doubt come out of that shadow (if he were ever in it) to become one of the most in demand local artists in all of reggae music. Internationally, he has gained a mass attention due to the release of MASSIVE tunes such as 911, Blood Again, Marijuana, Righteous Youths, Ghetto Girl and his biggest hit to date, the epochal Earth a Run Red. His popularity reached such an unusual level after building it (it almost seemed like Spice left the island and went on tour and returned 20x bigger than when he left!) that upon signing Spice to a multi-album deal, VPRecords almost immediately re-released his only 2 year old third album, the poorly distributed, yet LOADED Spice in Your Life from his base label, Fifth Element (VP also released FE's I Swear riddim a couple of years earlier).



For his own part, Spice has become one of the more visible artists in Jamaica appearing on all the big shows and nearly every big roots riddim to emerge over the past 3-4 years. He, along with former stablemates Chuck Fenda and Anthony Cruz put Fifth Element on the map as one of the big emerging roots camps and further solidified reggae music's return to roots. His own style is something that I call right in the middle. Taking two ridiculous extremes in terms of voice; Jah Cure's beautiful shattering unearthly stone vocals on one end and Luciano's deep and mellow vibes on the other, Richie Spice's soulful wail is part Cure and part Luci. His style of writing is close to one of his peers, singer Bushman in that they both tend to write about on earth, tangible situations and problems. Spice, probably from growing up with his family has that start quality however, besides making beautiful beautiful music and staying far away from Jamaican tabloids, Spice, however, manages to stay firmly in the limelight.



The much anticipated In the Streets to Africa is somewhat of an odd album. It harkens back to the era of mid-late 90's dancehall albums which were as much compilations as they were actual albums. Fans of Spice might actually come away disappointed for awhile while catching the vibes from In the Streets to Africa. I, myself was included in that group and it took about a week of straight listening to truly appreciate the album, I had heard MUCH of the material before, and at this level, that isn't necessarily the best approach to take.



Despite that fact, that, ultimately doesn't take too much away from the album at all, the songs are still easy to appreciate (I'm just thankful VP didn't role out Folly Living for this one as soooooooo many compilations from the past 3 years have done.). What I'm begrudgingly calling the album's best track is official first single, Brown Skin over Vendetta's brilliant Heavenly riddim. Brown Skin is about as POWERFUL of a love song as you might find in all of modern roots reggae. The very fact that it managed to distinguish itself on the Heavenly which backs many strong tracks is force enough in itself, however, standing on its own merits alone, Spice absolutely hit a winner the second he stepped out of Vendetta's booth.



Continuing along that same vibes, In the Streets to Africa is an album full of wonderful lover's material. Check the wonderful previous single, Groovin My Girl. The song kind of gets overlooked besides the three other big lover's tracks here, but definitely holds its own amongst them (even though it was actually on Spice`s second album, Universal from 2000). Check the almost over-abundance that is Baby Face which features Spice's two older singing brothers Spanner Banner and Pliers. The song, an odd combination between brothers is MAGICAL. it's a lovely idea and a powerful vibes and definitely a potential singing as VP continues to promote the album, it would be wonderful to perhaps see the song performed live one day as the brothers Bonner shine on the tune. The additional lover's tune on the album is the previous hit single Uptown Girl over the State of Emergency riddim. Not much can be said about Uptown Girl, it's a very very strong song actually uplifting the Black woman, very mandatory selection from In the Streets to Africa.



Other standouts include Motherland Calling from Downsound's Maroon riddim, which was definitely one of my favorites from the strong strong nyah backed riddim. Of course Massive B's Youth Dem Cold we've all been vibing to for a while now, still a very big track and one of Spice's career best (it actually sounds like something that would have been better placed on the Spice in Your Life album; and check Take it Easy from the (Telephone Ting) My Baby riddim, again, we've all grown quite fond of the tune by now.



However, when you look at the track listing for In the Streets to Africa, for heavy reggae fans, one track will undoubtedly stick out on paper alone. The downright brilliant Digital Ways featuring the late great Father Culture himself, Joseph Hill. We lost Mr Hill last year but its because of wonderful material like Digital Ways, a call to not forget the ways of old, that he shall never be forgotten, and the well versed Spice definitely holds his own with the legend. Digital Ways definitely the biggest surprise from the album and a check to make sure that you're still paying attention.



Also, I'd be doing you a disservice not to mention the two openers, both Get Up and Open the Doors are wonderfully strong tracks and an excellent way to get this album kicked off to a fine start. Babylon a Gwaan is also a very very strong track and is probably my third favorite here overall, after Brown Skin and Digital Ways. Also present in the earliest release is a very useful DVD featuring behind the scenes material of Spice, videos and performance bits. The CD/DVD combination is becoming increasingly common in music and reggae has jumped on that train as well with VP doing fine jobs on this one, as well as Tanya Stephens' Rebelution and Soca and Reggae Gold 2006 albums.



Overall, if you haven't been listening to Richie Spice much over the past couple of years (then you probably won't have read this far into this review) then you will LIKELY be even more fond of the album than I am. It is that strong of an album and actually through several listening sessions with it, it got stronger and stronger as I started to look at it as a whole and not just a collection of singles. Blame does have to go somewhere for failure to deliver more fresh material, while that rarely is a problem in reggae-circles to date, as we enter a stage where more and more money is spent on the vibes, you almost have to deliver that fresh batch to fulfill the title `new Richie Spice album', where before, we were just happy that our favorite artist had a new album out. Fans you'll still check this one out of course and new fans you'll enjoy it more, either way, support good reggae music, pick up In the Streets to Africa by Richie Spice and tell them Bramoi sent you!

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