Search - Sizzla :: Reggae Max 2

Not Necessary, But Definitely Not Bad. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 02/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As if the music racks weren't already over-flowing with Sizzla studio cd's and greatest hits albums, throw Jet Star's 2nd Reggae Max album for the artist right in the group, and hail it as nothing spectacular, nothing that's going to make the world a better place, but definitely an interesting mixup of the artist's work.



Sizzla's first tour of duty on the Reggae Max circuit was pretty good, actually, for the time, it was much better than this album is. . . I honestly don't know why this thing was released (besides to make money obviously) but it does have a place. If a person were to come up to me and ask me exactly which Sizzla album I would reccommend for them to get a feel of his style AS IT EXISTS TODAY (overall, I'd definitely say VP's Story Unfolds greatest hits double album) I might draw for this album, it has a definite mix of newer cultural material, dancehall material as well as a healthy dosage of his older styled roots tunes.



Easily the best tune here (and the best on any album it should appear on perhaps ever) is Thank U Mamma, which I was actually surprised to see here as VP basically seemed to lock off the tune for its own (but Sizzla, unlike most reggae artists, owns his publishing, so he can lend it to whoever he wants to). But you see the pure mix on the album, on one end you have total gems such as the classic Jah Blessing with Luciano from the Freedom Cry/Kalonji album, epic massive tune; then on the other end you have a tune that I've been telling everyone about, the cool love tune Go Somewhere over the nice Father Jungle riddim, beautiful song!



You have a song like the beautiful No Pain from the Black History album a few years ago, and the massive Blessing from the Red Alert/African Children album combined with classics such as Hail Selassie from Praise Ye Jah and Real and Good Ways. Like I said, the mix from new to old is very impressive. You even get into the areas where the artist drew criticism in the early 2000's, with slack tunes such as Dress Code and Give it to Dem. Then you have a beautiful tune in Half Has Never Been Told which sounds old but I can't put a finger on it, so I might go to declare it new, whatever it is, its a big tune and a plus to this album (incidentally if you know the tune, please do let me know, its mighty frustrating).



Overall, no, we didn't need this one, if you're a fan you already own most of these tunes on album or 45 (and if you dont shame shame on you), but for the newer fan, you might want to pick this one up when you find yourself in the reggae section in your favorite record store and see nearly 40 different Sizzla albums on the shelf. Maybe starting here isn't a terrible idea."