Search - Various Artists :: Consuming Fire

This One? I Like. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 12/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although its not all that common and is actually quite rare, sometimes even with the massive amount of music that I listen to, I do happen to run into something that catches me completely off guard. Either something I just picked up, just because, or something which I wasn't expecting to enjoy all that much that sneaks in and turns itself into a winner. Such is the case with the Consuming Fire riddim, the latest offering from legendary dancehall producer Augustus 'Gussie' Clarke. The Music Works cheif has made an extraordinarily beautiful riddim and assembled an equally fine roster of artists to voice it as well. The result is one of the better produced riddims and riddim albums of all of 2006.



With the serious saturation, and some may argue of the OVER saturation, of these types of albums in reggae music, a producer getting his riddim to standout, particuarly amongst non reggae fans is a very difficult thing. Every year you see dozens of riddim album which go virtually unnoticed by the masses, even here, where the largest fanbase is. The art of making a standout riddim has even become more and more difficult these days than in the golen age of reggae music with the dilution of the talent base as well as the producers themselves.



Luckily, master producer Clarke has long had experience in making some of the finest material the genre has ever seen and has been serving on productions for over 30 years. Most notably being the architect of two massive riddims, the Rumours, which spawned Gregory Isaacs huge hit of the same name and the Full Up, most notably used to back the Mighty Diamonds' MASSIVE Pass di Kouchie. As new producers continue to pop of every day, Clarke is one of the ones who are definitely no come lately and has withstood the test of time making big successes out of not only himself and his label, but many of his artists and musicians as well.



The Consuming Fire a beautiful piece! Its built on top of a nice piano and nyah drum backing, which is somewhat out of character for Clarke, but right in the range for master drummer and arranger, the legendary Bongo Herman who lent his talents to the riddim. The riddim sounds not too much unlike recent riddims such as Vendetta's Seasons or the Reflections riddim from Moses. And the real big story here is the roster assembled by Clarke covers a great deal of the lineage in reggae music, from artists such as Freddie McGregor whom Clarke has continually voiced over the years, to the unknown and up and coming such as Lil Joe.



Lil Joe actually owns the first single here, the wonderful Not Good At All. Seeking to establish himself amongst some of the finest roots talent out there, Lil Joe lays a BOOMSHOT on the Consuming Fire with Not Good At All, possibly scoring the big hit which reggae careers so desperately need so early out of the gate. The tune is immediately followed by Do You, the wonderful track from demonically wicked lyricist Tanya Stephens on a track which apparently just missed the deadline for her recent huge album, Rebelution.



Going through the entire album you quickly discover the strength of he riddim as well as the strength of the artist selection of Clarke. There are no bad songs on the Consuming Fire, instead, each song has a well powerful base and each of the artists do an excellent job with their tunes, respectively. Check Blood on Dem Nozzle by Chuck Fender and Sorry by Turbulence. I bring these two up together because for some reason, I haven't been exactly impressed with either of the two as of late, but both tunes find them somewhere near the height of their skills, particularly Fender, whose tune is amongst the finest on the riddim altogether.



Definitely give several listens to Chanting by the the up and coming Katalys Crew. Chanting is a top notch track for the new Xtian Gospel reggae crew (and to anyone who may know who Pressure Busspipe is, you have to hear the song, the lead vocalist, RADIC, sounds exactly like him, to the point where I originally thought the crew was some branch of the Star Lion Family). Of course check Luciano's Mighty God is He on a riddim which sounds as if it was virtually made for the Messenger; check the fine fine JC Lodge tune I'm on Fire, one of the signature tracks on the riddim (and probably where the name came from as she mentions the title in the lyrics), the song is teh finest vocal performance on the album altogether (and check Heather Cummings' speak out as well).



All that being said, My 3 favorite tracks on the CF are even bigger! Check Kalonji's Put All My Trust in Jah! The song is MASSIVE! And hopefully VP keeps it in mind (even for a possible title track) for his next for the label. Then check (and its nice how they put them all in a row for you) the unknown Shantia on In Exchange for My Vote, showing a young lady with a wonderfully conscious side, the song is MASSIVE! But the finest effort altogether on the Consuming Fire is without a doubt Natty King's big big tune, Care for Life. Care for Life is one of the best efforts of King's entire career and it almost seems like the riddim was made for the vocals. His style is forever similar similar to Luciano's however, in this instance, he outshines even his brilliant inspiration (and I looooooove the extended piano bridge to the record).



Overall, definitely recommending this one to all fans of modern roots reggae. What was most surprising was even still knowing the title, the Consuming Fire, but where's Capleton? You almost have to have the fireman over such a titled piece. But the ones who are here do a fine enough job to make the Consuming Fire riddim one of my absolute favorites of 2006!



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