Richie Spice, younger brother of the legendary dancehall crooner Pliers (of Chaka Demus & Pliers fame), is now four albums into a career that seems to be on a solidly upward trajectory.
To his credit, on his latest effort he has chosen to focus on both conscious lyrical themes and rootsy rhythms that take full advantage of modern technology without losing sight of the one-drop verities of the old school.
Gideon Boot is full of uplifting messages and rock-solid rhythms, and if some of the songs seem to be just a bit on the facile side, well, there are several others that grab hard and hold on tight.
The title track nicely updates the "Johnny Too Bad" rhythm, while his version of "Bad Lamp" does the same for a classic Upsetters track -- an interesting and unusual choice for a cover version.
On "Getting Harder" and "Rise" his voice tends to drift a little bit flat, but "The Plane Land" is a wonderful complaint about constantly being searched for drugs in airports, and "Why" boils everything down to a spare and minimalist groove and lyrics that are beautifully sung.
The album ends on a touchingly hopeful and encouraging note with "Hang On." Richie Spice's heart is clearly in the right place, and when his voice is in the right place as well, the results are consistently impressive.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Babylon FallingBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Gideon Boot | Richie Spice | Play | 04:18 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Let's GoBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 04:03 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Wrap Up a DrawBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 04:08 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Getting HarderBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | World CrisisBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 04:02 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | The World Is a Cycle | Richie Spice | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Make Up Your MindBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | The Plane Land | Richie Spice | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Bad Lamp | Richie Spice | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | Living in Love | Richie Spice | Play | 03:33 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 12 | RiseBobby Dixon | Richie Spice | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 13 | Hang On | Richie Spice | Play | 04:05 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 51 mins | 119 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirk Bennett | Drums, Main Personnel |
| 2 | Mitchum Chin | Guitar, Main Personnel |
| 3 | Ariff Cooper | Audio Production |
| 4 | Paul Crossdale | Keyboards, Main Personnel |
| 5 | Donald "Danny Bassie" Dennis | Bass Instrument, Main Personnel |
| 6 | Bobby Digital | Audio Engineer, Audio Production |
| 7 | Bobby Dixon | Composer |
| 8 | Gentleman | Featured Artist |
| 9 | Kemar McGregor | Audio Production |
| 10 | Arthur Simms | Audio Engineer |
| 11 | Richie Spice | Primary Artist |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |