Reggae on the Rocks: Voodoo, Sacraments, Oddities, & Other Holy Anthems

There are few live reggae albums worth owning. This is one of them. It documents the 1998 Reggae on the Rocks festival in Colorado, and the program includes contributions by Justin Hinds & the Dominoes, Majek Fashek and the Long Beach Dub All Stars, as well as the Haitian band Boukman Eksperyans and a local group called Heavyweight Dub Champion. Hinds is starting to sound his age, but he and his band deliver chestnuts like "Teach the Youth," "Let Jah Arise" and "Carry Go Bring Come" with the authority of experience and the energy of youth. The Long Beach All Stars deliver a nice instrumental and are joined by Bad Brains frontman HR for a creditable version of the punk reggae classic "I and I Survive." Majek Fashek brings an African flavor to the proceedings with his two tunes, and Heavyweight Dub Champion's "Whirlwinds of Revolt" nicely combines a Martin Luther King sample with a dark reggae/hip-hop groove. The Haitian aggro-beat of Boukman Eksperyans sounds a little out of place here, but it still sounds great. Highly recommended.