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Experience Burning Spear

The Delite Rancher | Phoenix, Arizona | 02/10/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Burning Spear Experience" is a good compilation of contemporary Burning Spear. There is a taste of the 1980s and 2000s, but most of this collection covers what Winston Rodney was playing during the 1990s. As a whole, this three disc set offers a large spliff of Burning bliss. Highlights include 'Institution,' 'Cry Blood' and 'Happy Day, pt. 2.' While most of the music is straight up reggae, there are a few dub offerings like 'Pieces of Dub' and 'Jah Rasta.' Additionally, there are some live and alternative versions of songs. With a few exceptions like 'Marcus Garvey' and 'Slavery Days,' song writing has seldom been the primary attraction to Burning Spear. Instead, it is Winston Rodney's distinctive vocals and his band's sound which has mostly stayed true to roots reggae. When it comes to "The Experience," the large offering of song-oriented selections tend to lean towards the pop end of the spectrum and thus wash out some of the roots. In this respect, this may be a more commercial offering, which is after all the goal of most compilations. The third disc is a DVD which shows various live performances. While the sources are uneven, most of the video and audio is very good. Compared to "The Best of Burning Spear," "Best of the Fittest" and "The Ultimate Collection," the DVD is a major selling point for this compilation. Again, most material seems drawn from the 1990s - a good decade for the band but certainly not the strongest. (On a side note, there are some phenomenal unauthorized DVDs out there that circulate. A popular one is 1-25-81, recorded at Germany's Rockpalast.) As you may sense from my review, I believe that Burning Spear cut better albums before the 90s ("Marcus Garvey" + "Garvey's Ghost") and then returned to full form in the 2000s (Living Dub series and "Jah Is Real"). In any case, "The Experience" had some followers among the Grammy people as it was nominated for Best Reggae Album in 2008. All in all, "The Burning Spear Experience" offers an eclectic sampling of Winston Rodney's contemporary work."