Search - Culture :: Humble African

Strong start, weak finish

Tim Weber | Iowa | 03/07/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Culture's latest album, nearly an hour in length, has everything but the kitchen sink, and this lack of focus hurts what could have been a strong latter-day effort. "Humble African" gets worse as the CD goes along. The opener, "Why am I a Rastaman?" and the second song, "Revolution", are awesome. Also early on are the gentle, unusual "Rolling Stone", and the cool title track. The duet with Marcia Griffiths, one of the I Threes in The Wailers, isn't bad ("Where is the Love"), but would stand out more on an album that doesn't start to drift as this one does. Still, it's good through "Poverty", "Too Much Ginals" (what's a ginal?) up to the 11th track, "It's Hard to Live." Joseph Hill probably could have stopped there, because the last four tracks aren't much. "Fishes to Fry", is a sort of pop dance track that, like the next cut, "Home Grown" is not written by Hill. "Home Grown," one of three tracks with guest vocalists joining Hill (a bad trend), is certainly not reggae and doesn't work on a Culture album. "Poor People Hungry" features Tony Rebel (I have no idea who that is) in a dancehall number that I'm not fond of. Hill obviously is trying to branch out, but I can't stand dancehall reggae. The final track, "Nah Stay Inna Babylon" doesn't do enough to redeem the disappointment of the previous three tracks. So, some strong points, especially for an album this late in Culture's career, but I miss the backing vocals of Albert Walker (Culture has long since stopped being a "group"), there are too many different musicians and mixers involved to make this a consistent effort, there are some things that Culture shouldn't have tried, and at least four too many tracks. Decent? Sure. Five stars? Absolutely not. Three stars? Barely. If you want the best of Culture, try "Two Sevens Clash", "Harder than the Rest", "International Herb" or even "Good Things"."

The Biz-OMB

T. Reisinger | Herndon VA | 08/31/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Roots reggar nuff repect- max to the mind! Humble African blew me away- It is among the best 5 reggae songs Ive ever heard in the last few years. Haunting, inspiring, nuff words nah respect da Culture! 5 stars!!!!!"

Bearing the Reggae Torch

James J. Phillips | Tampa, FL United States | 09/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are some great tracks on this disk. Lots of roots sprinkled with a little dance hall and even a tune with some pop overtones (Fishes to Fry). Almost 30 years as a band, these guys are still making great reggae music and writing a variety of music, most with a healthy edge to it. Most of the cuts are strong and yes even the pop tune is great. A great vehicle for getting the word out and yes making a little money. Keep the great music coming. After listening to this, one realizes that reggae music is still very much alive."