Search - Lutan Fyah :: Healthy Lifestyle

Righteous Youths. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 09/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Meet my favorite 'new' artist! Richie Spice once sang there's a whole garage of rightwous youths, Lutan Fyah is without a doubt leaping ahead of the rest with his dedication and recent Sizzla/Luciano recording schedule. Healthy Lifestyle being (almost shockingly) just his 4th album release to date, Fyah is in the process of separating himself lyrically from nearly everyone in the ultra-crowded pack of young roots talent. The former baller is now armed with one of the deepest bags of lyrics seemingly this side of anyone not named Sizzla or Vaughn Benjamin in roots reggae.



Healthy Lifetsyle came as somewhat of a surprise to me especially when you consider that it is basically a combination between Fyah and the Xterminator label. An the X label had been on what had ammounted to a production hiatus (aside from the constantly busy Turbulence). The big man in charge, Fattis, picked an excellent artist to make his return with (now if someone could just wake up Bobo at Star Trail).



HL is definitely not the best work of Lutan Fyah, it fails to approach the almost imperial levels reached by sophomore and junior releases Time & Place and the awesome Phantom War, but he NEVER once fails to hit a certain level lyrically. Depending on Lutan for lyrics is about as sure of thing as depending on Bunji Garlin for hype!



The best tune here is probably the wonderfully full sounding opener, Thief in Jah Garden, which would have fitted somewhere perfectly on the stacked Phantom War. Thief is one of the most powerful tunes I've heard in awhile, yet it fails nicely in Fyah's range, it sounds like something only he could get across. Also check the excellent Rough in a Yard, which, as someone who moved back home this year, just hits the spot and it was the first tune here that had me focusing on every word.



Also check definitely the closing 3 tracks here, 3 of the best tunes on the entire album, particularly the scolding Naw Draw No Blood which find Fyah going Turbulence on you at times. Natural Herbs is the obligatory herb tune (guess they couldnt find Rounhead that morning) which is so laid back but sameway straight to the point that it becomes one of the better tunes on the album. The closer is the title track which sounds not like I'd expect it to, still continuing the bigger vibe from the previous tracks HL is just pure knowledge!



Overall, Healthy Lifestyle almost seems like an appetizer for a big meal (although the big meal was released before it in Phantom War), with just 11 tracks, you finally get going with it and its over! But definitely fantastic to see VP recognizing the younger and up and coming talent, I dont NEED a Sizzla or Luciano from them every single year (even though they're giving a Luciano next month), but just big big vibes and as Spice said, the selection is great. You wont pick one too much better than Lutan Fyah amongst them at all."

ITAL DIET

Locks Lion | Blue Mountain Peak | 09/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: Lutan Fyah has been a busy man in 2006. Apart from this, his first long-playing link-up with veteran producer Philip Burrell at Xterminator, he's put out the excellent PHANTOM WAR album for Greensleeves, as well as about ten thousand singles (only a slight exaggeration), and numerous one-off contributions like WHITEWASH WALLS for Blood & Fire's FISHERMAN project, and IF JAH IS FOR YOU for Lustre Kings' NEW DAY rhythm. You might expect this sort of schedule to impact the quality of the product, but in fact, Lutan Fyah, otherwise known as Anthony Martin, has gone from strength to strength, developing a very distinctive, immediately recognizable chanting style and accomplished writing skills, so that he can now be considered one of the major players in roots reggae, up there with the likes of Sizzla and Capleton and so on.



HEALTHY LIFESTYLE is another strong addition to the Lutan Fyah catalogue. What stands out to me - aside from the sharp songwriting and first class vocal performances, which are pretty much standard for this artist - is the very fine quality of the musical production. Of course, you'd expect no less from legendary collaborators like Sly Dunbar and Donald Dennis, but it has to be said that the Xterminator camp has turned out some pretty average material over the past couple of years. That's not the case with HEALTHY LIFESTYLE though. Check out the bare-bones NAH DRAW NUH BLOOD with its menacing marimba-style backing, or the classic, rich reggae sounds of THIEF IN JAH GARDEN and ROUGH A YARD. Overall, HEALTHY LIFESTYLE probably isn't quite as consistently brilliant as PHANTOM WAR - which was sourced from various producers - but there are still several outstanding highlights, including the effectively layered NO MORE SUFFERING with its great interplay of synth lines, guitar and backing vocals, or the tough NAH DRAW NO BLOOD, or the jaunty, uplifting BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. All in all, HEALTHY LIFESTYLE is a tight, well rounded collection, definitely not one to miss.



Be sure to check out PHANTOM WAR, as well as the best of the 7" releases like NOTHING WITHOUT LOVE on the Ice Berg label, ANYTHING A ANYTHING for Tiger, and CRY NO MORE on the SPRITUAL WAR rhythm (a.k.a. Gyptian's massive SERIOUS TIMES).

"

Nca lifestyle

Mtm Masuku | Kathu, N Cape S Africa | 05/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this one is not for the ruffnecks. Lutan Fyah is like a teacher, all his songs are informing. I recommend the album for those who are into Rastafi, they should enjoy this concious albam.

my favourate songs are;you can do it; hound dog and natural herbs."