Search - Wailing Souls :: Face the Devil

What the Devil?

home-body | northern california,usa | 10/01/2000

(2 out of 5 stars)

"When I discovered that a reissue of old Waiing Souls music was available I immediately purchased it. I expected to listen to some wonderful undiscovered gems - I was suprised. The good news is the music is engineered by Scientist and includes some key dubs. The bad news is this is not some of the band's better material. I presume the back up band is The Roots Radics. The Souls have recorded some excellent albums with The Radics but this is not one of them. The songwriting and the music both are weak. There are some bright spots, however. One highlight is the song "Time is Important." This is an awesome song and has a very uplifting beat. Unfortunately this is one of the few high points on this recording. Trojan records threw this package together quickly and it shows. For instance, The dub that follows the opening tune, "Face the Devil," is "Why No Dub," not "Face the Devil Dub." Why follow a song with the dub to a differnt song? It doesn't make sense. And, the recording sounds as though it was mastered under the muddier waters of The Carribean Sea. My advice to those who are looking for a good Wailing Souls album - Skip this one! If your looking for other excellent recordings by the Wailing Souls but already own "FireHouse Rock," buy "Bredda Gravalicious," or their new release, "Equality," or their 1976 self- titled album which has just been re-released. If you buy one of these albums instead, you won't be asking yourself, "What the Devil, did I spend my money on this one for?" Respect!Mark "Homebody" Groesbeck"