Revolution

Performer: Alpha Blondy
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel: Alpha Blondy (vocals); Julie Mourillon (guitar); Michel Godard (tuba); Patrick Artero, Lionel Jouot, Manu Dibango (horns); Samuel Kone (drums). Recording information: A.D.S; EMI Pathe Marconi; J.B.Z. Arranger: Alpha Blondy. After the critical acclaim Alpha Blondy received from Apartheid Is Nazism, he was quick to put out another album the following year. Perhaps he should have taken more time. While Revolution has some great tracks like "Sweet Fanta Diallo," "Blesser" and "Jah Houphouet Nous Parle," the first three tracks, the rest of the album just doesn't make any sense. There's the attempt at rock & roll on "Rock and Roll Remedy," but the glam-metal guitar and '80s synth fall flat, and more importantly, they sound way out of place. On "Miri," we get an attempt at a ballad, but it sounds more like bad karaoke than the great music Blondy is capable of. The most interesting and experimental track is the ten-minute "Jah Houphouet Nous Parle," in which Blondy takes a tape of a speech given by the former president of the Ivory Coast, M. Felix Houphouet Boigny, and puts it to some sleak, pulsating music. Unfortunately, if you don't speak French, you won't be able to understand the speech, which Blondy calls a "masterpiece." This album unfortunately does not deserve that same distinction. ~ Matthew Hilburn

Neither Jamaican (he was born and raised on the Ivory Coast and educated in New York), nor strictly a Rastafarian (he sings of Jah but holds ecumenical religious views), Alpha Blondy is one of the great roots-reggae artists. A musical disciple of Bob Marley, Burning Spear, and other progressive reggae singers, Alpha Blondy began recording his politically conscious music in the 1980s, and quickly caught on with international audiences, due in part to his penchant for multilingual singing and a compassionate world view.

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