Customer Reviews

Desert Road

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Justin Adams is a longtime member of Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart, so his work may have a Wobblish spine, but it would seem that while Wobble is the musical director and philosopher, Adams may be the heart and soul of the Wobblian diversity and lives the kind of diversity and border-busting that Wobble always hopes to do, but sometimes ends up being a little too white bread in the end.

The tracks on this disc fade in and out of familiarity, cutting and pasting music from all over within each track. Tracks like "Dark Sea" are rich and deep and airy as is its immediate followup "Dream of Flying." Later tracks like "Tafraoute" and "Wallahee" actually have more of a Deep Space feel, making it pretty clear that Wobble's musicians have as much to do with the sounds as the bass guru as well.

But forgive all of the Wobble references in this review, for Adams' disc here is strong enough to stand on its own. African rhythms, ambient, jazz--there's a little bit of each in every track. Definitely try playing this disc at dusk, and let the room get a little darker with each track until all you have to go by is the glow of the player. This is the Adams experience.

One could be forgiven for being shocked that a westerner managed to do this. After all, its very rare for outsiders to grasp a foreign culture so deftly, but Justin Adams does just that. He shows a real understanding and sensitivity to the cultures of Africa, but at the same time he's not afraid to improvise and throw in other influences. The result is magnificent. Long a fixture on the so-called 'world music' scene, this is Justin Adams first solo release, and if its any indication of his talents and leanings, then I eagerly await more.

The hypnotic, 'desert blues' sound will instantly be recognizable to fans of Tinariwen, the late Ali Farka Toure and other artists from the Sahara. Accompanied by a wide variety of strong, multi-cultural percussion instruments, Adams maintains skillful playing of his guitar throughout. Its the West African Tuareg sound meets rock'n'roll and Delta blues, with a bit of trance, bellydance and Middle Eastern music thrown in for good measure. And I'm not even sure THAT does an adequate job describing his music. Ultimately, if your a fan of the so-called 'African desert blues' coming out of Mali, Senegal, Algeria, Niger, northern Nigeria and that area, then you won't want to miss out on this CD. This is as good as anything to come out of the Sahara, and Adams clearly has a grasp on the cultures of the region.

I am really enjoying my Desert Road cd by Justin Adams. It's not every day you come across a cd that takes you on a trip with Middle Eastern flavor, tribal beats and the overtones of Blues and Rock.
Anyone who is a fan of Robbie Robertson would most certainly be impressed with Justin Adams.

Justin Adams has definitely spent time studying the texture of traditional African music. YOu can hear strong influences from the likes of Ali Farke Toure and King Sunny Ade. There are some tracks that have a really bluesy feel to them while others sound much more traditional. If you are interested in African polytrhythms and how they influence modern music...you won't be dissapointed.

I am not a big lover of current pop music - in fact, I didn't like pop music in the old days. But this is an CD out of the ordinary, not exactly pop and not quite ethnic. A combination, totally unique. Instrumentation is excellent. You can feel Lawrence cameling into camp. In fact, I bought the CD as a gift for my niece. Recommended.

One could be forgiven for being shocked that a westerner managed to do this. After all, its very rare for outsiders to grasp a foreign culture so deftly, but Justin Adams does just that. He shows a real understanding and sensitivity to the cultures of Africa, but at the same time he's not afraid to improvise and throw in other influences. The result is magnificent. Long a fixture on the so-called 'world music' scene, this is Justin Adams first solo release, and if its any indication of his talents and leanings, then I eagerly await more.

The hypnotic, 'desert blues' sound will instantly be recognizable to fans of Tinariwen, the late Ali Farka Toure and other artists from the Sahara. Accompanied by a wide variety of strong, multi-cultural percussion instruments, Adams maintains skillful playing of his guitar throughout. Its the West African Tuareg sound meets rock'n'roll and Delta blues, with a bit of trance, bellydance and Middle Eastern music thrown in for good measure. And I'm not even sure THAT does an adequate job describing his music. Ultimately, if your a fan of the so-called 'African desert blues' coming out of Mali, Senegal, Algeria, Niger, northern Nigeria and that area, then you won't want to miss out on this CD. This is as good as anything to come out of the Sahara, and Adams clearly has a grasp on the cultures of the region.

There are a few similarities here in this hypnotic and mesmerising album ,with Michael Brook s excellent recording COBALT BLUE such as extensive and sweet guitar sounds blended with ambient elements.However with the addition of an edgy african blues sound in some arrangements of desert road and ADAMs deep vocals the result becomes more specified, wide and rich underlying mainly the direction to its eastern-african thematology and orientation . So many ethnic music colours and directions here , both western and eastern ,with a remarkable equal alternation between them surprises you, as it concerns JUSTIN ADAMs ability ,and intelligence to connect these elements succsesfully . IT IS A SUPERB RECORDING AND AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE .