Humble African

Culture | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 1, 2000)
• Original Release Date: July 25, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vp Records
• ASIN: B00004UEPC
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,512 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bearing the Reggae Torch, September 11, 2001

By 

James J. Phillips (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Humble African (Audio CD)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ~True Roots~, September 14, 2000

By 

Shairie (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Humble African (Audio CD)

Humble African is what Roots lover crave! A must for the collection!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong start, weak finish, March 7, 2001

By 

Tim Weber (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Humble African (Audio CD)

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".