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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Status Quo- But Will it Sell?, November 21, 2006
Its difficult to get excited for any release by Sizzla. Generally because of his extreme recording schedule, often times there will only be a month or two worth of build up time to any given album. However, I must say the fanfare and critical anticipation surrounding his latest album, The Overstanding has been huge and buzzing for nearly 2 years now ever since his signing to rap mogul Dame Dash's record label, ultimately releasing the album through Koch.
There were local concerns as well as to how Sizzla, who is one of a very select few of artists who are UNIQUELY Jamaican, would crossover to the US market; also if he would somehow change his musical style. In the meantime, another of the concerns, whether or not Sizzla would be limited to exclusively recording for Dash have been flattened as he has continued to freely record and has released roughly 6 albums since the announcement of the deal through the usual 'suspects' (i.e. Greensleeves, VP, Jetstar etc.). Another of the concerns was could he actually sell records to a market which is nowhere near used to nor as accepting of his fiery brand of roots reggae music.
Sizzla's popularity here has been at an all-time high following periods of his career where his motivations for entering a musical 'experimental phase', during which he recorded many slack songs, were questioned constantly. As well as the immense critical acclaim garnered by 2002's Da Real Thing album, the effects of which can certainly still be felt today as he releases his major debut, The Overstanding.
The first thoughts here are that the concerns of a potential crossover attempt are almost immediately squashed by just looking at the tracklist of The Overstanding. This album is LARGELY constructed by years and years of proven hits which is what Sizzla had suggested it would be, as an attempt to see if fans abroad could accept the artist at his finest. But they made a little mistake in re-recording (by my ear) all of them! So you won't get the best versions of the tracks on The Overstanding, still it is a solid album.
The best track here, as it is on any album on which it shall EVER appear, without a doubt is Black Woman & Child. The song which is the title track of Sizzla's finest album (if they really wanted to present his at his best they would have just re-released that entire album and slapped 'THE OVERSTANDING' on it) will probably still be routinely available on reggae compilations 100 years from now, its such a powerful track (and my great grandson will be sitting here reviewing those albums as well!) that it has maintained a level of high reverance in all reggae circles and has to be amongst the first tracks considered when doing a Sizzla 'best-of'. The version here isn't too bad and still the lyrics remain untouched.
The re-recordings seem like they were done with live backing, which in certain situations can be very very good (particularly on Bushman's 2004 album Signs), but they are mixed here. Thank You Mamma almost seems like it was done in a club, STILL a powerful track, but I would have loved if songs this powerful, with as much new backing behind them were presented at their best. Solid as a Rock does, however, give the original a run for its money as it always one of the songs which seemingly roll easily off the tongue of the legendary lyricist.
Also check some of the 'newer' material ESPECIALLY the opener, the solid solid Take Myself Away and the truly divine Beautiful Day. I've heard both tracks before, and am impressed to see them amongst the ones drafted for this project. Check Break Free,(which I'm sure was on a recent album, I'm just too lazy to look for it) but is a nice bouncy and different roots track as well as the strong Pay to Learn.
The Overstanding draws 4 of its tracks from Da Real Thing album, as I mentioned, they are all redone, however, for what the album is attempting to do in exposing the artist to a wider fanbase, I think it was a good idea (not the re-recording part) to include those tracks.
Overall, of course recommending a Sizzla album to a Sizzla fan is like recommending a mouthpiece to a boxer: They'll already have it. But I'm VERY interested in seeing if the world beyond reggae heads will pick up The Overstanding, and perhaps go and then research the IMMENSE catalogue of Sizzla Kalonji. While being pretty much a middle of the road album for Sizzla in terms of quality, hopefully it will bring the world closes to one of the best hidden talents of all time.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just because it's Sizzla..., January 4, 2007
Sorry, you guys must not have much do to with your time than to right those overly boring right-ups. At the end of the day, the cd went in for a quick run through, then got put away. I don't care about all the cross-over ideas, the album should have been better. Period. I pulled one track off the album, and I don't believe I have to tell you which one that is. True heads will know.
Khader
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Re-Introduction of Sizzla, December 2, 2006
For the last 10 years, perhaps no artist on the planet has produced a body of work comparable to Danchehall/Reggae artist Sizzla Kalonji. Born Miguel Collins, his early albums "Praise Ye Jah" and "Black Woman & Child" established himself within the genre as a force to be reconned with, and by the time 2001's "Da Real Thing" was released, `dadda' had attained iconic status, both in JA and abroad. Despite over 40 albums to his name, not to mention the hundred's of 45's he has released, Sizzla has remained an enigma largely to the non-Caribbean public, particularly mainstream America. While dancehall has music has seen an unprecedented explosion in recent years, with more cross-over friendly artists such as Sean Paul, Beenie Man, Damian Marley and most recently Cham attaining mainstream success in the US, the same level of commercial success has not been attained for the reclusive bobo dread.
Enter Damon Dash, the former Rocafella CEO, whom after a public divorce with Jay Z, created his own Damon Dash Music Group (DDMG) in 2005. When he signed Sizzla following the 2005 Red Stripe Sumfest, it was met with mixed sentiment by the faithful Sizzla fans, who wondered if the conviction driven artist may have, as many of his contemporaries over the years have, sold his soul for commercial success. After DDMG was dropped by Universal, and Dash was left without a distributor, many wondered if the union of Sizzla and Dash would ever bear fruits.
"The Overstanding", which has at last been released on the independent hip-hop label Koch Records, is the fruits of their labor, and was well worth the wait. The 14 track album can best be described as the "re-introduction" of Sizzla. Here we get a high quality blend of new material, along with 5 of his biggest tunes, re-mastered as never heard before.
On tracks like "Take Myself Away", "Pay To Learn", and "Cost of Living" Sizzla flows back and forth in style from deejaying to his crooning falsetto against the backdrop of a slick fusion of reggae and hip-hop influenced beats. Sizzla also continues a recent trend of spectacular love songs for the ladies on "I Love You Baby" and "Thank You For Loving Me". On "Break Free", perhaps the most outstanding track on the disc, Sizzla delivers a modern classic that will make any rudeboy smile, against a terrific rocksteady riddim.
Many of his loyal fans may resist the re-mastered versions of "Solid As A Rock", "Give Me A Try", "Black Woman & Child", "Thank You Mama" and "Just One Of Those Days". While these tracks will certainly never supplant their originals, their inclusion is well arranged around the other tracks, and the overall quality is still top notch. The fact is that the album is targeted to a broader audience than his prior works, and Dash is clearly trying to promote Kalonji to American audiences, he may in fact be wise to show Sizzla at some of his best. By re-mastering the tracks, one doesn't get the feel they are listening to a recycled "best of Sizzla album". The new versions of these tracks in no way take away from the originals, with the exception of "Give Me A Try". The original had a somewhat snappy crossover appeal anyway, and really would have fit this disc better in its original form.
The crossover appeal of the album is more subdued than one may expect, and Sizzla is wisely presented here alone, with the only collaboration of the album being a second version of "Take Myself Away" at the end of the album, with the hip-hop group Curtains. By avoiding watered down collaborations with other hip-hop artists, the album maintains its quality as a studio set, rather than a B-rate mix-tape.
Like every disc Sizzla releases, there will be fans that maintain he fails to live up to the standard of his early works. This will always be the case -- this is not an indictment of Sizzla growth as an artist, but rather an unavoidable perspective for some, given the reverence with which those works are held. Overall "The Overstanding" is at its essence a roots set, and a solid one at that. This is also one of his most positive sets to date, and he avoids any of the controversial lyrics which have put under fire in recent years.
Whether the album will succeed in breaking Sizzla into the mainstream will remain to be seen. If the album succeeds in attaining commercial success, not only will Sizzla and Dash benefit, the entire genre will benefit. While very good, "The Overstanding" is not the best album of 2006 (Tanya Stephens' "Rebelution" wins that honor in a landslide), there may not be a more important work in terms of determining the commercial success of cultural reggae music in the near future. ****
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