Customer Reviews

Transitions (Dig)

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

 

 

Wow. I've been waiting for this album for a while now, and I was not disappointed. Boston's soulful ska/reggae band delivers an amazing performance. Musically, it is much fuller sounding than their previous albums, with a tight rhythm section and awesome background. You can definitely see their growth as musicians in the higher complexity and skill of the horn players and more experimentation on the keyboards. Using his amazing, soulful voice, frontman Obi Fernandez gets deeper with his spiritual insightful and probing lyrics. This is an all around amazing album-buy it. Heck, buy it new and support some awesome guys that play amazing music.

So I saw these guys as the opener for Dave Wakeling's English Beat when they rolled through the Cat's Cradle last year. Now, as a father of three kids it costs my wife and I ten bucks and hour just to walk out the door, so we usually blow off the warm-up, but the song on their myspace was decent and I like the ska, rock steady sounds. They come out and look like the Bowery Boys from the old 40's movies- newsboy hats, pork pies and such and were nervous as heck. They won the crowd over after their first song and it was a great set. They were on the 3rd date of the tour and had already sold out their CDs, so I picked this one up on Amazon. It is a great record. The problem with most ska acts is the songs start to all sound the same, but these guys mixed it up plenty. Nice horns, solid vocals, some decent song writing-it's a winner. This is good ska and rocksteady, it's not punked up like the Bosstones, it's old school like Studio One, Clancy Eccles, and the vintage bluebeat years. Buy it.

PS come back soon guys and we'll pay the sitter whatever it takes!

You can't go wrong with this one. Every track is good. The lead vocal is great, the rock steady beat is fine, and the back up is tight.

This is a ska CD. If you looking for the faster ska, the more get up and jump, then this ISNT the CD for you. This is more like the reggae-ish, slower, laid back kinda ska. Still great horns and very good songs nonetheless.

I stumbled on this band listening to [...] (great free music website). There isn't a bad song on this album. I was blown away from the 1st to the last song. What I love the most though is the old Motown feel this record has. The music fits the name, the singer fits the style, & the band itself is just over the top incredible! This was the 1st album I purchased from these guys & 2mths later I now have 4! And if anyone is still kinda leary on giving these guys a chance...just consider who there signed under "HELL CAT RECORDS"! In case you don't know who we're talkin about it's the same people in Rancid, plus who already brought us Hepcat, The Aggrolites, among many others! Just check out there website if you need more credentials. Anyhooooo top knotch band, can't wait to see em live!

Westbound train are a talented Ska group out of Boston. They are tight musicians who boast a strong horn section and a great lead singer. His voice is reminiscent of Sam Cooke's, and yes i realize what a big compliment that is and would not issue it lightly. If you enjoy reggae/ska this record is a must.

I am sure there are people who may like this album, but I find it quite unimpressive. The lyrics are nothing special (that is to say, neither catchy nor clever), and the singer is neither vocally talented nor interesting. On the first listen, the disk seemed alright, but after some more time I just found the songs to be mediocre.

I like many groups from this genre, from the Slackers and the Aggrolites, to Hepcat and the Specials, to Derrick Morgan and Desmond Decker. This album isn't even close to work by any of these groups.

Perhaps the only song that I find remotely interesting is Soul Revival. Everything else is just lousy.