Vol. 6-Toe to Toe

Bushman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 27, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Charm
• ASIN: B0000TPAGU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,969 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unusually Uneven, Uninspired & Unsatisfying. . ., November 8, 2005

By 

Achis (Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vol. 6-Toe to Toe (Audio CD)

I read an interview some time ago where a younger Bushman mentioned that his then how when he was coming up, his then manager set him up for a recording session with UK big producers Stingray Records. He said the Stingray crew were friends of his manager and she insisted that he go to record, and he did not want to at all, but he eventually relented and went to do the project.

The result was a very strange project called A Better Place which was released on Artists Only records in 2002. My Meditation is essentially a re-release of that album, far better mixed and cut to its absolute most polished finished project. . . And, at best, its just okay.

I just became a fan of the artist within the last 2 years and spent the majority of that time tracking down the rest of his albums, all of which, that I found, were of grade A material and hearing him often bump and grunt his way through some of My Meditation is just disheartening.

My Meditation could probably best be described as what could go wrong when a producer (or the artist himself) misuses Bushman's incredible baritone voice. Listening to the Tosh-influenced Back Weh Vampire and I can't imagine what either were going for with the downright bad singing on it. Same goes with the ultra mediocre Mama as well. Bloody City, hip-hoppish Gangsta Life and the beautifully written Doesn't Matter all come somewhere between below average and average. And of course there's the obligatory Bushman detour tune, this one being a Kenny Rogers cover, Love Will Turn You Around.

The good here is the album's best Fill My Cup and the original title track A Better Place. Let it be said that lyrically, I might go as far as calling My Meditation one of the artist's biggest achievements, obviously he wrote the tunes on the plane ride over, not sitting in Stingray studios.

Overall, as difficult as it seems to be for this artist to get out albums (when compared to many of his contemporaries), it seems almost a waste that one of the bigger chances of his career be spoiled by what appears to have been just an uncomfortable situation. Although, beautifully packaged and presented by Stingray and JetStar, My Meditation is easily the worst album of the Nyah Man's career.