Customer Reviews

Zion Crossroads

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

 

 

i saw him in concert touring with the 'back porch blues' 8 years ago and his sound was haunting, authentic southern blues, he obviously did his homework. as he did in albums linking the blues to other african american music around the world. this time he links the blues to real jamaican reggae and its no stretch to hear that he has once again done his homework. "Walter Rodney" is a standout song. he is obviously a great student of music and this is a solid cd.

I've been an on-again-off-again fan of Corey Harris for the last 10 years. I liked his previous work, but I thought he was sort of plateauing in terms of musical development. But with this release, I stand corrected!

'Zion Crossroads' is Corey's first attempt at reggae and it's really good. Good new reggae is really hard to find today, especially the more traditional-sounding stuff. This isn't that horrible dancehall or reggaeton; it's just good old-fashioned reggae that is hard to dislike.

I didn't think Corey would be this daring in his musical genre shiftings, but I'm certainly glad he did it. I love the addition of the reggae musicians to Corey's usual sparse instrumentation.

Corey easily passes for a reggae musician. His vocals fit right into the music well. This sounds like it could have been recorded in the late 60s in Jamaica.

'Zion Crossroads' is one of the most relaxing, chillout, good-times albums of the year. I like listening to this in rush-hour traffic and mellowing out. I am hopeful for more of his blues/meets/reggae material. I hope this album does well; it deserves to.

If white musicians can embrace the black blues,and even mimic the inflections of Southern black dialect, why can't a young black musician dig into the broad spectrum of the African-American musical experience? Harris started as a country blues player and quickly rose to the top of the genre. Should he have locked himself permanently into the music from the 1930s? I met and interviewed him when he released "Greens from the Garden". He indicated to me that he had no intention of standing still. Amen! Since then he has mixed African-American, African and Caribbean influences into a wild amalgam. This album is seemingly offensive to some blues purists who demand the same old twelve bar blues and seem to look at musical diversity as a setback. Harris has long ago left them behind. He is not a racist, but he does want to keep his music appealing to the black community and the world community. He will not be relegated to the confines of only playing the old blues demanded by a small white audience, but considered to be irrelevant by contemporary black audiences. Unlike most black blues musicians, he has consistently maintained a diverse audience, with a large black following. This album is the real deal, vibrant, lively, exciting and true-hearted to the bone. Harris combines the depth of his world view and social consciousness with wonderful, hot beat reggae. As a an early fan and on-going enthusiasts of Harris' trailblazing musical adventurism , I celebrate this great record with JOY! It reminds me of the best musicians I had ever seen live-Bob Marley.

This is a great CD. He is not your traditional bluesman. It has a much stronger reggae influence than his other CD's (which should be obvious from the cover). There is a bit of an African influence as well. On his other CD's - you hear the reggae here and there or on one song or another - here it is the whole CD. As such, if you love reggae and the blues - go for it.

Corey Harris used to be an innovative blues singer. On this release he sounds like countless monotonous reggae artists including altering his vocal style to accommodate this recording. Sadly its reggae pulp.