Rating:
Genre:
Reggae
Release Date: 02/23/1999
Drummer
Sly Dunbar and bassist
Robbie Shakespeare deserve their status as legends of modern
reggae; as session players and producers they are either fully or partially responsible for some of the most powerful and enduring
pop music of the last 30 years. That said, the compilation albums they've produced under their own names have been wildly erratic in quality, ranging from essential to unlistenable. So any rational
reggae fan will approach this album with some trepidation. No need to fear, however; this is one of the very good ones. Featuring a tough,
hip-hop-inflected
dancehall sound that avoids the extremes of that genre and a winning array of A-list vocalists,
Hail Up the Taxi, Vol. 2 is an almost unmitigated triumph. Two tracks fail to impress: on a desperately ill-advised version of
"Night Nurse," Simply Red vocalist
Mick Hucknall shows that it takes much more than a good voice to make a good
Gregory Isaacs song; on the generic and enervated
"Rub a Dub," Dennis Brown demonstrates how depressingly far
the Crown Prince of Reggae's crown had slipped by the late '90s. But the covers of
disco and
soul classics like
"We Are Family" and
Hall & Oates'
"One on One" are much more fun to listen to, while
Yami Bolo brings the consciousness on an expert update of
"Is It Because I'm Black" and
Beenie Man does the same with the insanely swinging
"Fed Up." There's even a
dancehall version of
"Copacabana." Recommended.
~Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
;)
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