Title
Artist
Label
Format
Date

 Back In The Black Ark
The Congos
Médiacom
CD
March 15, 2010

The Congos Track list
  1. Chain Gang
  2. Celestial World
  3. Garden Of Life
  4. Charriots
  5. Forever Young
  6. Spider Woman
  7. Old Time Friend
  8. Great Powers
  9. Raining Night In Georgia
  10. Music School
  11. Crying Times
  12. Tip Of My Tongue
  13. Under The Sun
  14. Up On The Roof
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Essential -Votes: 3-
Very Good -Votes: 0-
Good -Votes: 2-
Average -Votes: 0-
Disappointing -Votes: 0-
A Waste Of Time -Votes: 0-

Total votes : 5
Rating : from 5 (excellent) to 1 (poor)
Vocals : 4 Backing : 4 Production : 4 Sound quality : 5 Sleeve : 4
What was supposed to be a coveralbum turns out to be really nice album with some old and some new tracks. The first track of the album is Chain Gang, which is a cover of the original soul classic by Sam Cooke. As a bonus the video of this track is also available on the CD. The album closes with another soul classic. It's Up On The Roof by the Drifters. There's also a decent recut of Brook Benton's melancholic R&B hit Rainy Night In Georgia from 1970, a song that Watty Burnett recorded for Lee Perry years ago. The Congo's recorded the album in their own Lions Den Recording Studio, while the mixing was done by Clive Hunt in the Mixing Lab studios. The appearance of the legendary Lee 'Scratch' Perry is rather poor except on these 2 tracks: Garden Of Life and Spider Woman.

I recently saw the Congo's in Belgium and I must admit they still have what it takes to make really nice Jamaican vibes. Strictly roots, deep roots music which hits you to the bone. The falsetto voice of Cedric Mython and the deep baritone voice of Watty Burnet make the perfect combination.

All in all it's fair to say that this new Congos album (actually the follow up to their excellent Médiacom release "Swinging Bridge") is above avarage and these are my 'must hear' tracks: Garden Of Life, Chain Gang, Old Time Friend and Music School.