Chris Murray's albums are turning into an exercise in frustration. Not because the material isn't great -- in fact, it's amazingly consistent in its very high quality. Murray has an incredible ability to write ska, reggae, and rocksteady songs that sound like they bubbled up from the steaming streets of 1960s Jamaica, and he sings them in a wonderfully rich and confident voice. The problem is that his solo albums have all followed in the lo-fi footsteps of Four-Track Adventures of Venice Shoreline Chris, his solo debut (which consisted entirely of homemade demos recorded on a crappy four-track cassette recorder). This means that Murray's brilliant songs and great voice are all but buried under background noise, tape hiss, and microphone distortion. Raw takes that practice to its logical conclusion, and actually consists of tracks recorded on a handheld Walkman. Yet the album is so filled with irresistible musical pleasures that there's simply no way to give it anything less than a rating of "excellent." From the melancholy bounce of "Home" ("I want to go home, but home has gone away") to the live rendition of "Rock Steady" (previously recorded on Four-Track Adventures) that closes the album, Murray's melodic gift will have the most snobbish audiophile nodding and foot-tapping along. And hoping that someday he'll see his way clear to giving these songs the full-band arrangements and production quality they deserve. ~ Rick Anderson
Recording information: Voodoo Lounge, San Francisco, CA (06/29/2001).
Personnel: Neville Staple (vocals); Alex Desert, Deston Berry, Bison, Ian Ashley (background vocals).
Additional personnel: Neville Staple (vocals); Deston Berry, Alex Desert, Bison, Tina Olsen, Angel Mowbray, Ian Ashley (background vocals).
(*) MP3 for this song is from a different CD. Listen to the sound sample to be sure this is the version you're looking for.
Raw Music Review
Customer Raw Reviews
Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)
One man, one guitar, 14 incredible songs! Famous Canadian ska artist and song-writer Chris Murray delivers big with just the use of his vocals and an acoustic guitar in this 14-track album.
Although the sound quality could have been better, it's home-made simplicity gives it all a more genuine, relaxing feel of an artist going back to his roots and able to capture your attention with his talent.
Admittedly the choruses are a bit repetitve, especially in the song "We Do the Ska"...where the phrase is repeated way too many times. But songs like "Rasta Man" "Home" and the sing-along "Rocksteady" will make you wanna grab ur guitar and ska it up along with him.
This is a must for any ska/reggae lover, or aspiring ska-musicians, since listening closely to the guitar one can pick up the technique and different strums involved. This album shows that all you need is passion for the music and a guitar to make sweet-sounding ska and reggae. Oi!
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