The Gladiators Droop Lion in center |
Reggae singer, Andrew
Brown, aka Droop Lion, could very well be the poster child for that much fabled
old soul who is trapped in a youthful body. Listening to him as lead
vocalist on the latest Gladiators CD, The Gladiators Featuring Droop
Lion – Back On Tracks, it is all too easy to picture him actively
partaking in a recording session with the group 50 years ago. It is truly a
spine-tingling, goose-bump-raising kind of experience.
Droop Lion’s searing, soulful
vocals blend in smoothly and perfectly with the mood and the message of the
original tracks, some of which were recorded nearly half a century ago.
“Perfection” was in fact the password used by The Gladiators and Droop Lion
while working on this project with genius producer and musician, Clive Hunt,
along with co and executive producers Cabel Stephenson and Michelle
Jovanovich.Gladiators drummer, Anthony Griffiths, stated during the recording
sessions that “every beat and note has to be perfect” and this CD has certainly
achieved that goal.
Recorded at Mixing Lab
and Cave Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, and released on The Gladiators
Featuring Droop Lion – Back On Tracks, represents a skillful
blending of the past with the present and this bodes well for the future of
reggae music.
It is as uncanny as it
is mesmerizing to listen to Droop Lion belting out original Gladiators
time-honoured roots reggae classics such as Bongo Red, Belly Full,
Burning And Looting, Looks Is Deceiving, Hello Carol, and Battle
of the Beast, injecting his unique brand of
spiritual energy while firmly holding on to tenets of the glorious past.
Droop Lion possesses a deep, provocative, timeless quality to his rich
vocals which fuses harmoniously with foundation reggae music and makes for
total listening pleasure.
His spirituality and
sense of occasion cut through to his very soul, enabling him to sing a song
likeBongo Red as if he actually participated in that dynamic
“walk on Sixth Street” and lived in an era in which he was not even born. He
effortlessly convinces the listener of his authenticity and it would be a
misnomer to call any of the songs on this 14-track keepsake collection a “cover
version”. Additionally, Droop Lion also shows his own mettle as he takes the
Gladiators on a journey by contributing his own original tracks. Among them is
the starkly hypnotic Ghetto Life, with its haunting refrain
that “living aint easy”, even as he extols the virtues of clean, caring ghetto
girl named Karen, who “a hold it down slum style”, but “her board floor shine
like Rome tile…you want fi see how she take care of her child…It’s ghetto
life….”
With an all-star cast of
players of instruments, including the legendary Sly Dunbar on drums, along with
second-generation Gladiator Anthony Griffiths and Wayne “C Sharp” Clarke; Clive
Hunt on percussion, keyboards and melodica; Robbie Lyn, Vernon
Sutherland and Paul “Wrongmove” Crossdale also on keyboards; Cabel “Jeffrey”
Stephenson, Noel “Scully” Simms, Alvin Haughton and Christopher “Sky Juice”
Burch on percussion and Jackie Jackson an d Daniel “Axeman” Thompson on bass,
it is hardly surprising that The Gladiators Featuring Droop
Lion – Back On Tracks , is a keepsake CD that will, like The
Gladiators themselves, stand the crucial test of time.
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