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Kingdom of Zion by Alborosie

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Kingdom of Zion by Alborosie

Kingdom of Zion by Alborosie

By Angus Taylor on Saturday, February 27, 2010 - Comment

Alborosie shows no signs of losing his touch.

Sampler

In an attempt to push the Sicilian singer-deejay Alborosie in America, VP has repackaged his 2009 Greensleeves long-player 'Escape From Babylon' as 'Escape From Babylon To The Kingdom Of Zion', including some bonus tracks. For the European market, these extras have been collected on this hard-hitting digital release EP.

Owners of Alborosie’s limited edition first album, 'Soul Pirate', will be familiar with his explosive emigrant’s-eye-view of Jamaica, Kingston Town. Next we hear a pair of typically reverential tributes to two of his beloved seventies and eighties artists. There’s a thumping cover of Steel Pulse’s 1984 favourite Steppin’ Out (with their remarkable-voiced singer David Hinds in tow). Then the hushed-toned Barry Brown’s solemnly-paced Bunny Lee 1979 production Enter The Kingdom Of Zion is sampled for the up-tempo but equally heavy Kingdom Of Zion. Rub A Dub Style is fairly self-explanatory, letting Pupa freestyle over a beefy early eighties type rhythm. Finally, Blue Movie Boo is a departure into nineties style smutty dancehall – tellingly he describes it as a "futuristic ting"- aimed at the party crowd.

There's none of the existential introspection which veined the rest of 'Escape From Babylon': this is more of a straight-up sound system vibe. Alborosie remains an uncommonly consistent if rarely surprising artist and, at the time of writing, he shows no signs of losing his touch.