Freddie McGregor ADD

Review

Album Review: Mystic Bowie's Talking Dreads

06/20/2018

Mystic Bowie’s Talking Dreads is a homage to the long-lasting legacy of Talking Heads. In the 1980s, the music of Talking Heads was ground-breaking in terms of post-punk and new wave, and now in 2018 Mystic Bowie pays tribute to the foundational band in the form of a Reggae album dedicated to their greatest hits.

Nobody would have ever thought that Psycho Killer, Burning Down The House or Pulled Up by Talking Heads would make a fine Reggae tune or even be suitable for an album project this size. Mystic proves the opposite with his debut album. The musical cast of the album is almost a guarantee for quality: from veteran singers like Freddie McGregor to up-to-date artists like Tarrus Riley; from Reggae guitar legend Ernest Ranglin to Dean Fraser on the saxophone; and from Kirk Bennett on drums to Lincoln Thomas on guitar - both of whom have played for McGregor for decades - the album is a homogeneous masterpiece of Roots Reggae. It is refreshing and a welcome variety to hear those ornamented lyrics of Talking Heads singer David Byrne on 15 elaborate Roots Riddims.

The album’s instrumentals certainly lay the foundation for this great piece of art. However, it is Mystic Bowie’s voice that forms strange yet familiar sculptures of word power and sound on this solid musical soil. It is many things, but definitely not monotonous. Musically as well as lyrically as colourful and diverse as a Steep Pulse album and as spirited as the Wailers, Mystic Bowie’s Talking Dreads leads us into many different corners of Reggae music, allows them to shine in a new light and builds bridges from lyrics that originate from another genre with a similar mission. A Fusion worth trying for all who love either Talking Heads, Reggae, or both.