Linval Thompson ADD

Review

Album Review: Linval Thompson - Ganja Man

06/07/2024

by Steve Topple

One of the last living legends of the golden age of roots, Linval Thompson, shows his power hasn’t waned across his new album. Ganja Man, released via Irie Ites Records, sees Linval team up with some stellar musicians, including the Roots Radics, The Ligerians, and Dean Fraser. Then, with the inimitable Roberto Sanchez joining Irie Ites on the mix and master – the sheer quality of the record cannot be overstated.

The title track is a rapid-fire-to-winding dub-heavy track, then we soon move to Ruff & Tuff with its brooding minor key, evocative chord progressions, and stark arrangement. What Time Is It fills things out, moving into something smoother complete with gorgeous horn line, well-executed backing vocals, and rasping guitar.

Conscious Man featuring Eek A Mouse utilises some lovely 80s-style synths, while the drum line is heavy and reverb haunting, and Eek A Mouse brings his rasping, nasal vocal to complement Thompson’s brilliantly. The unapologetic Pol-Ice Man pulls no punches with its musical backdrop – relentless yet subtle, with an emphasis on the bass – nor does it with Thompson’s vocal, which is urgent and pointed.

Next, Trod Along’s arrangement matches Thompson’s performance perfectly: meandering yet with purpose where the relentless bass juxtaposes with the winding and poetic keys. Get Ready leans into the soul influences with its lyrical electric organ and call and response backing vocals. Ghetto Youth picks the pace up with some nice guitar skanking and detail across the engineering to give analogue vibes.

Tune In featuring Trinity is a slick and rub-a-dub throwback affair – unfussy yet masterful in terms of its effective simplicity. A gorgeous arrangement complements Thompson and Trinity’s vocals well. Ganja Man closes with Marcus Garvey Says, perhaps the album’s strongest track: an extremely impressive musical arrangement with stand-out guitar lines, but also Thompson’s wonderful vocal filled with skill and moving interpretation. As a treat on the CD and digital version, five of the tracks have dubs (Pol-Ice Man, What Time Is It, Ruff & Tuff, Get Ready, and Ganja Man) – all of which are polished and effective examples of the genre.

Lyrically, Thompson has constructed a searing project filled with pertinent and thoughtful narratives – from What Time Is It’s ominous warnings, sermons around cannabis, Pol-Ice Man’s damning indictment of servants of the system, and Trod Along’s sincere description of life for the conscious under Babylon. Get Ready reminds us that Judgement Day is coming, while Ghetto Youth pleads for young people to rise up.

Thompson does not sound his age across the record – still having not only a very pleasing and listenable voice which he utilises well throughout, but also still a keen ear for incomparable production and arrangement. Overall, Ganja Man is a fantastic body of work from Thompson, and all involved. Some tracks are instant classics, others slow burners – but all are stunning quality.

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