Rising Above Bedlam [Import]

1. Visions Of You

2. Relight The Flame

3. Bomba

4. Ungodly Kingdom

5. Rising Above Bedlam

6. Erzulie

7. Everyman's An Island

8. Soledad

9. Sweet Divinty

10. Wonderful World

Tracks:

Visions of You
Relight the Flame
Bomba
Ungodly Kingdom
Rising Above Bedlam
Erzulie
Everyman's an Island
Soledad
Sweet Divinity
Wonderful World

Customer Reviews:

Eastern & Western influences converge perfectly..(4.5 stars).......2004-01-10

Fusing the sensibilities of Experimental Rock (Dub-Bass guitar, Asian percussion), with the broad appeal of localised Pop/Rock (European singers, sampling, keyboards). Jah Wobble has in one fell stroke blurred the lines between World Music & Alternative Pop/Rock was a deft brilliance in two genres not normally considered compatible. "Visions of You" featured `Sinéad O'Connor' delivering a performance worthy of anything she's done before, with hand drums, lead Guitar's & percussion leading a sublime Eastern instruments coupled with Sinéad's western singing. "Everyman's an island" features `Justin Adams' on vocals duties & layering Spanish Guitar beautifully for a western equivalent of the trance-like state, that Eastern music can produce. World Music purists may sneer at the integration of western influences, but there is no denying that very few (if any), have combined both elements as expertly as this.

Average customer rating:

Definitely worth it!
woofer strain
Ah, but when it works
Mediteranean, mystical
Spiritual....Soaring......Dreamscape.

Rising Above Bedlam
Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart
Manufacturer: Oval
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000007641
Release Date: 1997-01-29

Tracks:

Visions of You
Relight the Flame
Bomba
Ungodly Kingdom
Rising Above Bedlam
Erzulie
Everyman's an Island
Soledad
Sweet Divinity
Wonderful World

Customer Reviews:

Definitely worth it!.......2007-01-27

Loved it in the 80's and it's still just as good now. Timeless...
Sound quality of the cd is exactly how I remember it.

woofer strain.......2006-11-10

Mr. Wobble again lets us witness his unique take on dub & all things divine. Again he has let us partake in his obsession with driving woofers to their breaking point. Great grooves, chants, sinead o'connor & spoken word to boot--a great place to start in your wobble obsession-essential listening for world beat fans---when are they going name an airport after him?

Ah, but when it works.......2005-03-06

An important album for Jah Wobble, this, as it was his comeback. He'd been the bassist for Public Image Limited as the 1970s became the 1980s, and although he did a fantastic job he spent a lot of the 1980s out of the music scene entirely. 'Rising Above Bedlam' sounds a little old-fashioned at times, and is a mixed bag, but a bag with music in it. When it works, it's an excellent reminder of the kind of 'world techno' which Wobble influenced, and which is now unfortunately a distant memory.

'Visions of You' was one of the singles, and remains Wobble's most distinctive and memorable track. It has Sinead O'Connor on it, and everybody who has heard it likes it. It's one of those universally admired singles, like 'Heroes' or 'Good Vibrations' and so forth, with a simple chorus which goes round in a circle. 'Bomba' was the other single, and is the other stand out; it sounds dated, in a mid-1990s ambient-ethnic-world-techno way. Indeed, it has vocals by Natacha Atlas, who was to early/mid 1990s ambient ethnic techno as Bjork and Elizabeth Fraser were to avant-drum'n'bass a couple of years later.

The rest of the album doesn't match these two songs. It's as if Wobble was unsure of the ethno-ambient stuff and wanted to write some fairly conventional pop/rock songs. Also, Wobble's voice is distinctive, to put it kindly, and although it works on 'Visions of You', where he sounds world-weary, he often just sounds tuneless. 'Relight the Flame' is a plodding ballad, 'Ungodly Kingdom' is frantic, a mistake. Wobble's talents lie in his rock-solid dub bass and his Ringo Starr-esque avuncularity, in that he gets on well with people and can therefore bring a lot of different people into the mix. He's more a kind of Brian Eno-esque musical gravity well rather than an actual solo artist. A lot of the songs here are also brought down by old-fashioned, 80s-style drum machines.

The title track is an odd throwback to Public Image Limited, a spoken monologue over bass guitar. However the album picks up immediately, with 'Erzulie', which also has Natacha Atlas on it and is superb, haunting, distant - although, bizarrely, it has a brassy part that sounds like the verse from Iron Maiden's 'Run to the Hills'! 'Everyman's an Island' is a skippable twangy dance track, i.e. it feels good to skip past it to the next track, 'Soledad', which has Natacha on it again, sounding a bit like Bjork. It's a slow, moody ballad, and makes one regret that Wobble didn't go the whole hog and do an entire album with her.

'Sweet Divinity' is ruined totally by a poor-quality synth brass arrangement, 'Wonderful World' is just poor and both tracks have Jah Wobble singing on them, a bad thing.

So then, 'Bomba', 'Visions of You' - an all-time classic - 'Soledad' and 'Erzulie', oddly enough all the ones with women on, are good. And the rest is not good and you will listen to half of each track, once. That's about sixteen minutes of good stuff and a lot of filler; Wobbler got better over time.

Mediteranean, mystical.......2005-03-01

Throw this disc in, have sex for a good throw of an album with your woman and no one will be disappointed. The album is nearly an hour long, so it covers most of the initial phases of foreplay and all other essentials plus the delivery of what's necessary.
A great mix of ancient reggae and modern world music. Visions of You is the most classic and best song. A friend of mine I used to surf with turned me on to this, still has that mystical feel surrounding the ocean and is a great listen while traveling to the beach getting amped for a session. Could have been the soundtrack to Gladiator the sounds are so ancient. Get it, enjoy, drink wine in vast amounts. Yyyyyeah! Sheer decadence wrapped in pop philosophy.
"Every Man is an Island" is the backbone of this album. Like I said, you will not regret the purchase if you're up for a trip that takes you away from the mundane.

Spiritual....Soaring......Dreamscape........2003-12-03

I originally found and bought this cd after hearing the song "visions of you" with Sinade O'connor on vocals. The song is beautifully done. To my suprise and delight track 3"Bomba" became my favorite Jaw Wobble song. It has this dreamy intro followed by a heavy bass drum hit that sounds amazing on a good sound system. A spanish guitar proceeds a womens beautiful voice, singing angelic in spanish. Every time I play this song it reminds me of some mysterious place, or travel to a far off place. You must get this album! Play this song during a great dinner with friends, or on a long roadtrip to somewhere vast and distant. Then you will understand. Enjoy!

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