AMG Review of Roots, Rock, Remixed

Rick Anderson
All Music Guide

There have been so many really atrocious (or, at best, really tedious) Bob Marley remix projects that it comes as a deep surprise to encounter one that truly hits the spot. Interestingly, this one succeeds because the remix artists featured -- an all-star cast featuring such notables as the Fort Knox Five, Cordovan, Bombay Dub Orchestra and DJ Spooky -- approach the source material with love and respect, rather than using it as a jumping-off point from which to showcase their own mad skills. Each of them puts a unique fingerprint on one of Marley's songs, but each also manages to keep the focus on the song itself rather than on the treatment. Thus, we get a brilliantly skittery and funky mix of "Small Axe" from Paul & Price and a rich but restrained reading of "Soul Shakedown Party" by Afrodisiac Sound System, and DJ Spooky even manages to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is "Rainbow Country," one of Marley's least compelling compositions. Not everything is brilliant: Afrodisiac Sound System drops the ball just a bit on their ho-hum version of "Soul Rebel," and Trio Elétrico's mix of "Trenchtown Rock" saps more energy than it adds to the original. But for the most part, this album is like a seminar in how to bring new life to already top-notch material. Highly recommended overall.