AMG Review of Wiss Vibes

Jo-Ann Greene
All Music Guide

Israel Vibration's debut album, The Same Song, was one of the most stirring ever recorded, an homage to Jah that still holds listeners in its thrall with its deep spirituality. Only one song on the entire record was not purely devotional, "Licks and Kicks," a plaintive number of police brutality and injustice. With this one song, Lacelle Wiss Bulgin opened the door for the group to move into the cultural arena and beyond. Of the trio, Bulgin has presented himself as the most militant, with most of his songs leaning toward more cultural numbers, although still imbued with religious devotion, as on "Licks and Kicks." Numbers like "Soldiers of Jah Army," "Nah Give up the Fight," and "Vultures combine a religious perspective with a tough look at the state of the world, while sufferer's songs such as "Poor Man Cry" and "Hard Road" are rich with compassion and emotion. All of these appear on Wiss Vibes, along with six more, a best-of Bulgin collection, plus much more. This album, available separately from the three-CD Power of the Trinity box set, also features an extended interview with Israel Vibration, as well as intros to each track in which Bulgin briefly discusses each number. With every word sung and spoken, Bulgin's world is revealed: his hopes for the future, his adversity-strewn past, and the strength of his religious beliefs, which continue to inspire his music and his life. It's a powerful set, but then his music is a potent force in the reggae world.