Speng Bond – Up Deh CD

Speng Bond – Up Deh CD

£10.00

Spend Bond – Up Deh CD

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1. None A Dem Badder
2. Outta Road
3. 001
4. Turn We Loose (ft Mikey Murka)
5. Smoking Weed (ft Errol Bellott)
6. Wha Do Dem
7. Know Thyself
8. Mash Down Rome
9. Ganjaman
10. White Horse
11. Tann Up Solid
12. Ketch A Fire
13. Rubadub Souljah
14. Cut Backs
15. Know Thyself Dub
16. Mash Down Rome Dub
17. None A Dem Badder Dub

It had been a while since Kris Kemist treated us to a new long player, but finally there’s now ‘Up Deh’ by Speng Bond, a Brummie MC, active with sounds like Jungleman, Quaker City, Turbotronic, King Earthquake and Now Generation, ever since the nineteen seventies. In 2011 Speng already collaborated with Kemist a first time, resulting in ‘Cut Back’, which also appears in the track list of ‘Up Deh’. The tune revived Speng’s recording career and collaborations with Jahtari, Naram/Red Robin, Monkey Marc, Creation Music and Strictly Sound Prodz. followed. For ‘Up Deh’, the veteran MC’s long player debut, Kemist now selected 14 of Speng Bond’s best tracks of recent years. As the various tracks were produced by different producers, ‘Up Deh’ sounds more like a singles compilation than just another Reality Shock Records album, but that doesn’t take away from the listening experience in any way. On the contrary, it allows Bond to show his verbal and vocal versatility as an artist, from digital UK steppers in opener ‘None A Dem Badder’ (Kris Kemist) or ‘Mash Down Rome’ (for which Monkey Marc revisited Prince Alla’s ‘Stone’), over the raggamuffin of ‘Outta Road’ (Red Robin) or ‘Wha Do Dem’ (Creation Music), and the digital eighties of ganja tune ‘Ganjaman’ (Strictly Sound Prodz.) to Jahtari’s digital bleeps in ‘Tann Up Solid’ and ‘White Horse’, Speng bond’s response to tunes like ‘Cokane In My Brain’ and ‘Blow Your Brain’ by Dillinger and Yellowman. Yet we were most taken with Kemist’s own productions: from ‘001’, a reggae variation on the ‘James Bond Theme’, over ‘Turn We Loose’ and ganja tune ‘Smoking Weed’, duets with Mikey Murka and Errol Bellot, and the aforementioned ‘Cut Backs’, a song about the failing austerity policy in the European Union, to ‘Rubadub Soldier’, Speng’s version over Reality Shock’s Reggae Recipe riddim. The only exception is ‘Know Thyself’, an excellent production by Petah Sunday and Jah Fingers, and a revamp of Rod Taylor’s ‘His Imperial Majesty’. The album concludes with 4 Kris Kemist dubs. Varied album with a slight vintage eighties vibe and an excellent introduction for those not yet familiar with Speng Bond’s work. (Tim Ianna, Rebelbase.de)