Burning Spear
Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2001
I am now the proud owner of three Burning Spear live albums. This Montreux disc is definitely not his best (that honor belongs to his Mango release, Live, from 1977), however – and I’ve said this before – Spear is by far the best roots artist alive. And, you definitely can’t consider yourself a reggae head without a heavy dose of Winston Rodney reverberating through your cranium.
Montreux is a lot of fun and a damned good disc. It adeptly captures the man’s artistry and energy (check out his congo solo on “Jah Nuh Dead”). It’s full of Burning Spear classics, like “Slavery Days,” “The Youth,” and “Old Marcus.” Being a crisp recording, this live CD gives you the next best thing to the actual privilege of seeing the man in person – though at around an hour, it’s much shorter than the real thing.
Burning Spear: http://www.burningspear.net/
