Hillside Airstrip (ROIR, 2001)
If nothing else, 10 Ft. Ganja Plant should win the award for name of the year. Several members of the group (they are a group, by the way) play with John Brown's Body, so you know you'll get quality live-instrument roots with a '70s throwback vibe here. In fact, the material on Hillside Airstrip is so vintage in sound, you'd swear it was recorded in 1975 or so. "Long Time Ago," for example, sounds like early Israel Vibration, while "Jah Will Go On" has an African Head Charge feel, and "Soul Love" is bona fide rock steady. The best track here, though, has to be "Walkey Walk Tall," which features the band's expert instrumentation and a falsetto chorus that I know I personally will be humming for years to come. Oddly, this song also appears on 10 Ft. Ganja Plant's debut album, 10 Ft. Ganja Plant Presents. All in all, the Hillside Airstrip has the quality sound you'd expect, but the group still seems to be searching for an identity. The album is held back by the abundance of sounds -- '70s roots, modern roots, rock steady, modern dub, vintage instrumentals -- so much so that I can't pinpoint a specific 10 Ft. Ganja Plant style.
| Track Listing 1. Long Time Ago 2. Pure Sugar 3. Jah Will Go On 4. Time I Know 5. Soul Love 6. Two Bulls 7. Walkey Walk Tall 8. Hillside Airstrip 9. Born Free 10. New Day |
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Midnight Landing (ROIR, 2003) ROIR has done precious little in the way of reggae releases since the last 10 Ft. Ganja Plant album, but both the label and the band return in a big way on Midnight Landing. Whereas Hillside Airstrip was largely a roots album with dub flourishes, Midnight Landing is primarily a dub album, with a few roots vocal tracks in the mix (three to be exact: "Ganja Plane Rider," "Let the Music Hit," and "Mercy"). While I tend to prefer vocals over dubs, I actually enjoyed this album more than the more vocal-heavy Hillside Airstrip. Unlike a lot of dub releases, the tracks here never get dull in style – thanks to inventive instrumentation, such as the use of violins on "Chanting Nyabinhi" – nor in tone, as the mood remains celebratory and upbeat (though never cheesy) throughout. And, with members of John Brown’s Body behind the scenes, you know that the musicianship is top-notch. As with their last album, the sound here is a remarkably dead-on throwback to the vintage Jamaican reggae heyday of the mid- to late ‘70s. Listening to the sleepy sax and horns of "Kneel At the Feet," for instance, will certainly transport you back to that Golden Age. While no single track necessarily jumps out, Midnight Landing is amazingly consistent in quality from beginning to end; you could drop the needle down (for those of you who recall vinyl) at any point and hear a strong, representative sample of good ol’ fashioned dub – from the melodica-driven "100 Lb. Weight" to the bluesy guitar of "Wide Open" and the bouncy title cut. The vocal tracks also shine with rootsy goodness, particularly the gritty "Ganja Plane Rider." Easily one of the best dub albums in recent years, Midnight Landing is worth waiting up for. |
| Track Listing 1. 100 LB Weight 2. Ganja Plane Rider 3. Kneel At The Feet 4. Let The Music Hit 5. Shine Dub 6. Midnight Landing 7. Chanting Nyabinghi 8. Mercy 9. Wide Open 10. Sweet Country 11. Righteous Dub |
Bass Chalice (ROIR, 2005)
10 Ft. Ganja Plant doesn't get as much press as John Brown's Body, but this mysterious group, "featuring members of John Brown's Body," has quietly molded itself quite a fine career on its own with an impressive body of work. Bass Culture, their fourth album, is perhaps the group's most mature yet -- at least, in sound. To call this album mellow would be like calling the ocean moist. It's an atmospheric, woozy dream of an album filled with slow, rolling bass lines, steely guitars, and slinky horns. It's not a sound for everyone (like, for instance, long-distance truck drivers), but instrumental reggae fans should relish cuts like the regal "Burning James," the spacey "Engine Trouble," and "Blood Money," which sounds like it could be the theme song to a reggae spaghetti western. There are four vocal tracks, as well -- including one ("To Each") featuring the legendary Meditations in classic roots harmoy style and another ( "Deliver Us Jah") performed by the equally rootsy Ras Jay. 10 Ft. Ganja Plant scores again.
| Track Listing 1. Blood Money 2. Engine Trouble 3. Last Dance 4. Suits and Ski Masks 5. To Each featuring the Meditations 6. Burning James 7. Your Voice 8. Swedish Prison 9. Deliver Us Jah 10. Bass Chalice |
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