Weep Not (I Grade, 2002)

Weep Not is a righteous, avant-garde mix of roots, dancehall, and jazzy experimentalism from the I Grade label featuring their biggest stars Midnite and Dezarie, along with a host of newcomers from the Virgin Islands.  Midnite kicks things off with one of the strongest tracks here, "Jah Umbrella," which honestly sounds like several of their other songs -- with its semi-melodic, rapid-fire lines punctuated by a relaxed harmony and propelled by a driving bass -- but it's such a great sound, you have to go with it.  The group's other 4 songs, however, prove to be something of a letdown and on more than one occasion are frankly a little odd.  I know that Midnite can lean towards musical eccentricity at times, and I appreciate their effort to expand their sound, but unusual, jazzy numbers like "Change" and "Utta" (which sounds like something akin to beat poetry) ring rather dissonant.  "Daybreak" meanwhile has a light hip-hop/dancehall beat teamed with an acoustic guitar over which Vaughn Benjamin performs some sort of near-rap (!).  "Chant a Psalm," although conventional in sound, is perhaps too much so, as its dull, unmelodic rambling falls flat.  While Midnite fans might be disappointed with this batch of the band's material, the lesser-known supporting cast brings Weep Not up to par.  A good portion of these artists are DJs who either chat in a straight digital dancehall stylee or perform in a more laid-back rootsy sing-jay mode.  While the former style produces pedestrian results ("Manage," "Baptize inna de Ghetto"), the latter provides some entertaining fare, from Abja's "Crucial Confessions" to Abadan's "Sustain I" to Mash's Half Pint/Tenor Saw-like "Joy" to Master Chang's "Love Your Life" and "Hail Jah" to Willow's (AKA Ancient King) quirky, offbeat "Ancient of Days," which follows in the experimental sound of the Midnite tunes on this album (thanks to Benjamin's production), but this time it actually works.  Singer Willmore Daniel chimes in with a pair of rich roots cuts, "Warning" and "Behold," while Dezarie finishes off the compilation with the fittingly solid "Hosanna Jah," a serene acoustic guitar and African drum serenade made all the more gorgeous by her ethereal vocals.  True, I Grade has produced better material than that on Weep Not, but not everything can be fillet mignon; sometimes you're content with a nice, juicy burger.