| Well-crafted and unique |
| By Charles H E Campbell Observer writer Sunday, July 17, 2005 |
The tradition continues, with succeeding generations producing astounding results. There are significant parallels between TOK, as a dancehall singing group, and many of the singing groups that emerged in the embryonic stage of the evolution of reggae music.
For instance, TOK describes themselves as 'Dancehall's number one rude bwoy band'. Music aficionados will of course associate this with the 1960s image and themes of groups like the Wailing Wailers, on whom were conferred a similar mantle.
It is interesting too how the continued cross-fertilisation of North American music styles with our own is manifested in various musical offerings from TOK on this album. This is in like fashion to Jamaican groups of previous eras, who initially patterned their singing styles after such groups as the Impressions.
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Certainly too, TOK has crafted and projected a very contemporary urban youth image, packaged and ready for export, in quite the same manner that many of our earlier singing groups incorporated the dominant universal fashions and movements of their era into their image and songs. This is where, however, the comparisons end.
On Unknown Language, TOK has creatively interwoven the deejay parts of each song to synchronise in harmony with singing voices and the structure of the music.
For those with any appreciation of the art form, there is nothing sweeter than a deejay riding a "riddim" in perfect harmony. This is quite unlike what prevails on our airwaves where tone deaf deejays, who cannot even distinguish a beat much less accompany a note, continue to bombard our eardrums daily.
All 16 songs - yes real songs with chorus and all - are unique. Each one has strains of different musical influences and stylings: R&B - She's Hotter (track 4), Music's Pumping (track 9) and Tell Me If You Still Care (track 5), Soca - Fire Fire (track 3), Reggae - Footprints (track 6), Revival - Wha Gwaan (track 7) and Dancehall - Hey Ladies (track 1) and Solid As A Rock (track 2).
Of course, as fans of TOK have come to expect, we get a preponderance of Rap/Hip Hop permeating the album.
Expected since 2004, this long-awaited album from TOK has finally hit the streets. It is being suggested in the music industry circles that the delay in its release is connected to the international boycott campaign against them by the British gay rights advocate group, Outrage!.
Whether that is so or not, happily, TOK's lyrics on their new Unknown Language albumprojects a more complex and mature perspective on issues other than those we have come to associate them with. In other words, Unknown Language includes more social commentary than is customary for them.
Characteristically though, the album is substantially light-hearted party music and many of the songs are predominantly about and targeted at their female fans.
In the best traditions of reggae music, however, interspersed with many songs are references to folk parables and adopted lines from Jamaican folk songs. In Wha Gwaan, TOK expresses the group's rejection of the havoc being wreaked on the society by crime, especially gun violence.
To quote, "Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica, land we love, Mi nuh like wah gwaan, Too much innocent a dead, wha gwaan, And outta road a run red, Somebody tell me wha gwaan inna Jam down, A coulda wha gwaan. 24 days and 90 man dead, Man a cut all pickney t'roat inna bed, Man weh did calm nowadays get dread, Cyaan believe a so Jam down a run red, Mi waah fi know a wha fly inna dem head, Why dem nuh put down the copper and the lead, Used to weddy weddy now a deady instead, Too much violence and too much bloodshed".
Of profound importance to the success of this album, is the fact that 10 of the songs included had previously been released and continue to receive good rotation on the airwaves.
In that regard, their most successful single of the lot in Jamaica to date is the song Footprints, which has also topped music charts in New York and South Florida.
As far as packaging is concerned, it is worthy of note that other than a mention of the 303 band in the acknowledgements, no separate credit is given to musicians, although appropriate production credits are assigned to individual producers, writers and publishers of each song.
Is it a consolidation of the age and tools of technology? Whatever, this album will please a sufficiently wide cross-section of music collectors to qualify for its relative success, if it is adequately promoted by VP Records, the distributors.
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