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So who are these Soothsayers? Well, they are a London-based co-op that specialises in blending Afrobeat with dub, reggae and jazz. Previous albums Lost City and Tangled Roots were more jazz and afro-beat but One More Reason finds them with a stronger emphasis on dub and reggae. The tracks are written by the core duo of Idris Rahman (sax/vocals) and Robin Hopcraft (trumpet/vocals) with band members Phil Dawson (guitar), Kodjovi Kush (bass) and Patrick Illingworth (drums). Others people you may recognise from Red Earth session crew are Zoe Rahman, Momo Hafsi, Dan Hewson, Satin Singh to name just a few; and that’s before we get to the big name guests!

If you thought Mungo’s Hi-Fi Sound System Champions had enough name droppin’ going on, check this one out.

‘Bad Boys’ features dreader than dread legend, Johnny Clarke! Mr. Clark recorded a host of tunes with Bunny Lee in the mid 70s that were a mix of roots and love songs, his ‘Declaration of Rights’ was included on Virgin’s seminal The Front Line compilation back in the day and Rodigan has included his ‘Do You Love Me’ on his latest compilation Real Authentic Reggae Vol.2. No surprise then that the name of his other track here is called ‘Your Love’ and it’s proper mellow with some glorious backing vocals by the appropriately named, Mellow Baku.

Someone else with a big history of success in reggae is Michael Prophet who features on last years’ single ‘Love Fire’ but it’s ‘Tears Of Sorrow’ that’s on the album that also features the horns of Idris Rahman and Robin Hopcraft and Zoe’s keyboards.

There’s quite a bit of UK influences going on during the 14 tracks, but not too overtly Aswad or Steel Pulse, ‘River Effra’ has some nice Specials-esque trombone (by Trevor Edwards) but as Linval Thompson says “You’ve got to know your history” (on ‘History’). And if you don’t know your Linval Thompson’s history, check out last years’ Greensleeves 12” Rulers compilation as an example of what he was doing just in the early 80s.

Possibly the best tracks of the lot is the downtempo jazzy dub of ‘We Better Learn’, the Afrobeatish ‘Slow Down’ (that includes vocals by long time FLY favourite Julia Biel and John Telfer on sax) and the album ends on two highlights with dub remixes from Nick Manasseh and the one and only Mad Professor.

And for fans of roots poetry meets indo-jazz goodness on a dub-tip, ‘Mama Said’ is the track but why only two and a half minutes long? Now, if there was ever a track that could benefit from the Greensleeves stylee 12” version mix, this would be it - lets do it!

The UK’s Mellow Baku features on lead vocals on ‘Hold On’ and again on ‘Irie’, along with Michie One. These could be a step too far but with all these guest showing up, it’s an indication of the respect Idris and Rob have in the muso community.

What with Horace Andy teaming up with Ashley Beedle (on Inspiration Information Vol. 2), reggae collaborations seem to be the soundtrack of the recession at the moment. Well it is rebel music after all and One More Reason is a little bit rebel and also very global; lift you’re spirits and buy this now!

Forthcoming Gigs:
25 April 2009 - Hootananny, Brixton London
29 May 2009 - Festival of Culture, Amphitheatre Zgorzelec
13 June 2009 - Swindon Bowl feat. Earl 16, Swindon
21 June 2009 - Paradise Gardens Festival London
08 July 2009 - Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod Llangollen, Wales
09 July 2009 - Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod Llangollen, Wales
09 July 2009 - Henley Festival Henley, London and South East
10 July 2009 - City of London Festival London
11 July 2009 - Drum Camp Bungay, Suffolk

Reviewed: Soothsayers Meet The Red Earth Collective - One More Reason (Red Earth) Cat. No. rede006 Release date: 6th April 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Intro (0:59)
2 Music (3:37)
3 We Better Learn (4:35)
4 Bad Boys featuring Johnny Clarke (3:54)
5 Slown Down (5:51)
6 Tears Of Sorrow featuring Michael Prophet (4:50)
7 Irie featuring Mellow Baku & Michie One (3:19)
8 Hold On featuring Mellow Baku (4:07)
9 Mama Said featuring Bob Skeng (2:36)
10 Your Love featuring Johnny Clarke (3:53)
11 River Effra (3:52)
12 History featuring Linval Thompson (4:21)
13 We Must Return To Dub (Mad Professor Remix) (3:31)
14 Tears In Dub (Manasseh Dub) (3:34)

Links:
www.soothsayers.net
www.myspace.com/soothsayers
www.johnnyclarke.com
www.greensleeves.net
www.planetreggae.com