With Prince Fatty rumoured to have been elevated to king and about to bring out a new album on Phoenix City Records I thought it might be a nice time to revisit ‘Supersize’ from last year….is that all it is….
Producer, Mike “Prince Fatty” Pelanconi has been bubblin’ around on the British reggae scene since the ‘90s and his talents have not gone unnoticed as he has previously worked with the likes of Lily Allen, Blur’s Graham Coxon and not forgetting the late, great Gregory Isaacs, Dub Syndicate, Luciano and Capleton.
Supersize was the follow up to the critically acclaimed ‘Survival Of The Fattest’ from 2007 and basically just carries on where that one left off with yet more good ol’ fashioned rootsy, dubby reggae. Vocals are supplied by some of reggaes royalty in the form of Dennis Alcapone, Winston Francis, with a sublime cover of Bruce Ruffin’s ‘Dry Up Your Tears’ and Little Roy, who brought out the excellent album “Heat” earlier this year, plus Natty, Horseman and Hollie Cook the daughter of Sex Pistol Paul, whose silky voice paired with Alcapone on that ‘Very Night In Dub’ is one of the highlights of the album. As with Survival where Snoop Dogg’s ‘Gin & Juice’ was covered there are a couple of hip hop covers here as well. The amusing ODB classic ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’ is given a dancehall work over with Horseman supplying the “chat” as he does on album closer ‘Insane In The Brain’ which takes the iconic Cypress Hill track and adds a lighter air to it with an upbeat vibe.
This is another one of those albums that takes inspiration from the old and brings it up to date. If you’re looking for something to advance the reggae genre then you will be sorely disappointed, but if you want to just listen to some great music based around classic styles then you certainly won’t go wrong here. Whether the new album will offer something new remains to be heard but if it doesn’t and just follows in the blue print of these previous two then I can live with that for they have been two of the most infectious, feel good and fun albums of the last few years.
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2 comments:
the 'King Fatty' album is a 10 year old project that was initially released in limited edition vinyl as 'The best of Prince Fatty' on Anvil. That Naz and Trev have decided to reissue it as 'King Fatty' without even talking to us is pure playground bulls*$t, The next genuine release from the Prince Fatty camp is 'Prince Fatty meets the Mutant HiFi in 'Return Of Gringo!', out next month on Mr Bongo, previews can be heard at http://www.facebook.com/mutanthifi
Hi Mutanthifi, you know if you want your album reviewed either on here or via United Reggae just drop us a line ;-)
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