Rising Above Bedlam

You remember that kid from your floor freshman year with the guitar? This is what he makes when he’s in his 40’s, after a trip to India in which he thinks he’s found some life-changing revelation while talking to the first yogi he can find. He’s not deep, he’s not insightful, and he’s certainly ignorant. Oh and he paid for the trip to India with the money from the divorce settlement. A marriage in which he hypnotized a business student to fall for his false sensitivity during college. By the time he’s 30, she realizes he’s going to live up to nothing and all that talk about changing the world was BS. By the times he’s 40, he can’t even maintain an erection without his guitar in his hands and she’s plowing her boss, a Fortune 500 CEO. She ditches him, but not before he can suckle off her teet one last time and take half the money. After the trip to India, he spends the rest of the money on American Bald Eagle tattoos and studio time. He makes the album cover himself, because no one else could quite possibly understand the tortured artist that is him. He can’t afford Adobe Suite by this time, so he has to settle for a bootleg version, risking his computer’s health while downloading it off a foreign website. His computer, a thrifted 1998 IBM, “it’s vintage”, more like he’s “poor af”, does eventually concede to the virus it extracted from “freecomputersoftware.cn”. After releasing, he waits for the praise from all his loved ones, as well as his adoring fans. Unfortunately for him, he has no loved ones. His family distanced themselves after a story went viral of him attempting to live in the ceiling of a Starbucks after hours because he couldn’t afford rent. He only got caught because his late night diet of caramel macchiato’s and pastries led to terrible IBS, and without a bathroom to use in the ceiling, he had to come down during the day or risk sh***** all over his living space. Once he did, he still didn’t reach the bathroom in time, because a group of 15 year old’s were in there doing Tik Tok’s to a Meghan Thee Stallion song where she queefs the National anthem. Furthermore, he has no fans because no one likes the album and the small minority of people that do hate him more. After crapping any ounce of hope away, literally, he is booked by local PD for trespassing. As he is walked to the car in handcuffs, he intentionally trips himself and claims police brutality. The judges rule in his favor and awards him $1.3m in damages. By the time he’s 50, he’s spent all his money investing in a penis growth serum. Naturally, it fails, like his erections, and he’s left wandering the streets of Chicago with nothing but a shopping cart full of Rising Above Bedlam CD’s. He tries to pawn them off to other homeless people, but they bark at him that “physical media is so not in style anymore.” He is found one morning, frozen to death, the last ember of his fire gone out. In the fire, Chicago PD discovers that he had burnt the last of his CD’s to stay warm. The coroners office cannot decide whether the cause of death was from freezing, inhaling burning CD’s, or broken heart from a dream lost. Without a clear answer he writes: “cause of death - Covid-19.” Not on Apple f*** Spotify Free has ads and Random songs throughout Haiku aside, I can respect the experimental nature of this. It’s very interesting to listen to and I’d give it a 2.5 if I could. It’s not bad, and much better than some of the 2’s I’ve given. Idk if it’s a 3 tho. Also, I had to listen on Spotify Free which included ads and random songs in between songs. It definitely did not help this album. It also meant I couldn’t listen in order which was soul-crushing.

Jah Wobble's Rising Above Bedlam feels like a genuine attempt at cross cultural fusion, which is commendable. But on the evidence, Wobble's understanding of the musical traditions he's borrowing from are skin deep, and that's being generous. The songs are dull and obvious and Wobble invariably makes the least interesting choices possible when it comes to timbres and instrumental colors. This music would be at home in a Starbucks Putumayo collection cd. One star for basic musical competence. Zero stars for the songs, arrangements, production, and lack of taste.

This is a mouthful, I'm listening to a band named 'Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart' with an album named "Rising Above Bedlam." I have no idea what to expect here. Allmusic says they specialize in experimental ethnic pop and fusion. The first track is pleasant so far, it reminds me of Primal Scream and their landmark Screamadelica album. The album as a whole breezes by nicely, and I'm enjoying the different voices that come together to make a cohesive album. Despite how eclectic and experimental the whole thing feels. I'm not sure I will revisit this at any point soon, but I enjoyed the ride and how nice it floated through my life.

What an interesting album! I had not heard of "Jah Wobble" (stage name of John Wardle that came about as a drunken Sid Vicious mumbled his hame), but now I know he grew up with John Lydon and other Sex Pistols members. I've also now learned that Wobble was the bassist for PiL. This album is great. Influenced by reggae, world music, and the rock/punk world in which Wobble grew up, it all comes together quite nicely here. I hear some of the tracks as "Velvet Underground moves to the Caribbean." Really cool.

feels like cultural appropriation

I know Jah Wobble more from PIL and his collaborations with Holger Czukay of Can. I like him as a support player/collaborator but maybe not so much as a solo artist. He's got a ton of releases and I wonder why this particular one was chosen. I feel like this list is pretty solid in its picks the further back it goes but right about here in the timeline going forward it gets a little more spotty. Can't say I really enjoyed it, like I don't want to listen to it again, but it wouldn't really bother me if someone had it on in the background. Okay, skipped through the tracks again and I like the first song alright as a single but the rest of the album doesn't have the same vibe. 2.5 rounded down I guess?

QUE SOM MALUCO E INESPERADO EU AMEI SOCORRO

Seen as John Lydon's a massive tory cunt now, this is a very good alternative. If PiL was pop and dub instead of prog and punk. Proper quality aye.

Not the worst thing in the world but not anything I would ever come back to. Just plain boring, but not on the same level of a 1 star. Those albums hold a special place in hell.

This was not too much fun.

Just kind of... meh. Had some fun instrumentals, but the vocalist was the bad type of annoying

Not terrible or anything, but nothing I care to go back to and listen again.

The arrangements are repetitive, the vocals are just plain bad (or irritating, take your pick), the sound is dated, and the ideas were already done better in the 80s. Nothing salvageable here at all.

I would say Wobble was one of the earliest and more influential purveyors of the emerging genre of World Music back in the 80s'. Him along with David Byrne perhaps. Kudos to him for being able to attract top vocal talent including Sinead O'Connor and Natasha Atlas, and later Delores O'Riordan. Coming from PiL you wouldn't guess that Wardle would be a fan of Jamaican reggae and dub but he was and and he plays his bass guitar here with aplomb channeling Robbie Shakespeare (of Sly and Robbie fame). I also really enjoy him mixing Latin and Middle-Eastern music seamlessly into this album. Spotify's algorithms also gave me some tracks from his 2004 album The Celtic Poets and I thought that was an even better album. Wobble's sound also reminds me a lot of Malcolm McLaren's forays into tribal/world music on his Duck Rock album. Overall, this album works really well and was quite enjoyable.

I think that Natasha Atlas is the star of this album. The best songs she co-wrote and sang in, and probably got less credit then she deserved. As a side note I was surprised to hear her singing in Spanish, though Wikipedia tells me she started her career in a Belgian salsa band. Natasha's songs I would give a 5. Musically the rhythms and textures and bass playing are nice & I'd give the rest of the album a 4, except that Jah Wobble's voice ruins everything. He should know better.

This guy is from Public Image Ltd. The album mixes world music with some weird/cool grooves. Some elements reminiscent of INXS, Sugar Ray. A collection of very good musicians doing something they aren't taking all that seriously.

I thought this would be brand new to me, but turns out I'd heard the first track before - very Screamadelica! This was quite a pleasant listen. Quite enjoyed the mix of dub, world music and electronics, though you can definitely have too much of that. Fave track - "Visions of You"

I don't know if I'm rating this high because I was surprised or if it really is good. Other vibe, world music albums don't really work for me, but this one hits the mark. I feel like if David Byrne could have gotten his hands on this band, he'd have had a whole other Talking Heads career!

Really liked this. Spiritual feel to it. A suprising addition was Sinead O Connor's vocals included throughout the album. Her voice, combined with Jah Wobble's addictive basslines made the album. Personally felt the first half was better than the second half. Nonetheless, great album. Wobble's changed up his style compared with his days in PiL. Refreshing to hear music using a combination of different cultures.

Solid album. I could (and did) easily play this in the background over and over. Sinead O'Connor's vocals on Visions of You and Sweet Divinity were great adds. Wobble's regular vocals are just okay. The variety of musical styles from around the world were also pretty cool - Indian-style on Visions of You, African-style on Ungodly Kingdom, Latin-style on Bomba, Middle Eastern-style on Everyman's an Island, combo of the last two on Soledad. Although reggae/Spanish combo on Relight the Flame wasn't as good; wailing in latter half was cool. Love the guitarwork on Ungodly Kingdom - picking at the beginning and the electric stuff at around the 2:45 mark. Erzulie felt like something almost out of Bladerunner at the start; neat vocals and pace/change of pace throughout. Title track was a bit boring though the lyrics were intriguing. Only other song I didn't really enjoy was Wonderful World - sounded cheesy compared to the rest of the album. After looking back at what I liked and didn't, I realize I liked most of it, quite a bit.

Sounds of togetherness.

Poor attempt at a world music album. Combines all sorts of techniques but doesn't do anything with them, and so it becomes boring. Vocals (besides Atlas's) absolutely awful. Some instruments were annoying, and it gave the impression they had no idea how to really use them. Some tracks are decent, but damn those vocals make others unbearable.

Not my taste but I guess I see the appeal? Very eclectic mix, lots of wordless singing, not my jam.

An eclectic collection of beats. Kinda sounds like generic resort music. Fun is a word invented by executives? Just a bit stereotypical for this time period and the album cover.

Just incredibly mediocre

Was expecting reggae from the name, but instead this is 80s-sounding British pop with some world influences. Nothing really stood out to me.

Not my thing but it's not the worst...

This was a very experimental experience. More than I was expecting when the first song started to play. Personally, I didn't like it too much, but it's very easy to note the virtuosos in the instrumental part and I got why this kind of thing deserves to be on this list. These guys are real musicians and no one can say the contrary. I'll keep my rate in 2 stars just because it's not exactly my kind of thing.

This is so 90s - conceptually it's all over the place. I'm assuming these are the kind of people that wanted Esperanto to be a thing. It's entertaining enough musically at times so I'll give it 2 stars.

I did my best to stitch together as many songs as I could via YouTube. It wasn’t worth the work. This was an album by a white Englishman who calls himself Jah, and it sounded like it.

Boring, boring dub/"ethnic fusion". I can't say it's terrible but I'm certain if I live the rest of my life without hearing it again I won't be bothered. You shouldn't either. BT: Visions of You, Rising Above Bedlam, Wonderful World

Just fine, not amazing.

A collection traditional rhythms and styles digested for the 90s English listener. Mostly hideous.

what a confusing mash of styles and sounds.

Weird world music. Wasn’t terrible. Wasn’t good.

Stockholm Syndrome: The Album I was almost immediately turned off by this record, but as it played on, I started noticing fleeting moments where I grew to understand, appreciate and sympathize with its goals. Those moments would quickly pass and I would be reminded that I didn’t like most of it and I was, in fact, a captive, unable to escape its grip until it ceased playback. Only then was I able to make heads or tails of my situation and truly see how willing I was to overlook its many flaws in favor of the fleeting moments of sympathy and understanding.

A pretty average experiment with a range of styles. Neither comfortable or showy, agile or clunky. All in all, pretty mild. But in a fun way?

This wasn't actively unpleasant to listen to, but for an album bursting with ideas it turned into background noise remarkably quickly.

This list is losing all credibility. Still no Seger.

Rising Above Insanity

Groovy, loved it

An upbeat, mellow, album that goes down smooth. It feels almost mystic at times. I wasn't sure about the album when it started but by the end I was enraptured. The album made me happy, and I don't know that there's higher praise I can give than that.

So cool! So many great musicians

Jah Wobble hero of course and I loved this one with exotic music, even sometimes thought I heard Fad Gadget! 5 stars

A gem! This is why we 1001

Интересный микс стилей, культур и инструментов. Понравилось сочетание народной музыки и современной.

Marvelous! Genuinely something new to me, only knew him from PiL

World music deserves the highest rating.

I had to listen to this album on YouTube as I couldn’t find it elsewhere. That is unfortunate because it will be hard to listen to again and I really loved this album! In has a pretty amazing world music vibe. I pretty much loved the whole album (aside from the annoying ads that interrupted periodically). It is lush, exotic and is really interesting! I don’t think there is a song on here that I didn’t like. Really great!

Loved it, nice change of pace. Slightly alternative music nice background for working.

Wonderful

Know JW

Cooles World Music Album

"Everyman's an island And the time is coming in Till you not know yourself That is the ultimate sin"

Each song was very different. Some of them were great, others weren't really my vibe.

Very groovy and electric!

This album was soooo good. Nice airy songs with a lot of cool overlays

Almost as much fun as SHACK being attacked by a wasp.

I really enjoy world music that doesn't sound or feel cheesy. Sometimes it's hard to find. This album really delivered. I'm impressed, and would totally listen again.

Never heard of them before but really liking the album. A mix of styles. A few songs sound like Soup Dragons meet Kate Bush. One sounds like Pet Shop Boys. One has a middle eastern or maybe Indian styled but the words are in Spanish.

liked this more than expected - cool to read he was friends with Sid Vicious - wasn't expecting that based on this music :) sounds like world music? but more interesting to me

absolutely vibes for some reason. 5/5

love wobble’s bass so much

Great album! And I get to see him perform live in Toronto next month.

very cool

this is certainly eclectic. awesome tunes and goes in different directions. Love it

I didn't expect to enjoy this album as much as I did!

Never heard of this guy but this was interesting

Very good, will play more Wobble in the future

Really liked the first half of this surprisingly, will listen to more of his stuff for sure, 3.5

Really enjoyed the album. Catchy tunes, great vibes, "Relight the Light", "Bomba" and "Erzulie" were my favs.

Popurrí de músicas del mundo. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Enjoyed, unique music

This was a bit all over the place but I still enjoyed it alot

It's a good world music album with very diverse influences. I liked the second half of it a bit more, it was more interesting.

I've never listened top this, but dig his bass in P.I.L. sofar...i love it

This is surprisingly cool. Although maybe that's just because I finally switched to Tidal. If any listeners are still on Spotify, might be worth making the switch to any other service that has lossless. Favorite tracks were "Visions of You", "Bomba", "Erzulie"

This was really nice. Felt like I was sitting on a beanbag, a bit buzzed.

Wereldmuziek in de letterlijke vorm van het woord. Vanuit alle hoeken heeft dit album invloeden. Eentje om nog eens op te leggen in de zomermaanden, onder het zonnetje

The main guys voice was really not good but the music was incredibly cool. Erzulie was fun, some of the others got long. 7.5 for me

Fun, smooth. I generally like Jah Wobble but had never listened to any solo material. I don't know if this is revolutionary, if I could give it 3.5 stars, I would... It's definitely above average musically but conversely I didn't find it all that super creative. Ah, second listen. Rare, but felt like it was necessary. Feeling four stars now. Very funky world music. Definitely some creativity and some energy.

A bump up from the rest

4/19/2022 Today's Album: "Rising Above Bedlam" by Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart - This album was a really fantastic surprise. It seems to be a collection of music from around the world and each song has a ton of really bright and interesting instrumentation amongst it. I really love the opening track Visions of You. It sounds so sweet and has this really nice chilled out guitar line and bongo groove, not to mention the incredibly catchy chorus. The male vocalist throughout the album really toes the line between a performance that feels kind of off and creepy and one that sounds clear and confident. I really like the instrumental break in the song Ungodly Kingdom. It has that great island vibe and incorporates a ton of pacific instrumentation to back up that idea. Some of the tracks don't pull me in as quickly as others, like the track Rising above Bedlam, but most of them have really engaging sonic ideas right off the bat. I like the song Erzulie for it's chilled out eastern vocal performance and I like how melodic the bass guitar is in it too. It's a really great Latin dance track with a lot of different levels of energy throughout. Everyman's an island takes a sort of psychedelic approach, with this groovy meditative bassline and some really strung out electric guitar. I like just how groovy it is and how much they are switching up the sound even just measure to measure. It reminds me of a lot of King Gizzard's microtonal music, but with a bit of a softer edge. The opening drum beat of Soledad is so welcoming and brings you into a sort of Arabian dream. The, what I think are Latin, vocals would usually turn me away from the track, but not knowing the lyrics feels okay because the vocal performance is just so hypnotic and eastern sounding. The bass line and drum beat keep the song so sturdy throughout as the guitar and auxiliary percussion solo on top. The solo sections of this album really feel reserved and like they only are doing what they must to add to the experience of the track and I really appreciate the subtlety of it. Sweet Divinity is a very strange track to me because it sounds extremely unique. There's these weird sections of trumpet and trombones sort of just going ham on this dueling fanfare and it breaks up the verses in a very engaging way. It feels like a song that I wouldn't like under usual circumstanced, but the sheer skill of these musicians keeps me engaged in this sort of creepy and uncomfortable tune. The closer Wonderful World is a great way to pick up from the weird spot we were left in with Sweet Divinity and I really like the instrumentation and vocal performance here. It's a bouncy and playful track with a really chorus and some nice chorus vocals backing things up. They play with the reverb subtly in some of the vocal sections in a really pleasing, yet experimental way and I just really like whatever effect is on the guitars because they sound so tropical and bubbly. It ends things off in the same really cheery optimistic vibe introduced in the first track Visions of You and it's a great way to end. As a whole package, this is a really great album if you like stuff that sounds like it's from outside of the good ol' USA. There's fun microtonal sounding stuff, a lot of eastern and Latin influence, and all of the cultures on display also showcases a huge variety of talent. I think there are some tracks that are a little worse than the majority and the vocals can be a little off putting at first, but if you can just put this on in the background while you're doing something and vibe along to the grooves, I think it'd be a nice time for almost anyone. Score: 8.5/10 Best world music I've heard yet Highlights: Visions of You, Bomba, Ungodly Kingdom, Erzulie, Everyman's an Island, Soledad, Sweet Divinity, Wonderful World

Scrapes a 7 from me. Cool except the English lyrics are corny and when the guy sings his voice is almost unbearable

I liked what Public Image did; this album is completely different but also very enjoyable. Jah Wobble is a very good bass player. Too bad they don't list the other musicians on the album. I read that the female vocalist on Visions of You is Sinead O'Connor. The other female vocalist (on Erzulie and several other songs) is amazing. The Arabian beats work beautifully with her vocals.

Had a great time with this 😂

Interesting, and seemed quite familiar despite it being my first time hearing any of it, I guess due to the 'eastern' influences that I hear on the radio where I am.

Ik ga hier meer van luisteren. Jammer soms van de stem van Jah.

Bonkers and really enjoyable :)

Pretty funky, can't believe I've never heard of jah wobble before, will definitely be checking out more of his albums

I knew this album as my dad was a fan - and love the opening track 'Visions of You' - it's amazing and you think you are on the verge of greatness, but sadly doesn't rise to such peaks again, still a great album

Really like the "Visions of You" track

Derrière cet infini nom d'artsite se cache en fait tout simplement Kingsley Coman, tout fraîchement revenu de sa médiocre coupe du monde au Qatar. Un album coup de poing à mettre entre toutes les mains.

Je pense que beaucoup d'entre vous ont écouté cet album sans même savoir que Jah Wobble était depuis 2006 le détenteur du record de la personnalité la moins célèbre du monde. Un huissier s'est en effet basé sur le fait que personne n'ait jamais entendu parler de Jah Wobble pour homologuer ledit record. Ce dernier a pourtant bien failli lui être retiré en 2018 après qu'un internaute a découvert que son compte Instagram comptait trois abonnés. Une enquête a finalement prouvé qu'il s'agissait de bots (le groupe de chaudières TLC pour être précis).

Complete shift from what he was doing with PIL, but still a great album. A melting pot of different musical cultures, but surprisingly unified. Closer to a 3.7

Made the mistake of looking into this guy and seeing that he was a founding member of Public Image Ltd (PiL). I think think those guys succcckckkkk. So I went into this with a chip on my shoulder. Turns out the album rules! Really great mix of world musical styles and grooves.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I was going to. It's going to require some more listens, but I'll definitely be back!

Brilliant ! I wasn’t expecting it to be so good. Some excellent Zumba tracks. I shall probably play it again while I’m cooking and have a dance along! I was reserving 4* for classics but this was an unexpected ****

Usually I strongly dislike world music, but this album really hit some of the right spots and I really enjoyed it as background music.

Somehow I never checked out Jah Wobble's work back in the nineties, so I was unfamiliar with this album. It serves up an interesting melange of different musical styles. Not everything works, and some of the electronic elements sound a bit dated, but overall I enjoyed listening to it.