Rising Above Bedlam

Visions of you

Fun album

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart – Rising Above Bedlam (1991) On Day 75, I encountered another mid album. While I can admire the technical effort that went into blending Spanish, Arabic, and UK vibes into one project, I honestly didn't find anything interesting in the listening experience. It felt like a collection of multicultural sounds that never quite coalesced into a body of work I’d want to return to. The only real highlight for me was Visions of You, which had a decent atmosphere, but the rest of the LP was a struggle to get through. It’s a well-intentioned project with some high-level ideas, but it lacks the soul and energy to be anything more than a 2/5.

It's got some great bits.

Firstly it’s not on apple which forces me to hear shitty Spotify ads so what I did hear wasn’t great

Have never heard of this band before nor any songs by them. As soon as the first song ("Visions of Love") started playing I was digging the cool groove right away. And then I hear Sinead O'Connor's voice and was wondering what I am listening to. Good surprise! 2nd song was a big drop, this guy's voice is pretty bad. 3rd song - uh oh - don't really like the Spanish singer either. "Everyman's an Island" - liked the music for this one. Wish this was an instrumental. There aren't that many lyrics on this one so I think it might grow on me. Was excited for this one from the first song, but it mostly went downhill from there. Liked songs on Spotify: 1/10 Rating: 1/5

Real mid just not for me

Started out strong with a song featuring Sinead O'Connor. This album was all over the place. Switching things up with different ethnic styles was cool. The music got a little strange sometimes... Interesting album, I don't quite know what to make of it.

I don't hate this, but it's not doing much for me, either. When arty, white people make world music, there's a really thin line between innovative/interesting and cheesy/embarrassing, and this thing really fucking straddles it. I wish the drum machines sounded more like drum machines. I wish Wobble's punky dub roots showed a little more. Sometimes they're too good at just making world music, to the point where I can see myself in a coffee shop in 1995, drinking a cappuccino for the first time from an oversized mug, the 6-disc CD player behind the counter shuffling between this and Peruvian pan flutes and nonglottal, tribal chanting, watching the town's first sushi restaurant get ready to open in the strip mall across the street, wondering who would ever eat raw fish, then I put on my headphones and listen to Silverchair on my new Sony Discman.

It's not bad but I couldn't really listen to it

Hmmm confused about the inclusion of this one. It’s not bad but not good either.

Not worth the labor of trying to find it.

Yeah I don't know... I feel like there is a version of this album that I end up really enjoying, but as is I find this album really boring. I don't think it is as bad as people say, but it definitely doesn't deserve to be on this list. High 2.

This was dreadful. Everything here can be found with more depth, integrity and honesty elsewhere. This was a long slog, made worse by having to listen to it on YouTube due to it not being on streaming services. Musically it’s ok, but the vocals were cringeworthy throughout. It gave me visions of a middle aged, semi-professional band playing a local “New Age” charity event. Drenched in patchouli and pissed on shit lager. I know Jah Wobble is a good bass player and has an extensive discography, and I’m sure this isn’t indicative of his entire catalogue, but I didn’t like this.

2+ Stars (6/15)

Not really my cup of tea.

Another forgettable album, disappointing.

Very funky, with some español in there! some spice

All over the place and not in a good way. Some really interesting moments, but too many styles that you could hear delivered much more skilfully by artists from the regions it seeks to replicate. The longer it goes on the worse it gets, by the end I'm both zoning it out and getting annoyed it's still going.

It was pretty fun but didn't strike me as particularly amazing or noteworthy.

Boring, pretentious and all over the place.

Album sympa mais sans plus. Le coté un peu reggae des sons était plutôt cool mais mis à part ça, j'ai pas retenu grand chose du projet.

ein bisschen crazy, ethnisch nordafrika aber auch spanien?, religiös aber ganz interessant aber leider hintergrundmusik und ein bisschen einseitig

irgendwie vibes

Starts out interesting, but the different songs seem to become less and less distinct as the album progresses. Still, it's a nice addition to the 1001 albums list for the distinctly different musical voice it presents when compared to most pop music. Would I rather listen to this or a Warren Zevon album (ANY Warren Zevon album!)? Well, at least 99 times out of 100, my answer is going to be Zevon (completely left off all iterations of the 1001 albums list, but now in the Rock and Roll HOF, thank you very much!), of course. But this album provides a decent-and-not-completely-painful-to-listen-to alternative and shows what's possible within the broad framework of popular music.

feels a bit abrupt, especially at the end, but the mood throughout the whole lp was quite engaging, loved how the personalities switched from time to time, balancing between being post-punk and latina

If nothing else, it was unique

I have never heard of this album before. I knew of Jah Wobble, and thought he was connected to punk in some way. When I read the wiki page I saw he was in PiL and I enjoyed some of their stuff back in the day. I was interested in listening because I assumed I'd either be getting some punk music or possibly reggae inspired music, but I had no clue. Visions of You started and I loved it. It felt kinda Sinead O'Connor-like and I wasn't shocked to see that it was her vocals on the song. Then came Relight the Flame with Wobble's vocals, and I really got Into the reggae rhythm of that. With each song there was something to enjoy-I loved the various world music sounds that were being used. I know some will talk of cultural appropriation (and the irony of many of the progressive sentiments on the record), and I have no great argument for it other than it's been a thing forever and pretty much all popular music has some form of it going on. This was a pleasant surprise for me, and I'm very glad it's on the list.

2/5

less cynical than duck rock, less condescending than graceland, but less interesting than either.

pretty interesting and effortful music but something about an album that gleefully pulls from every direction of World Music it can, while spearheaded by a white punk guy who calls himself Jah Wobble, doesnt pass the vibe check. basslines r good. hard to have strong feelings about!

Delightfully eclectic, eccentric 90s pop rock.

Kind of like Enigma. Moody, ethereal, chanty. Worldly, sounds like native American, and south American chants and some middle Eastern instrumentation. Very eclectic. some songs would be better if he didn't sing.

started strong then lost steam. i like the Sinead Song

not bad

Was very wary when I saw that this guy was in Public Image Ltd. but this is better than anything PiL ever put out. I was a bit higher on it in the beginning but the best songs are a bit front loaded. It's fine and it gets a mid score.

Album Review 067 Rising Above Bedlam by Jah Wobble’s Invaders Of The Heat (1992) Rating 3/5 This is an album I’ve never heard before, despite knowing and enjoying some of Jah Wobble’s other work, both solo and with PiL. Rising Above Bedlam isn’t on my usual streaming service though so that’s may be why. Rising Above Bedlam is seen as an important step in the evolution and development of “world techno” (e.g. fusing dub, bass-heavy slow house, and ethnic Middle Eastern, Spanish, and North African melodies). There’s some good stuff on here but, listening in context with the other big indie-dance albums around that time, it doesn’t stand up to the likes of Screamadelica or Blue Lines. this may be an unfair comparison and one badly influenced by not being able to listen to the full album without adverts (thanks YouTube) and I probably need to give it another listen to fully appreciate what’s here.

So tired of junk that has no streams on spotify showing up.

Rising Above Bedlam is quite the album--different with world music from truly around the world. With Afrobeat and the Middle Eastern sounds, I thought for sure this Jah Wobble was Black and from Africa. I feel ripped off because Jah Wobble is an Englishman and was part of Public Image Ltd. This album's release in 1991 is off the tail end of the world music influencing the West trend, after Paul Simon's Graceland in 1986, possibly the most well known western world music album. I'd even say that Rising Above Bedlam uses more world music than Graceland, and now knowing that a white man created this album, I have soured. Well, whatever. The album was good and I enjoyed the various languages used. I don't know if it belonged here, but it flowed and grabbed my attention. What more can I ask for!

I couldn't really tell you why this album is on this project. But fortunately for me, I tend to enjoy world and new age-leaning music, so I didn't hate this. The use of Sinéad O'Connor's vocals was a very nice touch, too, that I felt really set the mood. This really is a pretty unique album, sonically, so I guess I'll go ahead and round my 2.5 up to a 3!

Interesting, like the world music sounds, a little chaotic for me

08/02/2025 This comes in at a solid 2, cos it's crap. Spotify listeners: 19k

All over the place and none is it really good

Post-punk strikes again with music that doesn't vibe with me at all. I try every time to pinpoint what exactly it is that I don't like but I just can't get in to it at all. Sometimes there is a guitar or bass solo and I bob my head. Then it goes back to the rest of the song and I want to switch.

This is definitely one of those truly unique, one of a kind albums. When I first started listening, I remember thinking it sounded like PiL, but as a dub band instead of post punk. After doing a little research, it made perfect sense once I realized Jah Wobble was a major part of PiL. Rather than treating dub as a purely Jamaican foundation, this album pulls in Middle Eastern, African, Asian, and European influences, while still being dominated by massive dub basslines that give it real physical weight and a hypnotic feel. This is easily one of those albums that’s going on my list of top experimental records I’ve heard.

Muy vanguardista, world, bajo sobresaliente...

This is an album for bass. Very 90s sound, hasn't really aged well but the bass playing is engaging, and opening song a winner.

Nice moments but a bit of a mess

Not enough Sinead! Gave it one listen, felt pretty schizophrenic. Interesting at times. Dated at others. A few fun moments.

Some interesting worldly grooves, occasionally found myself listening, but not a lot of stick factor here. Also, this album was not on apple music

It's kind of cool that this guy came from Public Image and left that band to do this. I feel like this is less cultural appropriation and more of a genuine attempt at making music true to the roots of the cultures he is representing here. That's a good thing I suppose. It's not really something I would listen to again but I did enjoy it one time through. Nothing else to say about it, really. It is exactly what you would expect it to be. 2.75/5

What if Massive Attack had a sitar? Well now you know

Gear: Hifiman HE6se v2 SE Artwork: 🏙️🪶🚩 Production: 😌👂🧈 Music: 🌏🧼😩 Rating: 🏷️(🏷️)/5

Colonizer music. And when it’s not stealing from other cultures it’s just bad. I was going to rate it 2 stars but those last two tracks were real stinkers so into the one stars it goes. Put more artists from other nations on this list please. 1/10

Decent album but not something I could see myself coming back to

***agood, versatile, easy listening album

I don’t respond to most world music. It never seems genuine, or avoids a meaningful musical theme and I just cringe the whole time.

Really interesting and fresh listen -- although the artist's name is maybe one of the worst I've seen on this list. It's consistently good, but the latter half doesn't impress me as much.

Niet heel spraakmakend

Overall Rating: 6.3/10 Favorite Song: Relight the Flame

There's some fundamental lizard part of my brain creaking and cawing that I have heard this name before, but I'm not sure I agree. It has a touch of Madchester and a massive smattering of drugs and up yer arse poetry. It's not very good, but a couple of songs are fine. All said, there is absolutely zero reason for this to be on any such Must Hear list. And yet, it is better than the entirety of the Country genre.

This artist is completely new to me. I don't like the singer's voice. The music is strange but interesting at times. I think if this were all instrumental, I might rate it higher.

World music still coming back to earth

It's ok. Pretty good stuff. That's about all I got to say about that.

Never heard of it and really enjoyed it.

1.5/5

It's a bit middle aged white guy discovers world music, but it has enough good songs to overcome that.

not terrible but not really my thing.

7 / 10

Siisti levy. Maailmanmusiikkia kuten wikipedia sanoo, mutta laajasti muistakin genreistä ammentava ja muutenkin tosi monipuolista. Trip hop viboja ja vähän postpunkkia kanssa. Instrumentaali painotteista. Parhaat: Visions Of You, Everyman's an Island, Sweet Divinity

Pretentious drivel. One semi-decent song but other than that it’s just a pile of wank. Not sure why it’s on the list - I want that hour of my life back please. 1.5/10

I’m sorry, what? Light 1.5 for some alright bass lines.

Jah Wobble (which is the stage name of a white guy, if you can believe that) is best known as the original bassist of Public Image Ltd., performing on their first two albums and heavily informing their stylistic trajectory. PIL combined John Lydon's punk proclivities with a heavy dose of Wobble's own interest in dub reggae and other international musical styles. Wobble's solo venture Invaders of the Heart started putting out LPs about a decade after he left PIL. while the Invaders share his propensity for a truly global kind of music, the center of their work is less in punk rock, and more in the realm of electronic music, which had really taken off in that intervening decade. the ten tracks here present a wide array of stylistic influences, but the sounds of downtempo and dub are always at the center. it's a pretty consistently chill vibe for 51 minutes, which I think might be to its detriment somewhat. no one track really stands out over any other, and the overall result is kind of bland as a result. Sinéad O'Connor shows up for the first track though, which is cool! and I enjoy Wobble's basslines. decent 5/10.

I was hoping this album might get me. In the end, I felt unsatisfied.

Decent album.

A brilliant album. I love Jah Wobble’s infectious love of all music. This really set the tone for music of any genre, any nation being commercial by mixing it all together. Justin Adam’s who went into play with Robert Plant is great and of course Sinead and Natacha’s vocals are sublime.

THIS REAKS OF WHITE MEN you have so much room and time to pick good albums and then u pick this.

Bro went on vacation and decided to make this thing. Interesting. In all seriousness, I'll try to wirte an actual review - at least once in a while, lmao. Instead of well, just few random words... sooo, what can I say, hm? It was pleasant, it was nice, that one track I think it was called Erzulie or smth, was the best one. Cool record to listen to while driving the car. Some vocals kinda boring, some tracks not that great, but as a whole it averages to a cool album.

Not my thing but I didn't actively dislike it either.

Easy pleasy Toe tapper Vocals

What in beans on toast is this British horse sh*t!?

the switch up from visions of you to relight the flame was crazy, such a strong, good opening track had me thinking it was all gonna be good favourite songs - visions of you, bomba

ok, não é ruim, mas também não amei, é honesto, uma vibe mais tranquila

Really enjoyed that. Total blast from the past. My memory tricked me into thinking it was all about the last song but there were some crackers on there.

Meh, it was ok. Maybe needs a second listen?

*Interesting world music sounds *Won't probably relisten, but an interesting band

Didn't know what to expect with this one, wasn't a fan of Public Image and saw this had a low average rating, but I really enjoyed it! A British take on World Music/reggae to an extent, unique and ambitious.

I had to listen to this on Spotify. Since I won't pay for Spotify, my listening experience was not optimal. Anyway. I liked this, probably more than I should have. Yes, it is a bit pretentious, but it was different and well done. The Sinead O'Connor track was lovely. (RIP, Sinead.) This was a nice listen while getting my work done. Now--get it on other streamers so I don't have to suffer through Spotify again!

Right up my silly little alley

I've got to be honest, I didn't care for this one very much. This is Rising Above Bedlam, the 1991 album by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart. That's a sentence, alright. This is another one of those cases where the guys behind this list just had to cram more of the same guys on this list as they can, as Jah Wobble already has two albums with him on it through his time as the bassist for Public Image Ltd. I'm fine with having a few side projects on this list, but I feel like there are a few too many here and the ones that are one the list just don't really seem all that important. This album is basically like if you took Paul Simon's Graceland, made it 10x more British, replaced the clear South African influences with a mish-mash of generic "world music" influences, and made the album significantly less interesting and good. I'm being weirdly harsh towards an album that I don't even really dislike. The musical compositions here aren't bad. I don't really love them, but they've got some energy and the bass-playing is neat. However, it is a little repetitive and some songs like "Sweet Divinity" just don't do it for me. The vocals are a mixed bag. Sometimes there's a good vocal part. I mean, Sinéad O'Connor is on the opener! You can't bring me to hate her, can you? No! But she's only on the one song. The most prevalent vocalist on here is Mr. Wobble himself, and I don't care for his vocals. He sounds very uninterested, and the flat British vocals just don't fit the instrumentation at all. I know this review seems pretty negative, but I can't bring myself to truly dislike this album. It's not amazing or anything, but I got just enough out of it to not warrant giving it a particularly low score. It can't get that high of a score, but I'd feel bad for giving this something like a 2. It's fine, but not a must-listen. Low 3/5.

Huh...

Not to my taste. The couple songs with Sinead O'Connor were the best. Would give a 2.5 if I could

White British man with a strange and insultingly boring attempt at dub. Embarrassing that this is in the list, much better off having a genuine Caribbean album in its place.

Interesting but not really my thing.

There’s a lot going on here. Most of it is bad. Sinead O’Conner’s appearance on track one notwithstanding.

3.0/10 Thought this was pretty horrible...

Mostly boring.... some good baseline occasionally.

Based on the cover art, it's clear that "Jah Wobble" has no idea that the terms "Indian", meaning from India, and "Indian", the outdated term for Native Americans, refer to two completely different groups of people.

Odd and hard to place into any genre…I dig it. Made me feel like I was in the 90’s again.

Didn’t listen to

I didn't have AIDS before I listened to this, I just tested positive, damn Wobbled my Jah

It was nice! Really only liked the album when the woman sang.

started awful but ok, but i couldn't finish this fucking thing. 1/5 every man's an island and the tide is a-rising

I don’t know what genre this album is but I don’t like it.

GOING IN: Dreading it properly LISTENED WHILE: walking the dog FAMILIARITY: Know the artist, not the album SKIP RATE: Gave up entirely REPLAY VALUE: Once was plenty DISCOVERY CURVE: Never happened VERDICT: Waste of my time BODY'S VERDICT: Statue mode My Rating: 0.5 I'm losing faith in this project...fast.

I fully expected to hate this based on the few reviews I glanced at, the description and the album art. I didn’t though. But I also didn’t think it was great, good or excellent. It’s between a 2 and a 3 for me 🤷‍♂️

This had a lot working against it between the band name and the album art. But I actually found it listenable.

had a hard time rating this one as it waffled quite a bit. cool to hear Sinead O'Conner in some of these but really disliked Jah's spoken word... 3 stars??

This was decent and eclectic. High 2s.

It was interesting

Day724 - kinda all over the place an every third song wasn’t bad. i want to like it more than i do just cause it’s so different

Some of the songs have a good beat that I enjoyed, others were tough to get into

He can't sing and it's cheesy af. First track is quite nice but it goes downhill as it goes on. Hoping for much better from Metal Box which I coincidentally generated the day before this one.

I had no idea what to expect here. Maybe straight up Reggae with a name like 'Jah Wobble' but actually it's more like a good vibe world-wide acid house party. I can't deny it's a cheerful, disposition elevating LP. That's all, it is nice.

Somehow not as bad as I expected but still pretty bad. RYM: N Saved a song: N

If you're the former bass player for Public Image Ltd., one of the most iconoclastic and groundbreaking bands in rock history, surely on your solo album you're going to continue to be a trailblazer, right? No? You say that you want to leave the doom and gloom behind and keep it mostly light 'n' breezy? Jah Wobble and his fellow Invaders Of The Heart do exactly that here, cranking out one Carribean-inflected number after another on this record. It's also dull as dishwater. There's nothing challenging or even intriguing about this record. The best you can say is that the grooves are tight, but the "songs" are just repetitive loops of overly-familar chord progressions. (It doesn't help either that Jah Wobble's singing voice isn't particularly distinctive.)

Good for Wobble

I really liked this, very pleasantly surprised. strange thing is I'm sure I'd heard of Jah Wobble before, but no idea why. the problem is now, how do I score this? as I said I liked it, but how much? It is better than The Strokes, but is it worth a 4? No, it is a definite 3.8, but just doesn't have that extra something to make it a 4. so 3 it is, but a high one.

Really enjoyable listen. A very happy trippy vibe throughout. Worth the effort of having to listen on You Tube with all the ads!

Great tunes, wobbly vocals.

Maso

I really enjoyed this, and would like to hear more of his stuff. The only one I remembered was Visions of You. It was chill and interesting, and I loved the bass rhythms and percussion. I don't normally weigh in to contradict accusations of cultural appropriation, because I don't feel qualified, but in this case, I do wonder whether the people upvoting those reviews are aware that in 70s, 80s and 90s Britain (especially in London and the Midlands) it wasn't unusual to have musicians and singers from all backgrounds and cultures vibing and working together. For me, this was more of a London-based collaboration than a white guy having gone to India?? Especially since singer Natacha Atlas co-wrote half the songs.

Lots of different genres, didn't make much impression on me.

Quite a banger. Shirts in and out of genres smoothly, always powered by Latin drums.

Mostly boring. Odd to choose Spanish lyrics and put it over Indian/Middle Eastern/Northern African themed music.

I always give extra points to albums with a lot of variety and good instrumentation, and this has both of those things in spades. It's a tad long, a tad boring, and the album cover is atrocious, but it's still a great album. 4.0/5.0: Great

interesting textures that dont ever really develop. there’s a few cool moments but overall pretty dull

Not for me

Absolute banger. Added to the rotation

Spanish musical influences were cool

Went through this album twice and while its not bad, I still didn't really have much love for it. While this album had plenty of dubby bass to hold it together, it felt like it was trying to be too many things IMO. At its best points, it had elements that made me want to listen to other artists who have done the sounds / moods better (e.g., Sweet Divinity, Everyman's an Island). For me this is a high 2 or soft 3.

Went pretty excited into this because of Bill and Rusty got me into world music a few years ago. Was pretty solid to just listen to, but overall I'm not really excited about anything on this album. Good enough, but no real stand out moments.

That album had every single genre in it, i had no idea where it was going to go next. Really kept me hooked with some of the awesome world music and just general good vibes that came from it. Had a couple songs that were very out of place, but then would just go back to jamming. Pretty solid 4. Bonus points for having some sweet songs come on afterwards on Spotify

Can usually get into some world music but this just doesn't stick with me. I can appreciate the multiple genres and but something felt very cheesy to me about this.

I mean, it’s ok…

Very trip-hoppy, bass-heavy world music in the Morcheeba/Smoke City/Thievery Corp vein, which I suppose makes this really ahead of its time (ahead of 'trip hop' as a label, I would suppose, because I'm not sure this feels particularly 'world' as a genre). Usually this kind of sound is my jam but I was overall whelmed by this album outside of a few tracks. Some impressive work by Jah Wobble on the bass at least. The best work is being done by the female vocal performances, some of which appear to be done by Sinead O'Connor which makes sense. fav tracks: Everyman's An Island [though I'm pretty sure Donne would disagree]

Fun music

2.0 - Weak

Not even one good song. It looks like some experimental shit, like it has no ideia of what they are making. No feling at all listing to this. In every song i got tired begore its end. There are some albuns here that its just nor worth the time, this is one of those.

Overall: 6/10 Honestly, this was super chill and I really enjoyed it. Nice music to relax to with a book and a hot chocolate. Fav Song: Erzulie

Didn't know what to expect but really enjoyed the start but feel like it dragged on after some time.

Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart’s Rising Above Bedlam finds the bassist’s globetrotting ambitions colliding with the synthetic sheen of turn-of-the-decade UK electronica, creating a record that oscillates between entrancing and awkward—a spiritual journey wrapped in early-90s gloss. Wobble’s unmistakable bass anchors the album, but his flat, off-key, half-spoken vocals often jolt the listener out of the groove, lending a mystic pub-philosopher vibe that doesn’t always mesh with the polished production. Still, moments of real beauty surface: “Visions of You” stands out as a mellow, hypnotic gem elevated by Sinéad O’Connor’s luminous guest vocal, while “Everyman’s an Island” stretches into cinematic territory with spoken-word passages over strummy guitars and swelling strings, even if it veers toward overearnestness. “Wonderful World” reaches for breezy lite-reggae buoyancy but is held back by vocals that feel more demo than pop-ready. At its strongest when leaning into atmosphere and mood, Rising Above Bedlam ultimately occupies a liminal space between revelation and self-parody, resulting in a record that’s compelling in flashes but rarely fully convincing.

Quite a funny album. Really weird but also earwormish

Priem

Completely forgettable except for Sinead O'Connor

I can tell this was trying to be cool but it kind of just sounded like a jumble of sounds and cultural influences that didn’t really compliment each other. I’m ngl this feels a little like it was added to the list to have genres on there other than just 70s rock. A couple of the songs are kind of cool but the rest are enough of a miss to bring down the rating. Fav songs: visions of you, sweet divinity

Kind of a weird fusion of dub and world music. I don’t think this album is a particularly good version of either of those things, but whatever it ends up being is honestly ok. The bass lines and synth stuff is actually really enjoyable, if a bit repetitive. I don’t like Jah Wobble’s voice at all. It’s just kind of bad. For some reason I’m liking him more on a second listen, but that has to just be insanity. Sinead O’Connor feature is kind of random but honestly very good. Visions of You is probably the only actually good song on this album. Overall, everything just feels too long. All of the songs have pretty minimal variation and just last way longer than they need too. The album as a whole feels really really long. Def a weird choice for a 1001 albums list. I don’t think my understanding of modern music is at all changed by listening to this, but whatever. My review kind of seems like I totally hated this album, but it honestly wasn’t even that bad, just really weird and idiosyncratic. I’ve definitely listened to way, way worse. Standout Tracks: Visions of You, Relight the Flame, Sweet Divinity

I get that this is an influential album. It’s good, but I was expecting more.

Cool sound they have going on

Good songs, like the instrumentation, guy’s music kinda grates

weird

This was like the one shit you take that's super long, and you have to cut it early. I couldn't make it through the last half of this album. Favourite Track(s): Visions of You Least Favourite Track(s): Erzulie

Very boring

I did really enjoy parts of this

Aufgenommen in den Londoner Studios Oval, Alaska und Greenhouse, zeigt das Album den britischen Bassisten Jah Wobble mit seiner Band Invaders of the Heart. Musikalisch verbindet es Dub‑Bass, rhythmische Vielfalt und weltmusikalische Einflüsse. Bekannte Stücke sind „Visions of You“ (mit Sinéad O'Connor) und „Bomba“. Die Beiträge von Natacha Atlas fügen zusätzliche atmosphärische Tiefe hinzu. Das Album bewegt sich im Bereich World Music / Dub mit Elementen aus nordafrikanischen, arabischen und europäischen Klangtraditionen. Bewertung: Kohärentes Album mit globalem Klangspektrum, interessant arrangiert und stimmig.

Je suis d'accord avec le 3. Quand même le bassiste d'origine de PIL.

Grosse vibe de musique du monde. La 2e toune on dirait que Leonard Cohen chantait avec Sinead O'Connor. Vraiment pas mauvais, il y a des instruments le fun, mais je sais pas trop quoi en penser.

Nah. Pas pour moi. Pour ma culture générale je suis content de l’avoir découvert mais ça s’arrête là.

ASS

Poor Man's Paul Simon. It's alright but not worthy of this list

Very surprised by this! Had never heard of Jah Wobble before and the result is really quite interesting. I don't know it it'll reward very many repeat listens but there's some killer bass on this.

??? Keiner kennt ihn kollaborateur von CAN und PIL. Sehr fusion ich finds gut. C

Matt Johnson (The The) meets Diddy Kong Racing. Het fleurt wel op, absoluut, maar het is me allemaal wel wat te cheesy. Het is als de theme song van het Monkey Town indoor speelparadijs. Kan me aan de andere kant wel weer voorstellen dat artiesten als Damon Albarn hier inspiratie in wist te vinden voor Gorillaz en later solowerk. 5/10

Echt geen idee wat hiervan te verwachten en op het eind kan ik het eigenlijk ook niet verklaren. Ik waardeer het experimentele karakter maar het voelt ook beetje fout om al deze muziekstijlen toe te eigenen in een soort funky triphop plaat. De zang is soms echt een beetje cringe en de exotische geluiden komen soms echt slecht uit de verf. Sjonge, wat komen de experimentele 90's platen toch slecht uit de verf in deze lijst. 4,5/10

The electro reggae sound no one asked for, delivered in a style no one wanted to hear. So bad, it's hard not to think it was on purpose. 2 stars for accidental self-parody, and an extra for Spanish Bjork.

This album was Nigel Tufnel’s foray into world music before he opened the cheese shop.

This was highly enjoyable and has got me back into trip hop

Not that good.

Kom skemmtilega á óvart! Öðruvísi og flott sánd

Ég bjóst ekki við að ég myndi gefa þessa einkunn. Var ég í furðulega góðu skapi þegar ég hlustaði? Neinei, þetta kom bara svona skemmtilega á óvart.

It's fine, sounds kinda like U2

Kind of weird. Kind of fun. Mostly ok.

Perfectly fine for a Saturday morning chill - not something I would listen to every day but good as some relaxing background tunes

Visions Of You is a nice opening track. From there it's a mash up of influences from all over really, kind of mixed in with pop fusion. An interesting listen.

I had high hopes for this since I was familiar with Jah’s stuff working with Lydon and PiL. I can always dig cross-cultural world beat collabs, and there are some groovy musical moments on this here and there. But damn…overall this is really dated and probably more deserving of overhead music while shopping at World Market. I’m only rating up based on the opening track alone because Sinead’s voice always elevates a song.

Hmm. I didn’t really catch the point of this one

Great band name. Music was kind of meh. 2.5

A little cheesy sounding but found myself grooving while doing some work. Not the highest of praises but enough to round up to separate from some of the trash rated 1 and 2. 2.5/5

Great bass but not something I’d listen to often

Mmm. No to this. I really hope this is one of those albums that has been taken off the list lol. Like….this isn’t even “world music,” unless I’m misunderstanding the term. This is basic-ass trip-hoppy beats with some “exotic flavor” added in here and there.

Different. Sounded a bit like James, and I like James. Went all weird in places, but held together enough by a nice sound and feel to the whole thing.

Suffers from too much hype.

Enervating

World Music. I liked it a lot, but I can imagine that not veryone would agree.

I don't have high expectations for this at all. Band is obscure(13k Spotify listeners), album cover is shit, average rating is 2.6/5. It didn't do anything to blow me away, but it was surprisingly not godawful. It's basically some white British dude trying to make pop with Latin and African music elements. However, it suffers from redundancy; if I actually wanted to listen to these styles of music, I would listen to musicians from the actual countries and cultures, rather than a British white guy's versions of world music. Another gripe I have is that individual songs tend to drag on. But at least it wasn't terribly boring and overlong, unlike some of the other stuff I've had to listen to (*cough* Christina Aguilera *cough*).

This was weird I enjoyed it

The full album is not available on Apple Music but I like the songs I have heard. Nice, chill bass lines.

J’avais de l’appréhension considérant les commentaires, mais j’ai vraiment aimé. Le chanteur me faisait vraiment penser à un autre chanteur des années 70, mais incapable de mettre le doigt dessus

Didn't resonate with me. Bass playing seemed to try to be more impressive but felt muddy.

I laughed out loud more than once, at times I suspect weren’t intended to play for laughs.

for some reason i saw the artist name and album title and year of release and just assumed this would suck based on no knowledge of what/who this was by, just ~vibes~, but i'm having a good time actually!

Kinda like a boring version of the Spyro soundtrack

I love this fusion of western pop and exotic world music. The blend of electronic and acoustic instrumentation works so well, and while I'm not sure about the male vocalists rather flat delivery, the female vocals more than make up for it. I'm sold!

Strange album. Very trippy and slow. Not sure where to place this in the 90's music scene. It's not really in line with the Bristol scene of Trip-Hop, nor is it dance-y enough for the Madchester scene. So it kinda just exists on its own. Not sure who Jah Wobble is either. An odd album that is very of its time and seems mostly forgotten nowadays. Key tracks: Visions of You

This was great. Such a wide variety of vibes and sounds -- I couldn't actually tell that most of the tracks were from the same artist as any of the other tracks. There were a few that had the same vocal tenor (reminded me a lot of Midnight Oil's lead singer), but yeah, just a lot of varied sounds here. And I really liked most of them. It was a little scattered in terms of theme and feel, so I'm hesitating a little here, but I just can't give it four stars because I listened to it twice and loved it. Five stars.

Interesting, but feels inessential. I liked the opening track and it was pleasant enough to listen to at work, but didn't stand out. Wobble's brit punk voice is a funny comparison to the world music.

It's kind of a hippie/spiritual/world style album, with most songs in English but some in other languages too. The female vocals are decent. The male vocals less so. All in all it's OK.

Letting this squeak by as a 3 on the back of some solid female vocals and nice instrumental bits. Still, its hard to shake the feeling that I'm getting something off the TGIFriday's Fusion Flavors menu, rather than something authentic.

I know bias is wrong, but between the pseudo Rasta name and the trash album cover, I was already cringing before I even tried to give it a listen. But listening didn't result in any pleasant surprises. It's world-music wanking with vocals that sound like they were written by a 13 year old who thinks they're deep. I feel like dropping from a 2 to a 1 is usually because listening to it makes me angry...and I'd say this album feel into that spectrum.

Good vibes. 3.5 rounded up. Love the international feel of the songs, where the language would be Spanish but the sound would be middle eastern. Also a Tom Waits vibe to certain songs.

1. vizionz - 1.5 2. flame - 1 3. bomba - 1 4. Kingdom - 1 5. Rising - 1 6. Erzulie - 1.5 7. Island -1.5 8. Soledad - 1.5 9. Sweet - 1 10. World -1

Can’t find this album anywhere.

Not really for me.

Not bad, but not memorable either.

This was my first introduction to the genre of world music. The combination of Western styles with non-Western folk and Ethnic influences really make sense in this context. I enjoyed the mix of Middle Eastern, African, and Asian sounds combined with reggae, dub, and spiritual undertones throughout the album. That said I noticed there are many sound effects layered across the tracks that half of them start to feel a bit synthetic and cheap, even goofy at times like video game music. It’s an odd mix of styles that work well individually, but together as a full album it feels a little disjointed to me. Overall it’s not terrible and the talent is definitely there, but it’s not something I’d really go back to. Favourite tracks: Visions of You, Everyman’s an Island, Soledad.

what an eclectic journey smoothly gliding over space and time. it's almost a bit too clean and glides right over me at times.

Some songs are very trip hop-ish, and I like the mixture of sounds - arabic, Indian, rock, Spanish guitar. musically, it's a very interesting listen because of the melding of all these disparate sounds. the vocals, however, leave a lot to be desired. It mostly sounds more like spoken word than singing. But on certain songs, Like Soledad, where there is a guest vocalist, and it's pretty magnificent. Overall, I think this is a solid album that I enjoyed more often than not. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more when it was new, but it's definitely not without its charms. 3 stars.

This album teetered on the boundaries of love and hate for me where I didn’t know if it was two or four stars. I didn’t really want to turn it off but I kept hoping it would end. I think there are some good ideas here but sloppy execution? I don’t know what to think. I guess that’s part of the appeal of the 1001 albums project though, I definitely feel stretched musically but I can’t tell if I’m better or worse for it.

I hadn’t ever checked out Jah Wobble, which is sad as this would have gone great in the rotation back in the days of sitting on beanbags in hazy living rooms, staring at lava lamps and talking nonsense. It’s great stuff, the varied influences going into it make it sound like crate digging trip hop, but it’s a band! It took me back to a simpler time, I can’t see myself returning to it but as a one time listen it’s been a fun ride.

Fucking horrendous

So surrealista, original.

Conceptually, jack of all trades, master of none. Mr. Wobble is a very decent bass player. I feel like he wanted to display some knowledge, but I'm not feeling the investment. I also feel the influences are being taken excessively literally. On occasion I'm impressed with the combination of ideas being displayed at the same time, but I get over it quickly. It might be my ignorance in the subject, but it's feeling superficial. And just, you know, where are you from? The only thing that feels clear is the technical displays of talent. 2.2/5

127/1001 Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart - Rising Above Bedlam Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ It feels as though this is confused as to whether it wants to be a bad post punk album or a globe trotting world music compilation. The latter smacks of cultural appropriation. There's not really a lot that truly elevates this album. Odd.

A lot better album than what I expected. There is something for everybody on this album whatever your genre bias. I particularly liked the lovely melodies and harmonies which abound right across the record and it was these which came as a big surprise. Basing my limited knowledge of Mr Wobble on what I have heard on PIL records I never thought he would have it in him to write such luxurious tunes. So again a direct hit by the 1001 God’s in serving up an album I would have previously missed or ignored. 3/5 29/10/25

I feel uncomfortable with this album having been made almost entirely by white men

Wow that was impressively bad... I checked the reviews and was expecting it to surely not be that bad. Boy was I wrong

I had never heard of this band/album before so therefore had no idea what to expect... I enjoyed it. A strange, eclectic fusion of reggae, indie, grunge, experimental, rock. I could definitely feel the African influences coming through. I would listen to this again. Very interesting.

Not great. I think it tries for a multicultural sound, but it feels inauthentic. Not actively irritating, but neither enjoyable. 2.5

Meh

The bass playing absolutely slaps but that’s sadly about it aside from the odd tune

Very weird

Two saves

Not unpleasant for the most part except that one song with a peaking microphone in the background. That song would have been my favourite if it weren't for that.

5.5/10

This is an interesting album, combining sounds from various parts of the world. I like how everything feels like it actually goes together, but just never was before. Maybe that's not totally accurate but there are a lot of elements here which sound awesome played together.

Pretty forgettable

Had never heard of this one. Really grew on me

A decent album to have on in the background for tasks at work, but not something I'd probably choose to listen to again

Not terribly good, but not bad. Just different. 2.6

You can tell that nobody was sober in the making of this album

Really ended up liking this. Loved the production. Was fun and interesting.

It's never a good sign when Wikipedia only say "...is the 1st/2nd/3rd album by" an artist. Imagine how low my expectations were when I saw "Rising Above Bedlam is an album by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart"!

Goes downhill fast ...

Jah Wobble's vocals are irritating. A white dude's attempt at world music that just comes across very surface level and boring. Not quite sure how this made it on here.

Visions of You is a cool start to the record. Stirring backing vocals by Sinead O’Connor. Base lines are signature Wobble and are definitely the star of the record. I liked it. Nothing mind-blowing, but mostly good tunes and well worth the listen.

Gotta be one of the most British guys out there… his book is called “Memoirs of a Geezer” and one of his top search results is him talking about getting in a fight that ended up in a Sainsbury’s. I wanted to be like “who the hell is Jah Wobble” but honestly seems like he’s p influential and worked with some really cool people so I’ll let him live

nicks review made me laugh a lot but ive always been curious about this guy and i see i should have never even begun to start considering him

This was some very early '90s and late' 80s fare. It was a bit of a slog to get through being 51 minutes. I don't hate it but I'm not impressed either. This album was short-listed for the first ever Mercury Prize. I sense the world music vibes really hit the nominations panel. The cover art should be burned, and the earth from whence it came salted.

Really good and something I'd never listened to before depsite knowing of and hearing PIL way back when. Great start to the 1001 program.

Cool vibes stuff will return to.

instrumentais interessantes, mas meh

Mostly great upbeat vibes. Digging the rhythms. Standout track for me was Everyman's An Island, which felt like it had a big Dust Brothers influence that I didn't really hear anywhere else on this. All in all though, a lot of it just sounded like it needed something more to make it interesting.

A chimera of genres and noise that I cannot define. Hard to listen to.

There are parts of the album that I really like, especially whenever it leans more into rock side of things. And then, we have the worse world side of things. Ultimately, I'm really not sure what to make of it. I'd prefer half of the album to be cut out.

No

the invasion of my heart has been successfully repelled.

5/10 If the faux strings and brass were removed then there would be a half decent album here. Sounds really early 90s

Although I found the album technically very interesting, musically it did not come together for me at all. Had fun reading about Jah Wobble though.

Funky stuff, trippy mane John Wardle

Good

Meh. It's not on Apple Music so it'a already a bit of ball ache before we get going. There something about a lot of this early 90s stuff that is a bit sterile. Production techniques? I won't lie. I've put zero effort into to giving it a proper listen.

This smells like a white guy with dreads.

4/5

на любителя.

This album isn’t available on Apple Music, which is probably for the best based on hearing some of the songs that are available….feels like I dodged a bullet.

*1991. English indie. *Interesting combo of Rusted Roots style reggae, English 80s pop, some Latin, electronica, and a few other styles fused in there. *Started off strong but then wasn’t digging it. RATING - 5.5/10

This album aims high and fails spectacularly.

Inacreditável um disco desses estar na lista!

A good album, I liked Visions of You and Ungodly Kingdom the most

Good background music. Didn't realize Jah Wobble was the bassist for Public Image Ltd.

Started strong with some Sinead O'Connor vocals, but got a little spotty after that. Not big on Jah's singing, or his name. The rest was only okay, but not like, a 3 okay.

Chilled out sort of new age type music. It's easy to listen to and I enjoyed it. Nothing really stood out to me, it's something I imagine listening to in one of those nature shops that malls had in the 90s. Don't regret listening to it and I could see myself putting this on a chilled out playlist.

I’m stealing parts of to reviews cause they explain this album better then anything I old ever say. 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. 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.

Someone just got back from study abroad and had some ideas! In all seriousness, there are some ok sounds on this, but it feels very appropriated and not authentic - or at least feels very like a dated sampler from a course in ethnomusicology. And it's a much better output than his former band Public Image Ltd.

Ya I mean some of it I could get behind, but the rest not so much. Kind of felt like a Thievery Corporation album but like not a very good one? Might have to give it another try sometime. Very curious about other's thoughts on this one.

Falling Below Average

7/10

Good. Traces of PIL. Enjoyable. Would listen again.

Can’t turn to the right volume where I can still hear it but am not annoyed. Needs to be played at a light whisper. Barely aware it’s on volume might work.

Dug some of the grooves but couldn’t deal with the lyrics and spoken word shit.

This sucked real bad. Can’t imagine someone putting this on thinking “everyone needs to hear this before they die!”

Hmmm….no

I feel very cultured listening to Jah Wobbles confusing genre fusion. I'm now feeling obligated to donate to a music for UNICEF concert. If we could isolate the bass guitar riffs I think I might actually enjoy

For the modal realist, there exists a possible world wherein Rising Above Bedlam isn’t shit, therefore the possible worlds theory is false.

I’m over it more than halfway through

I didn’t hate it, but it was wholly unnecessary and overlong.

Groupe inconnu. Mélange de style qui tombe à coté pour moi (un peu trop reggae parfois). Pas désagréable mais rien qui me donne envie d'une seconde écoute. =>2/5

Un mélange funky de musique du monde et de pop rock. C’est intéressant, quelques bonnes tounes, mais pas pour moi.

This immediately sounds like something I would have seen an infomercial about on TV at 3 in the morning in the mid nineties and had to order by phone.

2.5 Everymans an island

Rising Above Bedlam isn’t terrible, but it leans hard into that cheesy late ’80s/early ’90s dance sound mixed with some other world influences . A few beats are catchy, but overall it feels dated and flat. It’s just not my kind of music, and honestly, I won't ever be revisiting it.

This felt so sparse for some reason? Wasn't a fan and kept praying it would be done soon.

A fun listen.

The first song with Sinead O'Connor is genuinely fantastic and the second song is pretty great too, then it all goes to shit after that. One of the many things I've gotten out of this experience is that "world" is one of the worst ways to classify music. Favorite track: Visions of You 1.5/5

This album is quintessentially 90's. There's a lot going on, transcendental guitar rifts, random influences from Arabic, Indian, Spanish, as well as some "tribal" elements......whatever that means. It's got a cool vibe and this is definitely on this list as a "this is some weird cultural fusion music". It was just what I wanted for today to be honest, just a nice vibe that I don't have to think too much about. There's a transcendental and spiritual feeling to it that are catchy and each track has it's own "cultural element" to it. It's not bad, but i'm struggling to think of a situation where I would sit and listen to this kind of music.......other than because i'm doing this list. It's it's own thing, which is cool.

The band and female vocalist - awesome, no notes The dude singer - needs to be tried at the hague

Too bad. I was surprised to hear Jah Wobble on this project. I didn't know anything about his PiL past. I got to know his music in a different context. There were a few tracks on the album that I really liked. But the more oriental sections really got on my nerves. I probably won't listen to it again. There's too much better music out there. 3/5

Wasn't anticipating much from this, even before I knew it was world music. But really liked it. Love the Spanish feel and the female vocals. Really interesting.

Not what I was expecting. This was a pretty fun, creative, sprawling listen. Sunny beats and the mixing is great. It didn’t knock me over or anything, but I enjoyed my listen fine. This would be good listening for for a sunny lakeside hang.

Good

This feels like a rambly new age preacher’s unending sermon set to a trip-hop beat. Not my thing.

6.9/10

Meh

me mata de uma vez

a primeira nem eh tao ruim mas o resto eh bizarro de chato. meu deus do céu como pode alguém fazer um album desses. ruim DEMAIS

not my exact vibe

This took many twists and turns. I respect the boldness. At the same time, I can’t say I was a fan.

Talented musicians and decent rhythms, but the melodies and lyrics are cornball.

Fast then slow then fast then slow

let’s just say that’s not what I was expecting