Reviews (page 3 of 7)
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.
Overall Rating: 6.3/10 Favorite Song: Relight the Flame
It's ok. Pretty good stuff. That's about all I got to say about that.
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
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.
Decent album.
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.
Easy pleasy Toe tapper Vocals
ok, não é ruim, mas também não amei, é honesto, uma vibe mais tranquila
*Interesting world music sounds *Won't probably relisten, but an interesting band
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.
Interesting but not really my thing.
Odd and hard to place into any genre…I dig it. Made me feel like I was in the 90’s again.
It was nice! Really only liked the album when the woman sang.
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??
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
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
Quite a funny album. Really weird but also earwormish
Completely forgettable except for Sinead O'Connor
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
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.
??? Keiner kennt ihn kollaborateur von CAN und PIL. Sehr fusion ich finds gut. C
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 was highly enjoyable and has got me back into trip hop
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.
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
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.
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.
Didn't resonate with me. Bass playing seemed to try to be more impressive but felt muddy.
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
So surrealista, original.
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 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.
5.5/10
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
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
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.
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.
5/10 If the faux strings and brass were removed then there would be a half decent album here. Sounds really early 90s
Funky stuff, trippy mane John Wardle
Good
на любителя.
Good background music. Didn't realize Jah Wobble was the bassist for Public Image Ltd.
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.
Good. Traces of PIL. Enjoyable. Would listen again.
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.
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
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
6.9/10
Tosi ristiriitainen olo tästä levystä. Tavallaan tykkään paljonkin mutta sitten taas toisaalta en saa otetta. Kallistun nyt kuitenkin positiivisen puolelle ja annan vahvan nelosta hipovan kolmosen. 3/5
Arvostan kokeellista otetta mut vähän turhaa tauhkaa myös. 3/5
Not my usual pick of rock but honestly pretty fun, I never really knew where it was going. Obsessed with the more feminine vocals. I don't think it would be something I'd pick up again but equally the listening experience wasn't bad. Top Picks: Relight the Flame Rising Above Bedlam Erzulie Soledad Sweet Divinity Solid 3.
Interesting...Jah likes the Dub. 3/5
это было интересно и определенно расширяет границы восприятия музыки некоторые песни имели терапевтический и поднимающий настроение эффект. i'd definetely listen to this again rather that beatles not sorry
I definitely did not dislike this like most the people in the group. My biggest gripe, if you will, is that it has that very early 90s digital sterile cleanness to it. But quite honestly musically I don't think there's anything on here I disliked. But there was also nothing on here that I absolutely loved. My favorite track was the opener, "Visions of You", with Sinead O'Connor which kind of gives me a vibe of what Enigma would do with "Return to Innocence", without the native American chanting of course. But most of this is fine. I kind of liked it kind of exotic coffee shop way, but it is also nothing I I'm compelled to revisit. Though if it was playing for me, I'd probably enjoy it as background music. No this is not terribly exciting, but I honestly don't think it's that bad. 6.7 ★★★
fascinating album, just absolutely no frame of reference for this one
Would not buy
Never heard of before this. Enjoyed it. Great bass and guitar and rhythm.
Not familiar with his solo work. So this was a first. Starts strong especially Bomba and Visions of You. Liked it more than I thought I would. 3.5 rounded down. Heard before? No Owned: No. 5/1001, 5/19 (26%) Will I get? Maybe Recommend: No
wreszcie posluchane cos przy wiekszych silach zyciowych niz w ciagu ostatnich kilku dni, a tu takie wyzwanie sie wylosowalo, bo po przesluchu albumiku mam mieszane uczucia, jak to zazwyczaj przy tak kategorii world music, ktory jest takim koszem na smieci w ktory mozna zapakowac wszystko i nic, a zazwyczaj bywa skrotem na to ze na plycie pojawiaja sie wstawki w niesluchalnych jezykach, w tym przypadku jest to hiszpanski, moze w jakiejs poludniowo amerykanskiej odmianie, co jest o tyle dziwny, ze dwie panie ktore sa w creditsach to belgijka i irlandka, a jak wokale latino, to instrumentalne akcenty z tamtych rejonow tez sie musialy naturalnie pojawic, co najbardziej slychac na trakach jak bomba i erzulie, ktore mi najbardziej nie podchodza z calego krazka, bo o ile na innych trakach sa jedynie elementy egzotycznych instrumentow, to na tych dwoch czuc kicz orientalizmu z brzdakaniem hiszpanskich gitar i arabskimi perkusjami, no i sa tez wstawki elektroniczne ktore raz sa przyjemne, a w innych brzmiace dziwnie z klaskaniem czy akustykiem w parze, ale co pozytywnie ten odsluch wyroznia, to basik pana wobbla, bo czuc ze jest to glowny instrument wokol ktorego jest budowany krazek, a to dosc nietypowy zabieg i nie pamietam zebym gdzies slyszal basiste tworzacego plyte wokol swojego basu, a tu to wyszlo, zwlaszcza na trakach z recytowana poezja daje to unikalne polaczenie jak na sweet divinity czy tytulowym rising above bedlam, no i na koncowce troche zawialo tez dubem na wonderful world, ktory tym pozytywnm akcentem zamyka dziwny i trudny w jednoznacznej ocenie odsluch, na plejke dodam zamykajacy kawalek i tytulowy bedlam
I liked the first song
Fav: Visions Of You Least Fav: Rising Above Bedlam Catchy and full of ideas, but a terrible lead vocalist ruins what could’ve been a great album
Pretty cool
Tolle Musik für die selbstbewusste Bar, die den letzten Espresso und den ersten Cocktail des Tages anbietet. Hab so ne Bar noch nicht, aber gut zu wissen, wo es die Musik gibt!
Man muss schon sagen, dass das eher anstrengend war aber wenn man sich darauf eingelassen hat, wirklich gute Musik allerdings nicht ganz nah bei mir
Jah Wobble (real name John Wardle) is a pretty good stage name for this British guy. His album is a bit offbeat, and has an international flavor. Sinead O’Connor provides backing vocals on some of the tracks. I enjoyed most of the album and considered rating it four stars but there were a few songs that were duds, so it settles in at 3.5 stars.
Jah Wobble, now there's a British name. A very unaesthetic album cover. I never heard of him or his band(s), but he is indeed British, and has collaborated with a lot of heard-of people, including Sinéad O'Connor on the first track here. It's fine. Wiki calls it "world music", which is an interesting little phrase. Mostly it's chill electro with a little bit of chanting and Spanish guitar. And finally a song in Spanish! Sung by... an Egyptian-Belgian lady? Hmm. OK, you have my attention, Jah Wobble. But then, there's also some talk-singing over non-Spanish guitar. It's a pretty eclectic album, I'll give em that. But I think I'd prefer to just have an album of Natacha Atlas tracks (the aforementioned singer, who also sings in French on a different song). It's better than average, or at least more interesting, but I don't think it's quite 4 territory. Highlights: 'Bomba', 'Wonderful World'
Enjoyed it
"Visions of You" (featuring Sinéad O'Connor) es una de las joyas del disco. Poco después repetiría éxito con Take Me to God y Baaba Maal, Dolores O'Riordan, Chaka Demus entre otros.
It was fine.
world, dub, jazz, 1991 -> 3
Interesting but not really for me
2.5 stars. Enjoyed the beginning more than the end, started to get weird and abstract.
Difficult to relate to this due to its various themes and not really knowing what was coming next. Could detect tones of the 80s and early signs of Brit Pop in there though
Good, but not nearly as good as some of Jah Wobble’s earlier output.
This is a weird one. It's a cool blend of genres with a strong world music influence, particularly dub. Reminds me of The Clash at times. Some of these songs work others not so much. Jah Wobble is an interesting figure though. 3, I liked it ok but won't revisit. 1=Crap that shouldn't be here 2=I didn't like it but get why it's here 3=I thought it was ok or even like it, get why it's here, but won't revisit 4=I like it, will revisit 5=This is some of the best music I've ever heard and will continue listening to it
Damn, that bass line! The Arabic influences are cool but they sometimes get kind of buried. The solo guitar leads are magical. The speechifying detracts from grabbing groove. A world vibe that can flirt with the simplistic, sadly.
I had a difficult time taking this seriously. At the same time, I didn’t mind what I was listening to. Not sure I ever actively enjoyed it, but there was something about the bouncy strangeness that was alluring.
Not available on Apple Music
It's kinda of like being stoned touring Epcot's international pavilion with an aging punk rocker. Not a bad experience, but a bit confusing.
Interesting, definitely a lot of musical influences and styles.
This alright. Has some good moments
Pretty interesting and weird, got old pretty quick but still a nice sound
World music dub is interesting.
Visions of You draws you in instantly, lovely vocals from Sinead. Enjoyable album with lots of variety drawing from different cultures. The bass from Jah Wobble stands out throughout. 6/10
It’s cool. I like the vibe. I’m finding it to be more of a passive listen than active. I like Wobble’s bass tone. Probably wouldn’t seek this out.
Loved the music, was not doing with the spoken word and Hinduism
Love the creative instruments. Could see people not enjoying the vocals as they kinda drone, but i don't mind it. not a fan of the synthetic drums. bass is weirdly buried in the mix on some songs considering he's a bassist. feel like it just dosn't have enough room to breathe. other songs like Visions of You the mixing is better though. I think the album is hits and misses, which is understandable for all the weirdness going on. if im being totally honest the opening track gave me really high hopes for the album, but only really everymans an island got me as excited. 3.5
el bajo esta guapo
This was a really nice listen. Jah Wobble's burbling dub basslinbes underpining some really fun and interesting tunes that keep the excitement going. Fun and lively and some beautiful music. 3.5 stars
Visons of you
I had a school friend who was really into Jah Wobble - so this triggers strong memories of hanging round his house playing Championship Manager. Good times. Sadly I think the album has dated somewhat and whilst I enjoyed a couple of tracks - Ungodly Kingdom / Visions of You - the majority were a bit meh. Strong bass as you would expect and some interesting world music noodlings - but sounding a little dated and not really enjoying the almost spoken word flat vocal delivery on majority of the songs. I think just scrapes a 3.
Against all odds the album grew on me. Sure It has major problems, not least some misjudged cod reggae, and fusion of multiple world styles, sometimes within the same song. But all in all, it incorporates world music without bastardising it; and what results is something pretty eccentric and, at its best, evocative. It has a creativity, it's quite cinematic in places and it feels genuine. Although probably played by middle class folk that hang out at the world stage at Glastonbury and go to find themselves in Goa, I may even come back to it.
So 90s - has aged a bit. But enjoyed the nostalgia
A solid collection of world music
Very strange album overall, but with some great songs here and there. Definitely worth a listen.
Not uninteresting but quite self indulgent
6/10 tale as old as time; a western musician becomes obsessed with African and Asian (particularly Indian) music and incorporates it into their rock music the only difference is, Jah Wobble doesn’t have even a fraction of the talent that George Harrison, Paul Simon, etc. have
There's some cool bass playing here. I found this interesting with a variety of musical influences. I think this one could grow on me.
more of a vibe than I was expecting. not bad
Bass lines are good. Decent album from the ex bassist from PIL that got his nickname when Sid Vicious drunkenly pronounced his name wrong and it stuck
What a delightfully bizarre album. I don’t even really know how to categorize this. I don’t know the validity of this, but it sounds like a random white guy got inspired by various different cultures one day and decided to blend them all together into one bafflingly strange, yet creative album. It has a little bit of everything, from Indian, to Spanish, even a bit of traditional Anglo Rock vibes. I can see it coming off as a bit pretentious and douchey, which is probably why the rating here is so low, but I actually kind of dig this. My favorite song is “Everyman’s an Island”, because it is very replayable and fits the whole World Music theme very well. There’s a lot of different styles blended into this album, and I really think that for the most part, they do work. What a pleasant little surprise of an album this was. Extremely goofy name aside, the album is pretty good.
Sometimes a bit cringe but otherwise great
White guy makes album co-opting other people’s music, with singers from different cultures? Sure. Who am I to judge? One of my favorite albums is Graceland.
World music, esoteric 90s electro pop. Different genres of world music. Pleasant. Long songs. Vibey.
It’s not that bad
Not really moved by this, to be honest. Competent but uninspired
I wasn't expecting to like this but surprisingly I did. It's an interesting collection of world music and different vocalists. Every track is very different
I still have on CD. It’s good enough.
Found this one fun and enjoyable. I liked the music styles and how the songs were composed. It had good vibes and worked as a whole. My knock on it is that nothing really stood out as "great" - just a lot of "good". Overall: 3.25/5
This was interesting, very fusion and better than other ex Pistols output that I’ve heard. I also listened to his English Roots Music.
Interesante
I figured I wouldn't like this, but it wasn't too bad at all. I almost, almost gave it 4 stars on the basis of the first half. The second half wasn't quite as good, so it's a strong 3 stars I guess. I expected the bass guitar to be decent, and it was. I hadn't expected to like much else, but I did. It was actually quite relaxing to listen to.
annoying that this isn’t on apple music, had to go on youtube, album was okay, had a decent vibe and all that jazzy stuff like
This guy thinks he’s very cool
The bass is really good here. The first track sounded shoegazey which I liked Edit Apr 15 2026: 4 --> 3
Not available on Youtube Music :(
This is kinda trash
Liked this more than I thought I would. The two last songs was a bit of a drag, an I think the record could do with remaster to give it a little beefier sound.
I usually don't listen to "world music" but this is was pretty fun and enjoyable. Sinead on the first track was a treat.
Not bad.
Äääääääääh hmmm Jooa weiss nöd irgendwie no guet??? Bitzli orientalism hä. He weiss nöd i has recht geil gfunde aber bim zweite mol lose verlürts chli sin charme
I am nearly done this list. I am over the 1080 records listened to at this point. It is still so awesome that I can be surprised at this stage. I had no idea who Jah Wobble was and was expecting a mid 90’s rapper. Not the case. I enjoyed the first few songs but then eventually faded on it. Still love the surprise that you come across on this journey.
Much more interesting that I thought it would be. Worth a second listen.
Desconocidos, curiosos pero no merecen ser de los 1001 albums
Meh...
3. Quite like dub.
Unavailable on Apple Music
I liked the album. Not something I would normally put on but it was a pleasant listen.
me and all my homies fw jah wobble
3.25
Functionally fine, but reminds me too much of Muzak
I'm not sure what to think of this album. The front man of the band, Jah Wobble, was bassist for the band Public Image Ltd. before starting this band. They are like World fusion....has touches of reggae, traditional Indian music, and African bongo work throughout. Apparently Jah Wobble's real name is John Wardle. Dude grew up with Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols, and was good friends with them. One night, Sid Vicious was drunk and tried to say John Wardle, but it came out Jah Wobble, so he kept it as his stage name. This album was really hard to find a copy of. No one made a complete compilation of the songs on YouTube, and the album isn't on Spotify. I resorted to looking up the track listing on Wikipedia, and searching for the individual tracks on YouTube. I really liked the strong bass work throughout this record, and there was definitely some experimentation on this one. Some of it worked, some didn't. There was so much experimentation, that the album almost felt like a mixed album of a bunch of different artists. They would change up their sound so much between tracks that there wasn't much cohesion to the flow of the record. With a bit more direction, this album had the potential to be great, but as is, it suffers a bit. Favourite songs: Everyman's An Island, Visions of You, Erzulie, Bomba, Ungodly Kingdom Least favourite songs: Rising Above Bedlam, Sweet Divinity 3/5
Thought I would g like this but it was pretty alright.
Strange mix of Cuban, middle eastern, and a heavily accented English bloke singing. Some of it was OK.
Tough album to find.
Les chanteuses sont remarquables. La fusion arabe est un peu un rendez-vous manqué, à mon avis. C'est entraînant et j'y ai trouvé du plaisir, même si dans l'ensemble, les arrangements ont vieilli.
A very unusual but interesting record. Not sure entirely what to make of it. It's a very interesting combination of a variety of genres that you don't hear often. It feels like a funkier version of a Pure Moods compilation from the 90s. Which sounds like a slight, but it's just the best description.
6/10. I was expecting this one to go the same way as Peggy Suicide a few days ago and was dreading turning it on. I need not have because I was greeted by a interesting and eclectic mix of songs some with great vocals and solid backing. Whilst I enjoyed listening to this I do question the inspiration for the tracks, and whether this is entirely authentic.
It was nice to hear Sinead again. Bomba is pretty good. The rest is just alright.
This was fun enough to be enjoyable, but ridiculous enough to never listen again
Eclectic and enjoyable
★★★⅓
I liked hearing Sinead O’Connor lead things off. I was shocked when doing my research and discovering that Jah Wobble had connections with the Sex Pistols.
Cool.
Glatt och stundtals ganska trevligt.
This was fine but could have been way shorter
10 songs, 51 minutes on its face isn’t super long. But when every song is the same idea—let’s marinate in an unchanging, unceasing rhythm for 4-6 minutes—it feels so much longer than it is. I even scrolled through the last two songs (patience: exhausted) and the same beat was playing at every point I stopped. A lot of two-minute ideas extended to five minutes. I think I might even love this if every song were a minute shorter.
I kind of liked this.
They cycled through a lot of different influences, mostly worldly ones, but none of it was really all that interesting. Felt longer than it was
Not bad. The bass shreds though and it makes sense considering Jah Wobble is the bassist and band leader.
Liked the beats, but not the spacey-ness that went with it. Good for background or exercise music.
A lot of world music mixed in with some traditional western influences as well. Strange to listen to this after reading about his days with Jonny Rotten, not what I would expect after hearing Sex Pistols and PiL, but a pleasant surprise.
Interesting album.. has some latin inspirations here and there. The male vocals are somewhat not to my taste... Sinead O'Conner is making up for that...;-)
An album that’s way more interesting in concept than in practice, an album by a renowned bassist with multicultural influences and aspects of trip hop and new wave and several songs that feature Sinead o Connor sounds heavenly, in practice it’s kinda pretentious and boring, still enjoyed Sinead!
This has gotta be the least listened to album on the whole thing Its fine, pulls from so many areas, so many different vocal styles and stuff. I quite like the Talking Heads type parts though. Every song feels incredibly average. Not really any favorite or least favorite songs. overall around 6/10
pretty good
Jah Wobble and his Invaders of the Heart deliver a mostly good set of songs that straddles the line that occupies the world music landscape and keeps things interesting over the course of nearly an hour. Favorites: Visions of You, Bomba, Ungodly Kingdom, Rising Above Bedlam, Erzulie, Everyman's an Island.
A bit all over the place and very 90s sounding at times, but I enjoyed a decent chunk of this. Great basslines as you'd expect and some nice guest vocals.
I wish I was Jah Wobble - great bass player on the scene at an amazing time, even better stage name - but this reminds me too much of those Bill Laswell albums from around the same era where the credits listed some of the most incredible musicians so you had to buy it but then you brought it home and played it once, possibly never even getting to side two. I liked this more than that, but by the end I was forgetting what I heard at the beginning - couldn't hold my attention. I liked hearing the underappreciated Sinead O'Connor stretching out, though. Extra star for that.
What a strange album, and a strange life story for Jah Wobble (sadly quite violent at times). I'm glad it started off with "Visions of you", particularly because of Sinead O'Conner's appearance and distinctive voice, but also because it kind of eases you into a weird mixture of often generic-sounding bass/beat-driven world music tunes. I felt like this was more of a soundtrack to some world-hopping independent film than an album, although I'm not entirely sure it's a movie that I'd have chosen to watch. But I like it that at some point (post-PiL, post-substance-abuse) while working for the London Underground he supposedly pronounced over the PA system, "I used to be somebody. I repeat, I used to be somebody." Indeed.
Enjoyed this world beat kind of thing though am not sure I'll listen to it again.
Quite enjoyed the colourful, world-y vibes. So was very surprised to dig a little deeper and find that Jah Wobble is an old white punk from Public Image Ltd and a close associate of the Pistols. There are some great atmospheres and movements here and loads going on. It's all quite unexpected and unpredictable so while there are a couple of bits I really like, there are also bits that don't click but it's a good discovery and a good bit of education for me.
Nice
this wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be from some of the reviews. fun and funky
Jah Wobble- I hearSinead O’Connor first and was stoked for this album and then he starts singing the verse and my excitement drops. Kind of my experience with every song. There are some cool grooves and the female vocals are good but he should just have them do all the singing. It really took me out of it whenever he sang. Erzulie was cool 2.5-
He should have stayed in PiL, pretty boring stuff here
3.5
idk it feels like a superficial examination thats got a lot of different styles going on but doesnt explore them too deeply, doesnt feel very thought out. not to demean the work of the musicians cause the performance are pretty great. or maybe i just dont know
Interesting
Pretty interesting and fun to listen to besides. One appreciates the creative urge to fuse and merge and layer, but a case can be that there's much too much going on here. After all dub and the Gypsy Kings aren't natural bedfellows. "Visions of You" sets a high bar from the outset and one's not prepared to say that remainder of the record lives up to it. "Erzulie" also cooly eclectic. Still, not bad, though, like much of '90s multi-culti vibe-y art, it hasn't aged all that gracefully, reflected in the fact that one does get rather bored before completing a full listen.
Not available on streaming at time of review. 3/5
Interesting choice. Bit world music. Bit of ravey bliss. Bass heavy of course. Some 80s tropes. (God there are some bad synth trumpets) Refreshing.
slightly above average
Pretty cool
I gotta say, I was expecting more shitty brit rock but I was suprised by how different this one was. Although the fusion on this record is pretty surface level, I thought it was interesting and added an extra twist to what probably would've been a pretty boring record.
Pretty good world music type stuff when Jah Wobble isn’t “singing”which kind of ruins the feel of the rest of it
I'm a graphic designer and I think this album's cover is really something. So I'm going to comment on every song. Visions of You - mystical. groovy. Relight the Flame - sounds sort of Leonard Cohenish Bomba - ¿que? ... bomb? Ungodly Kingdom - Are we on a cruise? What's happening? Why must we have courage? Does the album get worse? Oh god. Rising Above Bedlam - (Bedlam means a scene of uproar and confusion.) This is an art poem song with a groovy bass line. I keep waiting for it to RISE!... but it just kinda grooves down low in amongst the Bedlam. Maybe they kinda hover above Bedlam but I didn't get a rise out of it. Erzulie - Who? Ohhh... She's the Black Madonna of Vodou. Well I'm not saying anything bad about her singing. Loved it. Great bass playing too. Everyman's an Island - Tribal Synthy Rap Psychedelic Dance Mix. okay I'm down. Kinda sounds like Underworld when he's rapping and this song should be on the Survivor TV show soundtrack. Soledad - it's very Spanish guitary. And then it ends in a haunted house. I dunno. yo no se. Sweet Divinity - sounds kind of like Bauhaus (the band, not the art movement). It's pretty weird. Good job making a weird song. Wonderful World - why is all the singing so echoey on this album? This song especially. If the world is so wonderful, come outta that cave you are singing in. This is kinda a weird little diddy. It has the melody of a kids camp song. Trying to keep the demons away, kids. It's a wonderful world and this album's OK. I give it a 3.
Not on Apple Music. Listened on YouTube.
A bit dissappointing, not bad but not great
A couple of these songs are really interesting, with widely varying global influences. Some of them have just truly awful vocals.
Deep, meditative bass anchors a fusion of dub, Middle Eastern/North African/Indian textures, and ambient/post-punk DNA—less confrontational, more transcendent. Wut? Anyway it was good background, 3 for me.
Exceeded expectations. The addition of Spanish influence to the bass and beats was a good idea.
Liked this more than I thought I would at the start. Still not the best but some interesting ideas and decent execution. 58
Uneven but I give Jah credit for experimenting and trying new things. HIs bass playing is solid but his voice leaves much to be desired. The songs with the female singers, including Sinead O'Connor are the best songs on here. As well, it's hard to find. Not on Spotify. I did find it on YouTube.
This was ok, didn't really grab me, but was fine as background music
An interesting album. Bomba and Relight the Flame were enjoyable.
Неоднозначные ощущения, как будто бы накуреным посмотрел свадьбу в сериале "Клон". Хоть где-то треки и показались излишне перезатятнутыми, но за счёт восточных мотивов они оказались гипнотически чарующими.
Could not find the whole album but the pieces I found were okay. I would say 3 stars or C-.
Dub/triphop, music was ok to listen to but some of the lyrics ruined it for me
Enjoyed the album as background, I could see myself revisiting. I like the more worldly met this cast, some pretty cool sounds explored.. 3.5/5 but I’m gonna round down as I didn’t find any single songs particularly stand out amazing, more good overall
Decent. I’ve never heard this artist before.
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.
One of the most random albums I’ve listened to. All different kinds of influences made me feel like I was changing albums constantly. Not sure what to think about it..
I like this album a lot more than I thought I would, especially with Jah Wobble's connection with Public Image Ltd (which I don't personally care for).
It was alright, some parts I really liked and thought it had potential, but overall it didn't interest me that much.
The first half reminded me of Sinead O Conor and Destroyer. The second half mostly just seemed “exotic”. I thought this was decent and I’m sure more instrument inclined folks got more out of it. High 3 for me.
grew on me as it continued, but would not listen again
Don't really hate this... kind of like it actually. Very late 80s early 90s UK sound + world, but has enough interesting instrumentation to hold up. I don't know if it's consistently good enough to be regular listen but was better than I expected.
I really liked the album. The music is solid with some great bass lines.
well I cant find a place to listen to it and I'm not shelling out cash to do so.
Could not find anywhere to listen to this album
A little quirky but altogether backgroundable.
Eccentric and beautifully enchanting. Great, enchanting vocals and ethereal harmonies create a vibrant world of sound on this record. Sultry and sexy throughout - this is a really cool record.
Odd. Unsure what it's trying to be.
Patchy will some glorious moments. Visions of You as a perfect song, with Sinead O'Connor delivering one of her best vocal performances. The rest of the album ebbs and flows with experimental dub and demo quality tunes. Not bad but overall not fantastic
Nothing burger. Feeling kind. 3.
better than I expected
very, very different with a lot of sounds that comes from different genres
This doesn’t feel like an essential or groundbreaking album, and it’s predictably been panned in the reviews section of this site, but I liked it. The various ‘world music’ style tracks went down easily, and even the ones that fused said music with eccentric cockney vocals worked reasonably well. Nice bit o’ bonus Sinead, too.
Eclectic, but some very solid songs!
3,5
ganz nette Cover und Eigenes, Elektroragamuffinweltmusik, inkl. Natasha Atlas u. S. OConnor
Man I have not had time to finish listening to this, and I will at one point. But so far I'm enjoying it. From what I've heard I'll give it 3 stars
Interesting album. Enjoyed the listen for its quirky trance-like rhythms and spoken word lyrics. 3/5!
I couldve done without his singing, but I nodded my gead throughout. He did sonething right.
The musicality is fantastic but the singing left something to be desired
The style fusions are quite hit or miss. The female vocals are nice.
Eh 5/10
I had similar thoughts as other reviewers of cultural appropriation. To be fair, all music is a form of cultural appropriation but this was rubbing me the wrong way in parts. But it was still fun.
Not the kind of music I'm ineresed in, but that appeared quite interesting and sometimes bizzare, but in a good way
It was quite difficult to get ahold of this album, but I did, and it wasn’t particularly worth the effort. It was ok. Listenable experimental / electronic kinda music but not repeatable.
Es un buen disco, tranquiloni, buenas guitarras... muy para estudiar, cositas tribales, mucha percusión. Buena calidad.
Special! Not to repeat, but special. I can't put less than ⭐⭐⭐
2.7 - Dunno just didn't really do much for me honestly
Funny one, feels like another strange inclusion. Not bad per se, but also struggling to see what differentiates this dub album from any other dub album. Fave Tracks: Bomba, Ungodly Kingdom 2.9/5
I really liked the middle third of this album
This album is an example of an objectively weird combination of styles that accidentally sounded kind of good. It's easy to hear the influence of Public Image Ltd (of which Jah Wobble was a member) in the form of brutish, ambling (yet melodic) basslines and a punk/post-punk freedom in the vocal and percussion. In fact, the basslines are some of the most impressive elements of these tracks. Mr Wobble definitely knew what he was doing in that regard. There's also a distinctive foray into world music, sort of like the very-post-punk equivalent of Paul Simon's Graceland. The world influence is butchered slightly, focusing heavily on a bright, positive, celebratory atmosphere while kind of ignoring cultural nuance. Feels kind of like cultural appropriation, almost. But it's fun music... what else could you ask for? Well, you could ask for a male vocalist that suits the band. There are two lead vocalists – one male and one female – and while the female one, as well as the backings, are generally very strong, the male one is so incongruous that it feels like a tipsy British bloke had a stack of five quid slapped into his hand and was asked to freestyle-ramble about philosophy. I actually didn't mind it too much. It was such an odd sound that it ended up being pretty entertaining and engaging. Still, it's nowhere near a masterpiece. The album cover is horrendous. Key tracks: Visions of You, Relight the Flame, Bomba 3/5
Visions of You 3 Relight The Flame 3.1 Bomba 2.6 Ungodly Kingdom 2.8 Rising Above Bedlam 3.3 Erzulie 2.8 Everyman's An Island 3 Soledad 2.7 Sweet Divinity 2.5 Wonderful World 2.4 Score: 2.82
Doesn't hurt... Bass lines are cool though...
就那样，融合得有点尬
Listened to this twice, and if you can I would recommend. On first listen it's a bit unfocused and the plethora of different voices can mean it slips by and doesn't really grab you. While there are passages that are more textural and ambient, on a second listen melodies and structures reveal themselves.
The point of this list is to expose you to things you don't necessarily know and Jah Wobble is the perfect example of this. Somewhere between the lines of prog, reggae, punk, country and whatever else you want to regurgitate you end up with Rising Above Bedlam. I don't know how I really feel about this, but it's very interesting. It's interesting to see someone who was present at the dawn of the post punk era as a member of PiL lean heavily into the reggae sound that he obviously liked. Listening is like reading a newspaper from this time period. You don't necessarily think you'd be interested in the weather or what the weekend sales will be from thirty years ago but yet you still keep reading. And listening. 3.5/5
It wasn't annoying? 2.5/5
This was certainly unique, I'll give it that. I found it pretty boring overall, though. I couldn't get into it even though it seemed okay? More of a 2.5 but I'll round up to be generous.
Interesante. 3/5.
A little Sinead O'Connor meets Happy Mondays vibe on opener bodes well and no surprise that one was the hit. But, despite the promising start, the rest drifts pretty quickly into generic world music vibes – not terrible, just not compelling.
I didn't have high hope for this. So I was almost pleasantly surprised.
It’s aight
I appreciate the effort but this was never more than OK. And sometimes it was worse. ehh could be a 2 or 3
Pretty good album when the main guy isn't involved in singing. Definite 90's smooth jazz production techniques in play.
Some interesting ideas and exploration into world music by a British guy. There were some stellar moments, but probably won't return to it (especially difficult since this album wasn't available on Apple Music).
Bem diferente
I read the reviews before listening to get an idea of what this was about, so I had very low expectations. but this actually had some interesting parts. It's probably not something I'll come back to often but I don't think it was as bad as some of the top reviews described
Had no idea what to expect here with such a strange band name, the first song reminded a lot of primal scream. The rest of the album is varied and interesting without completely loving this album, I found it interesting and makes me want to go back for more.
Funky beats. Danceable.
Certainly has dated production, but it still is some pretty decent pop tunes, nonetheless. And to think this dude, was part of the group that made Metal Box. A deserved glowup.
There is more to this than I was expecting. The world music influences feel authentic rather than novelties and there are some very enjoyable moments. Jah's vocals are the low point for me though, both lyrically and stylistically.
I don't know, man. It's not that I hated this, it just didn't feel... real. Like, all the "world music" bits felt forced. And that's weird, right? That said, the production was great. The songwriting wasn't too bad. Performances were all solid. It just had this veneer of falseness that I couldn't get past.
Interesting...cool mix of world sounds...some tracks a bit cliché. Solid.
Some interesting sounds but I listened to this album twice and nothing really grabbed me. Pretty mid album for me.
Idk, just kinda fine? Didn't really pull me in in any way, but perfectly decent background tunes.
What to make of this?..world-music vibe but his background is so punk…probably another one that deserves a 2d listen
I wouldn’t have played this on my own, thinking it wouldn’t be my type of music, but they actually liked it more than I thought I would.
Low key techno vibe
This is perfect. I was in need of something to listen to during my peyote ceremony tonight.
vocals are not my cup of tea, decent instrumentals, but also not enough going on
Liked a lot of this especially the tracks with Sinéad O'Connor. Good bass lines throughout but the vocals feel like they drag sometimes.
Unmemorable
Chilled out world-dub fusion. I wish I’d heard more of the bass because what I heard was groovy. A strong 3
Spes. Ágætis tónlist samt. Worldly hljómar og áhugaverðar blöndur. Meginþorrinn samt helvíti boring því miður. 2.5/5...