Rising Above Bedlam

Any album containing a song such as "Visions Of You" is worth a listen and this album is no exception. It meanders a little at times, but overall I'd rate it as amongst the best of Wobble's work (that I've heard).

Better than i anticipated. The less Jah Wobble sings, maybe the slightly better it is... he has a talky, occasionally Robyn Hitchcock vibe that doesn't always align with the interesting mix of world and pop/rock. Visions of You is enjoyable, while the rest do start to blend together, but overall a good listen.

Great atmosphere record. Tribal EDM groove. Nice listen. Revist

Conceptually this album is very good. The album is fun and takes you on a journey with a mix of Spanish and Arabic styles of music along with a progressive bassline that refuses to quit. Some of these tracks are presented very well especially the songs featuring Natacha Atlas. Not a massive fan of Wobble's vocals but it works in some instances, especially the spoken word parts.

I liked it, cool fusion of music from different cultures. Every Man’s an Island stuck out as a good one. Overall, I enjoyed listening to the whole thing, it was surprising and strange and unique, and most importantly, pleasant to my ears. 3.5

I couldn't find the whole album anywhere, so was only able to listen to the 5 songs available on YouTube. This was interesting, but kind of cringe also. It sounded a bit like a worse version of Cornershop

To be fair, when this came out, I'm sure I was listening to Deep Forest or Enigma or any number of those "world music" mashups of this era. I probably saw this and thought "Jah Wobble" was a joke name. It's not a bad album, but it's not great, either. The world music part is kind of fun, but it keeps getting interrupted by the singing growl of a Londoner for some reason.

A couple good ones but the rest is a bit out there

Visions of You - 7.5/10 Relight the Flame - 7/10 Bomba - 8.5/10 Ungodly Kingdom - 7/10 Rising Above Bedlam - 7/10 Erzulie - 7.5/10 Everyman’s an Island - 7/10 Soledad - 7/10 Sweet Divinity - 7/10 Wonderful World - 7/10 TOTAL - 72.5/100

first listen some fun sounds but overall slooooow

Not my stuff

Listened to this in bits and pieces (wasn't on streaming as an album) but still enough here to want to revisit. Lots of good basslines and soundscapes.

More than 3, but less than 4. Good Album

Nice bass lines. I do like Public Image Ltd. I am getting tired of listening to albums by white dudes inspired by the culture of POC instead of music by those folks.

Apart from track 4 (a dud) and 5 (a filler track), pretty interesting and even often elating foray into "global" sounds. A lot of people noticed Sinead O'Connor's featuring on the single "Visions Of You", but the real star of the show is Natacha Atlas, at least on the many cuts where she appears. Yet some of the tracks where she is not invited are still quite good as well. Is it material for " essential albums", tough? Well, the jury's still out on this one. You could argue that the penultimate track is almost ruined by that (fortunately short) bridge filled with horrid synth horns, also found on track 4. A way to point out how some of this music sounds dated now, even though other parts of it still aged surprisingly well. 1991 is also filled to the brim with far more striking LPs, as interesting as this Mercury Prize nomination is (wonder if an old member of the jury for the prize didn't work with Dimery for that book--heck maybe even Dimery himself is a member of that jury!). So wait and see... Number of albums left to review: 376 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 282 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 149 (including this one) Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 200

Pretty chill and unique

I don't know seems like a random album, that made it's way in here.

Whoa, talk about all over the place.

An interesting man with an interesting story. Though there's not much said for the album, reading about Jah as a bass player / singer resonates with me, plus he lived with the guitarist of the Sex Pistols. It's a well thought out album of world music with a lot of interesting sounds and moods to choose from.

Oh another world music album. I winced as I started listening but to my surprise this wasn't too bad. I'll give it a generous 3. It's more like a 2.5 because I didn't dislike it, but I didn't really like it either and will probably never listen to again.

Not as bad as I thought it would be. Did feel like I was in Nando’s at times because of the relentless beats.

"Rising Above Bedlam" is a studio album by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart. English bassist and singer Jah Wobble had been involved in a number of musical collaborations and bands including Public Image Limited (PiL) when he formed the Invaders of the Heart. The genre listed is World Music; the music does seem to go all over the place, I guess that's as good as any reason for that. The album was self-produced and the band included Wobble (vocals, bass, keyboards, drum programming, timbales), Justin Adams (electric and Spanish guitars, Arabic percussion, vocals), Mark Ferda (keyboards, drum programming, sampler) and vocalists Natacha Adams and Sinead O'Connor. The album was also short listed for the 1992 UK Mercury Prize. The album opens with "Visions of You." Sinead and Wobble on vocals. The guitar and beat sounding very 90's indie pop. The Soup Dragons came to mind. Dreamy lyrics. The guitar solo going up and down the scales. I was confused by its so-callled world music genre at this point. No need to worry, "Ungodly Kingdom" continues the Carribean beat of the two previous songs and adds horns. A percussion adds afrobeats. Great backing vocals by Natacha Atlas. Solid production and also sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack. A simple drum beat and slide guitar begin "Rising Above Bedlam." Wobble is whispering/talking. People screaming in the background. This song is purposedly creepy. Switching gears, "Erzulie" has ambient keys, Spanish guitar and horns. An electric guitar providing echoes. It goes shortly to big dance music and then back. Atlas singing in French (I believe). Well, Erzulie is the Haitian goddess of love in the Voodoo pantheon. "Everyman's An Island" takes us to the Middle East with its guitar and percussion. It's hard not to like a song with keyboards sounding like Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." We'll, maybe some of you but not me. There's no doubt the variety of music is what kept this album interesting for me. 90's indie rock to Latin/Carribean to Afrobeat to Middle Eastern to soundtracks. I can't say it expands any of those musical genres but the music is extremely well-produced and very happy. Yeah, happy. Natacha Atlas is just fantastic and a highlight on vocals. This album does perk my interest in some Jah Wobble's other works.

I tapped out after the embarrassing spoken-word stuff in the title track.

This is something I've never heard of at all in the slightest!! Love the international almost New Age vibes. There's a lot of different sounds in there! At first listen knowing nothing about Jah Wobble, I thought this wasn't anything that interesting or impactful and wondered why this might be on this list. When I read up on him a little bit I realised why, his life was insane and if I was someone who cared about celebrities a bit more I'd be really interested in his life and the people he spent time with. I am interested to the extent that it's cool the opportunities he had available but also mad how it messed up his life... The music is cool though, I like that bass and bits of this really remind me of Graceland which I love. Cool discovery actually. Some parts have some self-indulgent guitar parts which I don't love though, eg the title track Rising Above Bedlam.

I have no idea what to make of this whether I liked this or not! It was extremely varied, at least. Some I liked more than others so it probably has to be a 3*

I quite liked this but can't say I'll come back to it, not particularly memorable, but fun none the less.

Interesting sound. Would listen to in mornings

Another one not available to stream except YouTube. I’m somewhat familiar with Jah Wobble from PiL and some other projects. This was decent, not something I’d normally check out.

This was pretty good! I liked the bass playing and the overall vibe and sound. This is another album I had no idea about and would’ve never listened to until this project. If the second half of this album was as good as the first, it would’ve gotten a 4.

Interesting sound. I definitely would have enjoyed this when it came out. Not really my vibe today, but I enjoyed it.

Surprisingly enjoyable world music album because it is so versatile

3/10, 30%

Its like if Indian singers sung in Spanish, pretty solid actually

I thought this was pretty fun. File under boutique hotel pool with Latin vibe

Not bad. Good bass. Front half is better than the back half.

A real blast from the past, if rather incongruous here. I'm probably in the minority having heard this quite a lot when it came out, very popular with the early '90s Camberwell indie squatter set. When it's good, it's pretty great - Sinead's vocals over Wobble's signature bass rumbling. Mostly, it's OK, but always interesting. Check out the original "Becoming More Like God" if you can find it, probably his solo best. 3 for the highlights and because Wardle is the very definition of "Diamond Geezer"

I don't even know how to label this kind of music. Very multi genre.

How is Jah Wobble on this list?

Sounds like accoustic stuff but I could be wrong. Hopeful about it being a good one! The verdict: It's pretty good, and I see why it was popular back in the day, but I also don't connect with it.

Kinda interesting and fun. 5/10

Different than I was expecting

Dance music with some latin music sprinkled on top. Not bad, but nothing special either. 2.5/5

Interesting but not really captivating.

So this is where Kula Shaker got all their ideas. "Rising Above Bedlam" is patchy as hell, but you can see how its east/west fusion pushed things forwards.

No tiene estilo definido. Alguna se parece a James. Otra es como música de honololú. Otra como samba latina. Otra como árabe. Un poco Enigma. Le daré un 3 porque alguna canción no está mal.

Interesting mix of world styles. Very chill. Definitely something I would've smoked hookah to in college. It feels VERY 90s though, for better or worse.

Significantly better than I though it would be. However, I can't say it rises to much more than background, or mood music.

Weird album, but I liked it alright. Looked into the dude, and he was in Public Image Ltd. And the first song has Sinead O'Connor. More enjoyable than most dub-ish things for me. 3.25/5

Funky, but not really my thing. C-

I mean, not boring. Didn't necessarily grab me much either for the most part, but I might come back to this.

Really enjoying this. A bit of dub, a bit of Arabic world music, a snippet of 80s indie - all with a positive feel. Only negative is Wobble’s voice which I’m sure he’d agree is not very good! A high three stars.

Well that was fucking weird

3.3 - A white British bass guitarist named Jah Wobble? Really? That's your stage name, Jah Wobble?? This record seems doomed from the jump, and it mostly is. It's a spliff and mushrooms party that's just one didgeridoo away from becoming a full-on nitrous balloon party. Hippie inspired world music - think trance-like electric guitar à la Santana mixed with Spanish/Arabic chanting, and maybe some wind chimes and massage parlor beats for good measure. Wobble's voice is terrible, spouting psuedo-spiritual drivel. I was, however, delighted to hear Sinéad O'Connor on "Visions of You." Some of the other female vocal performances are good, too (see "Bomba" and "Soledad").

It was fine

Her en der echt boeiend, z'n tijd vooruit in een soort duistere prog elektro iets, maar op andere momenten ineens een soort Spaans Middenoosterse muziek. Dat stuk is dan weer helemaal niks. Dat maakt dat dit niet voorbij de 3 sterren komt.

Rhythmic background music. 2.5 stars.

Eh, it's different. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I guess it's average.

This was very interesting to listen too. Very unique, a lot of varying styles. I will give this a 3 and I will add “Relight the Flame” to my playlist.

The male 'singer' was awful, a lot of the songs didn't go anywhere, but there something about it I enjoyed. I think the drums were great and there was a nice rhythm to a lot of the tracks. Not a brilliant album by any means but decent for one listen.

Good wobble styff, can hear the bass creep in. I onky know him for Dub?

A little pretentious but interesting.

Very naff production and a bit too "World Music" but enjoyed this more than I expected. One I may return to

I’d have loved it in the 89’s

Interesting album and concepts to incorporate world music sounds. It ends up sounding like background music in a cafe that tries to be a bit posh. At least the bass lines are pretty solid. Standout tracks: Bomba and Erzulie

interesting basslines

интересный альбом. точно стоит попробовать послушать, некоторые работы мне прям очень зашли (например Soledad) что-то похожее вспомнить сложно, крепкая 3

Милый хиппи рэгги альбом с позитивным Вайбом Мексики(хз откуда эта ассоциация)

Ого, world music... Честно говоря, не ожидал совсем. Наверное, это не лучшее исполнение и не лучшая запись подобного рода (хочется верить, потому что саунд здесь мне не очень понравился), но как минимум пластинка заслуживает респекта за игру с этническими жанрами. Этнофутуризм, чтоб его...

Что-то необычное и интересное. Не сказал бы, что мне очень понравилось, но точно понравилось и послушать правда стоит

OK, Jah Wobble, never listened to his stuff but I know he has a cult following. Just had PiL's debut but I doubt this will be similar based on what I already know. 1st track, nice, this could be on Screamadelica. Ha, it was released a week later. 2/ Oh oh, 90s reggae/dub, this took a turn. Wait, Spanish guitar? What's happening here? 3/ The production here is very early 90s, reminds me of Leftfield. Except with Spanish guitar and vocals. Remember Jam & Spoon, right in the night? yeah nothing like that. 4/ ok, proper mix of styles here, I like this. The vocal has a striking resemblance to Alabaster dePlume of nowadays. Something very Talking Heads-y here too. 5/ the dub influence is back. The guitar sting which develops over the nippy dub bassline here eventually reminds me very much of Trainspotting off Vanishing point. So more Primal Scream, but later. I reckon the boys from Lo Fidelity All-stars were fans of this too. 6/ ahahaha, this one sounds more like Jam & Spoon (if they had a brass section) - I didn't plan that. Actually that's unfair, this grows into itself, with the arabic singing, interesting hoppity bass and more Talking Headsy guitar and horns backing it up. 7/ What's this then, desert dub? I like it, give me more. Oh, it drags on a bit, give me less. 8/ so this is more of that. I like it, but I'm not sure I love it. 9/ My mind is wandering at this point and this song didn't bring it back 10/ a jaunty one to finish. Very obviously a band lead by a bass-player, which usually makes for different music. It's reminded me of a lot of things that I like, which came after it. Whether they were influenced by this I don't know but that's a good sign. I wish I had come across this a little closer to the time because there is no getting away from the fact it's production has dated. At the same time the mix of styles and the North African / Spanish influence helps ease that. Spanish guitar doesn't date, that is permanent. Overall a mixed bag though.

Sounds late 80s in it's production. Ethnic pop-orientated sounds with traces of a number of other. It's ok but nothing special.

Interesante, aunque no es mi tipo de música claramente. Aún así me pareció muy copada la idea que hay detrás del disco y cómo mezclan los instrumentos, especialmente en canciones como "Erzulie". A veces, logran generar una especie de aura misteriosa, sobre todo con el canto de la mujer. Es como si estuvieran tratando de conjurar algún tipo de espíritu en el medio de una selva perdida en Sudamérica. 6/10

The only track from the album Rising Above Bedlam that I've heard before was "Visions of You". I don't know if I've heard anything else from Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart. I enjoyed listening to something different. There was a track or two that reminded me of Dead Can Dance, which I like. I enjoyed that some tracks had Spanish lyrics, or lyrics in what sounds like it may be a middle eastern language. I like Sinéad O'Connor's guest vocals on "Visions of You" which is my favorite track. "Erzulie" is my second favorite. I would be interested in hearing more from the band, but the album is too uneven to round up to 4 stars.

I love the first track and really wanted more of the same. Didn't always get it.

This is an interesting album for what it is and especially for when it was made, but it's also one of those albums that I kept turning on and then finding reasons to turn it off and listen to something else. I think that this album does have merit in terms of the types of music that it brings together and the technology available at the time, but it also sounds a bit dull to my ears now 3/5

Decent

Interesting. Might go back for a second listen.

You know how you have that one absolutely batshit right wing uncle? You know, the one that had enough broken guns lying around the house that he decided to sift through them and made a working AR with what he found? Well, this is the music that his sister listens to. That's right, your prius loving, old wave hippie, free spirit aunt. You didn't forget about her, did you? Every time you go to her house you find a new American Indian trinket adorning her "den" and can't help getting wrapped up in the ambiance of the place. She might not be as scary as your uncle, but she whooped his ass into shape when they were younger and unlike your uncle, her bite is worse than her bark. Don't let that deter you from seeing your aunt though. Most of the time when you see her you drive to the woods and go on a hike or she offers you to join her on a flight to rural Oregon. Why's she going to rural Oregon? You're unsure, but from what you know of her travels to Africa and Asia, it's gonna be pretty fun. As soon as you guys get there she asks what you want to do. You're unsure. Why didn't she already have a plan? It matters not. A mere two hours into your walk around this rinky-dink town your aunt stops in a store to go to the bathroom and kicks up a conversation with some local Indians. She walks out the store asking you and your cousin if you want to go to a real Powow, apparently a girl in the local tribe had just reached womanhood and her new friends thought you guys might be interested in coming to the party. You go to this powow and get absolutely blasted off of some fire water as you bond with the tribe. On your way back to the plane you wistfully look out onto the land. You realize you're not a native species here and maybe it's time to go away, give the land back to its original caretakers... "nah that's unreasonable, one man can’t make that large of a difference" you think as you decide to give some money to the new woman from the tribe you just gouged of alcohol and unknowingly impregnated, just as your forefathers before you. It’s a 3/5 for me, I’m feeling generous, it’s not rock, and I have a feeling it’s the only time we’re gonna listen to something that’s not either Spanish or English and as someone who likes music from other cultures I gotta give it some love. But the dude’s singing is cheeks and dates this album like nothing I’ve ever seen. Does it truly deserve the 3? Is it on par with Oasis, REM, Tribe, Wilco, tortoise, muddy waters, and earth wind and fire? No absolutely not.

Always in the middle of a festival bill in the mid nineties, was nice to reacquaint myself with Jah Wobble. The mix of genres doesn't always work but it's generally enjoyable, with Visions of You a properly great song

Listened Before? N Weird name, decent album. It definitely reeks of the 90s, but I didn't mind it at all. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Visions of You

Fascinating musicianship.

It is always annoying when the album isn’t on the steaming service for lazy reasons, so whenever that happens I always subconsciously have a worse rating just from it not being “easy”. However this album was actually quite interesting because it was different; there was a variety of styles and that made it intriguing.

Parts of this make me feel as if I were dropped into a 1990 Sesame Street marathon. And so much of the keyboard and drum machine sounds just scream of an old Benneton commercial. OK seriously - this is fairly complex in places and more interesting than I'm giving credit for - it's never going to be a favourite due to the genre, but there's enough catchy bass lines and varied instruments (notable: guitar on "Everyman's An Island" and guest vocals by Sinead on "Visions Of You" was a nice touch - could've used more of that) to make this decent, outside the often-dated sounds. Not necessarily memorable but very listenable. 5/10 3 stars.

A nice variety of styles on display here, surprisingly funky in places-and soaring guest vocals by Sinéad O’Connor just after she hit it big. It’s just a pity that some of the best ideas are dragged out until they lose steam.

Wasn't sure about this heading in, but it's dreamy and interesting. Not bad at all.

Some great, some average. Prefer Betrayal, or the Bedroom Album

Rising Above Bedlam is an album by English band Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart. It's an ambitious world music album from 1991 that was an interesting listen. World Music is any (usually cultural or traditional) non-Western style music, which can include musical styles from Africa, Asia, and Oceania. I did enjoy the blending of a lot of different musical styles and instruments into one cohesive album, but only a few of the songs really stuck out to me. Nonetheless this is a good album and surely deserves a spot on this list of 1001 great albums.

seemed okay but i didn’t listen very closely

Album No.9 - Not really my thing, I tried giving it a go and I really enjoyed the first two tracks which are actually pretty good. As for the rest of it, I'm not enjoying it too much and cannot imagine going back regularly to this, more like a curiosity of an era. 3/10

Oh wow, world music.. I wonder what country this is from... oh, England. I wonder if the singer has some African roots, maybe Jamaican? Latin American?... oh, no he doesn't. As white as clapping when an airplane lands. Mate was with the Sex Pistols, even. Ever heard of Vantablack? Well this dude, Jah Wobble, appears to be the complete opposite of it. Of course, I am merely joking, jesting, pulling your leg even. The music is good. I like the variety - every song sounded wildly different. There's funkier songs, then there's stuff that sounds like post-punk. Solid strong 3/5.

Que nombre flashero

Pretty nice! 3 stars.

Not terrible. Visions of You was kind of cool, and a few others were okay.

God help us. I need to have a really big poo and all I've got to help me is this music. I can't believe it's come to this. I'm going to poo everywhere and then die. Get me a slice of apple pie.

I might try this again one day... It seems interesting but didn't grab me first time

For 1991, this is a very unique album so it gets props for that at the very least. Wasn’t a huge fan and definitely wouldn’t listen to it again but still somewhat memorable. Side note: I did relisten to violator by Depeche Mode and I definitely should’ve given it a 5 instead of a 4

wow, great album. Enjoyed the sound a lot. Another hidden gem!

I'm going to tell my kids this was The Police. I really wanted to give it 4 stars. The diversity of styles is simultaneously a strength and a weakness. The quality of tunes is steady across the album but the sounds are disjointed in a way that keeps me from getting fully absorbed.

History Lesson! When the Sex Pistols imploded in 1978, John Lydon (fka Johnny Rotten, a fuckhead regardless) formed Public Image Ltd. with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble. After getting his feet wet in post-punk, Wobble would go on to do solo work, most notably in the Dub genre. Indeed, Wobble had gotten ahold of Jamaica's shiniest new genre export. What is Dub? Flashback to early 70's in Jamaica: producers would take instrumental reggae records and "dub" over them with various production techniques, mainly reverb. Focusing on the rhythms of the original instrumental reggae track, Dub allowed for musicians to experiment with and add new elements of music. Given this, it's easy to see why post-punk musicians would be so interested in Dub. Bringing us back to Jah Wobble, the man had dabbled in various genres throughout the 80's, but had a clear preference for Dub. By the 90's, he had formed his own band (Invaders Of The Heart) and was fully committed to the genre. As far as dub goes, Rising Above Bedlam is a pretty groovy record. Wobble is obviously quite experienced on the bass, so he'll play around with a lot of fun basslines to keep the experience fresh. Pulling from a multitude of different sounds and styles, Rising Above Bedlam moves from Latin grooves to Arabic ghazals. It's an impressively fleshed-out record that does some pretty cool things, but your mileage will vary based on how tolerant you are with Jah Wobble's worldly experiments.

Rating: 6/10

Hasn't really dated well, has it? "Visions of You" is an undeniable hit for the ages but the rest of the album... well, it's world fusion stuff of a particular time, and it's not necessarily my favourite flavour of that sort of thing. Excellent bass playing, obviously.

Interesting to be sure. The grooves are very open and spacious with lots of room for the variety of sounds and textures to inhabit. This allows the music (and language of the lyrics) to be incredibly varied while still being intelligible as a coherent album. That being said, there's nothing in this album that feels cutting edge to me though the album is pleasant to listen to. I am biased of course and think that what we call 'world music' should be refined quite a bit to reflect that there is not just one dominant form of music with other minority categories.

Not on Apple Music, but it is on Spotify. Based on the name Jah Wobble I was expecting reggae, but this is a British group? Not even sure what genre to call this, but some pretty cool groove/vibe music to throw on in the background. A few tracks I'd like to add to my playlist on Apple but we'll see if they're on there. Favorite tracks: Visions of You, Bomba, Ungodly Kingdom. Album art: Very Native American-inspired design with the quadrant and what appears to be feathers. Again, few if any clues as to what genre this would or should be considered, but it's a bold cover. 3/5

pretty unique and interesting sound. Easy listen

Really liked some of this and thought some was boring and really disliked a song or two. Seemed to live in between genres

Olihan tuossa hetkensä. Varmaan toimisi eri tilanteessa ja fiiliksessä paremminkin. 2,5*

Hard to rate. Liked a lot of this individually but I will probably never listen to this again.

Not my type of world music, a bit boring to me.

WILD! Wenn man sich das Cover anschaut kriegt man einen echt guten Vorgeschmack darauf was drinnen steckt. Total zeitlos auf eine eigenartige Art und Weise - man hat das Gefühl es würde zu jedem Zeitpunkt total unpassend wirken! aber irgendwie auch nicht blöd - schön was zu hören was man sonst NIE angehört hätte. Gesang is STRANGE. Aber das ganze ist schon tanzbar. Irgendwie 90er Walt Disney Musical IRGENDWAS.

Not sure I found the right album, but enjoyed the weird melodic tones anyway!

Interesting blend of music styles and languages.

When the first track started I thought this would be an album that I could really like. Then the lyrics/vocals came in and it brought it down a notch on the like-scale. It was just okay for me.

I didn't remember this until I heard it, and it brought back so many memories, of that Stone Roses/Happy Mondays vibe. I never realised Jah Wobble wasn't black either. Great stuff — especially Visions of You.

It’s ok but nothing special I guess - some decent reggae and dub but it’s a very 90s ‘WORLD’ music album - emphasis intentional

This one was alright, but I got tired of it before I reached the end. No recognized songs

Will get to it soz

Wheres Jah!? Someone get Jah on the phone

Leuk Esther vond het beter dan ik

Absolutely unsure how to rate this album. Guess I'm glad I heard it. It was very unique especially when you consider the other music that was released around this time. Definitely didn't like it though. Also didn't hate it. Giving it a 3, but I don't know if that's right.

This is kinda weird ngl

Eh. Opening track with Sinead O'Connor vocals was interesting...

Dubby, loping beats. Bomps along nicely in a world music vibe. Whoever told Jah Wobble he should take lead vocal on most of the tracks needs a pop in the chops. I mean, he's got Sinead O'Connor right there backing him on a couple of tracks...

On first listen, this caught me right and I thought I had a four star album. Second time around I was less engaged- maybe I was already wary of the world-influenced, dub-flavoured, Britpop-foreshadowing cocktail and started to see it more as a composite of influences than something truly original. Or maybe I just realised a lot of it was quite boring. Not to deny a lot of it works: "Visions of You" is an obvious lead single, from the Sinead O'Connor feature to a borderline singalong chorus. "Ungodly Kingdom" has a strong refrain, and the chants work well embedded against the main vocal line. "Erzulie" is hypnotic in the way it builds up and moves through various sections: my other favourite on offer here. There's no way anyone would choose to listen to this on the strength of Wobble's vocals, so it's a good job the guest vocalists and rhythm section are consistently strong across the record. Some of the percussion sounds are dated (for a surreal moment I thought "Relight the Flame" was going straight into Genesis' "Invisible Touch") but it all holds together well enough sonically. The dub bass is consistently up front in the mix- unsurprising as it's Wobble's primary instrument- and there are some groovy lines to hold together the songs. All of this leads me to my main criticism: the music is often great, but the lyrical content is either distractingly bad or not making any effort to match the atmospherics. Attempts at social commentary in the weak spot "Everyman's an Island" were especially eye-roll inducing (hey guys, did you know the word "fun" was invented by marketing executives to sell soft drinks? Nope, me neither.) It's background music and might reward repeated listening, but I don't think I'll be rushing back to it.

Some funky rhythms. Feels a little pretentious and overly artsy for me. I like it better than Lou Reed but not my favorite.

Sucesión de diferentes estilos y ritmos, algunos incluso de música española. Disco diferente, pero que no termina de enganchar de un grupo del que no conocía su existencia.

I missed this one when it came out, although I do recall the Sinead O'Connor-voiced "Visions of You" getting some play on college radio. That is a great track, probably the best on the album. "Soledad" is also really beautiful, with Arabic-style vocals in Spanish by Natacha Atlas. The mixture of various "world" sounds is well done, but very much of that time. "Relight the Flame" and "Erzulie" have a cool mingling of Spanish-style guitar with a dub/Reggae rhythm and lovely Arabic-style vocals by Natacha Atlas. You wouldn't think some of these sounds would be necessary together, but the prevailing attitude is "why not?" and it mostly works. Some of the beats and keyboard sounds/ arrangements are a little dated. Wardle's own vocals stand out in contrast to the other vocalists, and not in a good way. His best vocal is on is "Rising Above Bedlam," which relies less on the world beat sounds and is a sold early-'90s alternative track. A mostly enjoyable/interesting listen. I'd have to be in a particular mood to revisit it though. Fave songs: Visions of You, Soledad, Everyman's an Island

Never heard of this before... a new experience. I did read that Jah Wobble was a guitarist from PIL, so I did have some expectations.... Visions of you. I recognized Sinead O'Connor right away. Radio-worthy track. Relight the flame has a familiar quality. It made me think of Robbie Robertson. The song feels right. I consider it a standout. Bomba...what language is that? Spanish? It's nice. Rising Above Bedlam got me with the drums...the spoken lyrics...Robbie Robertson (feel) again... (Somewhere down that Crazy River)... Those drums in "Soledad" are, in a word: powerful! I wanted to look and see if Phil Collins was featured. The other songs seemed ok. Nothing much else stood out to me. Stand out tracks: Visions of You Relight the Flame Soledad Bomba. Overall, the album was nice to listen to. I probably won't listen to it again unless something brings me back to it ( such as it being on a list like this). It is a solid 3/5 for now.

Goeie sesh

3 Speciaal, zeer speciaal. Over moonsekte gesproken, zou er passen.

Een heel goed achtergrond album

// Favs: Visions of You Score: Strong 2 to Light 3

Got some interesting sounds on there and I like the collaborative element of it. Bit too conceptual for my taste but I do like the world music vibe.

Another weird and strange experiment album which is a recipe for disaster in my book but against all odds, I really enjoyed this. I had an extremely productive day and I can’t say it wasn’t because of this album. I especially enjoyed the song with Sinead O’Connor. It just works!

Not sure I will be able to make it through the album.. too repetitive to be enjoyable -

Erg diverse plaat, en iets waar ik nog nooit van had gehoord. Niet onaardig.

Never even crossed my radar before but liked it. The fact Jah Wobble used to work for LU is also cool.

3/5

6. There was definitely some interesting stuff going on, but it started to feel a little long and a little too chaotic

No tiene estilo definido. Alguna se parece a James. Otra es como música de honololú. Otra como samba latina. Otra como árabe. Un poco Enigma. Le daré un 3 porque alguna canción no está mal.

Tried to be very experimental but mostly came off as bland and overstayed its welcome. 6

Special, mais un bon vibe! 3.5*

Diferente, folk, étnico, movido...

Not on Apple Music

Uuuuuuuorale!!!!!

Never heard this before! First struck me as a precursor to Thievery Corporation. I was a little put off by the ridiculous canned drums and twerpy basslines, but I think the music got better as the album went on, and it also just grew on me.

This is nothing like I expected, in a good way. It's weird but it's certainly not boring! Goes on a little too long, otherwise I'd rate it higher.

World music, algumas faixas sao ok (gostei das q sao em espanhol e arabe(?)), percursao ainda tá com cara de anos 80 q me desagradou.

3

I liked some of the songs, like the one with Sinead O'Connor, but there were some tracks that just sorta vibed! Overall an enjoyable experience~!

Das erste Album, das ich nicht bei Apple Music finden konnte. Groovige Musik! Teilweise richtig gute Tracks, wenn nicht gerade der monotone Sänger, bestimmt Jah Wobble höchstselbst, uns die Ehre erweist. Er bringt natürlich eine Form von Charakter mit sich, aber ich hab es lieber schön.

Some of it’s really good but I get tired of it quickly. I remember it being that way.

Not a fan of vocals as such, but the instrumental composition is quite unique

It’s not horrible, but definetly not great.

The soundtrack to a shop that sells crystals and incense.

Listenable, but pretty bad. Feels like cultural appropriation at points.

this does nothing for me. trying to be too many things / feels like a poor imitation of something in the world music category

I'm not sure what this album was trying to be. I certainly wouldn't call this innovative or anything, as I think there is simply more interesting world music out there. I don't know, just felt a tad inauthentic I guess.

I had no idea what was going on and I don’t know how I feel about it.

me when i increase my elevation at the edinburgh uni student theatre that was shit. i like the bits of erzulie where there wasn't singing and not much else. that said the execution is good aside from the vocals so i won't give it one star

ouais c'était sympa mais ça m'a pas retourné la bite quoi, ce registre j'ai du mal à tenir un album entier sans que ça me prenne la tête

3/10

I liked the Sinead song and the Indian inspired songs were cool, but overall I'm not sure why this is on the list. Probably a 2.5 for me.

Surface level world music / new age. Dreamy but not very inspiring and at times badly sung

meh, nothing great about this one, didn't particularly enjoy the vocals but the rest was ... fine

Ça part dans tous les sens. Du mal à voir la direction artistique de l'album. Chelou

Well I did enjoy some of the orchestration but the album confuses me. Middle Eastern music mixed with reggae doesn't work for me.

Boring and puddle deep.

This was pretty bad, though I did enjoy the basslines. It's like a sub part rock musician discovered the idea of "world" music and just decided it meant mostly reggae and dub and singing in Spanish. This is like music you'd hear in a resort exclusively for american and european tourists in the Caribbean because real local music would sound wrong to them.

The music itself is just okay but the album’s so disjointed, it made it so odd to listen to.

There is a bit of variety, but in a way that still bored me. Sorry Jah Wobble

Lite konstigt men kul

Go invade someone else's heart because mine hates Jah Wobble

Weird album.

Mr Wobble, your album is a fucking mess. It's got some proper lush riffs and 80s vibes, like real Duran Duran at times. At its worst it feels like an Indian paralysis demon, and I don't know if that is racist or not.

Wildes/weirdes Ding

198 / 1089. A silly album that has aged as poorly as most things from the early 1990s. The tracks that leave Jah Wobble off the mic and solely on the bass are worth a listen (notably "Bomba" and "Erzulie"). The other tracks feature Jah's horrendously boring vocals, unfocused experimentation for seemingly little to no reason, and/or poor use of Sinead O'Connor as a backup vocalist. 4/10.

Turns out the bassist for the Sex Pistols was not, in fact, the most important part of the Sex Pistols.

Well made and boring

There was a time where Starbucks would have some kinda album at the cash register. It would rotate once a month or so. The genres bumped along from soft piano pop to easy listening jazz to acoustic singer songwriter to world music. This album would've fit perfectly on a Starbucks counter had it come out a decade later. Just imagine it, 12 or so copies stacked flat with a single copy propped up on top so you can see the hideous album art as you try to decide on your coffee order. Like many of those albums, this is ... underwhelming and a little weird. Not bad, not good.

its laright

J'ai arrêté l'album en cours La voix de la dame qui montait super haut dans les aigus à eu raison de moi J'ai eu ce sentiment sur plusieurs musiques C'est dommage vu qu'il y a des bons arrangements sur d'autres musiques et qu'elles sont agréables

Fazolis music

Eh, it was fine. Don’t mind the dub bass or the world music vibe, but it just got old really quickly. The biggest revelation for me was seeing Jah Wobble’s picture in the Wikipedia article. Not what I expected.

I am of two minds about this album. Some of it was not good at all, completely skippable— other parts had me nodding along. If I learned anything at all it is that there is one degree of separation from Jah Wobble to the Sex Pistols and that is just wild to think about.

Some of the later songs felt like "fattened" trip hop. Did not enjoy this record. It felt way too long.

🎧Although it’s not reggae it’s still giving Ras Trent (the character, not the song…the song is actually great, unlike anything on Rising Above Bedlam). Remove from list immediately.

Getting outside of my usual genres with this album of world music. Bomba and Ungodly Kingdom were my favorite tracks. Otherwise it didn’t move the needle much for me but I’m thankful I was exposed to this. One of the joys of this daily generator!

3/10 Jah Wobble, former bassist for PiL, collaborator with Can’s Holger Czukay and later Brian Eno, puts together a world music album, combining a variety of styles from Europe, Africa and Asia and including a bit of Dub Reggae. Sounds like it’s got some potential. As is usual for me, I listened to a this album a couple of times though while working before giving it more focus and, while it didn’t really do anything to stand out, it did seem like fairly reasonable background music. When I gave it a closer listen, however, the first thing that jumped out to me was how dated it all sounded. The sound palette sounds like it was gathered largely from the music room of a local school, with a host of horrendous MIDI horns, strings and more all over the record. There was also huge amounts of digital reverb and delay all over the production that really established a very specific time in which this album was made. Unfortunately, while an obvious time period can often be quite affecting in music, in this case it was on the cusp of when this type of equipment was starting to become affordable, but didn’t actually sound any good yet, unless you were spending big bucks, or trying to come up with non-organic sounds with your synths. Which is not what Wobble was doing. As a result, this sounds quite bad. Musically, it was also very repetitive. Jah is obviously a good bass player and the non synthesised instruments were also performed well, but so often the tracks picked one or two ideas and just repeated them ad nauseam for 4-6 minutes, which was hardly that engaging. There were also incredibly few hooks or memorable motifs anywhere across the record. Perhaps it was intended as more of a “vibe” record than a hook one, but the aforementioned production and sound palette issues put paid to that vibe fairly quickly, so I did find this a bit of a struggle. Jah also came across as a pretty limited vocalist and much of his vocals seemed fairly smug and full of self-importance, which didn’t really help endear me to the work. It’s a shame, really, because the core idea behind this blend of musical styles is pretty good, but the execution was just lacklustre. Visions Of You - This is not very interesting. It’s incredibly repetitive and has a very 90s poptronica vibe about it which, while not trerrible, does make it feel pretty bland and generic. I thought the bass line was quite interesting to begin with, but it just keeps on doing the same thing for 5 minutes. Also, if you get a vocalist of the talent of Sinéad O'Connor in to work on a track, maybe give her a bit more to do, eh? Relight The Flame - A slightly weird blend of dub rhythm section and Spanish guitar now. It’s better than the opener and has a bit more about it musically, but his vocal is so uninspiring and lethargically delivered that it sucks a chunk of energy out of the rest of the track. Natacha Atlas’ vocals inject a bit more quality in, but it’s not really enough. I’m not particularly keen on the fairly robotic drum programming either, which makes it feel quite rigid and stilting, despite the attempted blend of rhythms. Bomba - Sonically, this is a bit more interesting, but still sounds incredibly of its time, from the swathes of digital reverb to the basic drum machine patterns. It takes a weird turn where they flip the atmosphere of the production quite a lot around half way through. The vocal is quite nice, but feels melodically unfocused and the backing is just very repetitive and fairly uninteresting. Ungodly Kingdom - Ooh, there are some horrible synth horns on this. Like, really awful. I feel this could have been almost completely created using the preset sounds on the MIDI keyboards my school had in the music rooms in the mid 90s. I mean, it’s not a terrible composition (although I bet he thinks he’s clever coming up with Ungodly Kingdom to refer to the UK), but as with much of the rest of the album, it’s very repetitive and sounds so much of its time that it struggles to rise above that. His vocal delivery is also flat and uninspiring again. Rising Above Bedlam - More quite bland stuff here that is overly repetitive. The production is way better and sounds less “90s MIDI keyboard”, but the almost stream of consciousness spoken vocals feel quite smug while also being not very good. Tonally, there was more to like here, but it still managed to miss the mark. Erzulie - There’s a better mix of styles and rhythms in here and, as with other tracks that Natacha Atlas has fronted, there’s a bit more to grab on to on the vocal side of things. It doesn’t really manage to find any particularly engaging hooks or melodies across any of the instruments though, and the transition from verse to chorus is a little jarring. Again, the very early 90s sound palette doesn’t help things here. There are some decent elements in this, particularly the rhythmic blends later on in the piece, but ultimately it still didn’t do anything to actually grab me. Everyman's An Island - “Fun is a word invented by advertising executives to sell soft drinks”? I feel like Jah Wobble definitely has a higher opinion of his own intellect than he deserves. The track itself here is a little better. The blend of styles is pretty nice and while the production is a tad dated in places, it actually holds together reasonably well for the most part. Unfortunately, there’s still nothing particularly memorable or noteworthy about any of the musical content, despite the vibe being better, Soledad - The rhythms here are pretty good and feel more organic. The sound design also gives it a bit more depth and quality than what’s come before. This is a drifting composition that has a bit more melodic quality in places, but still struggles to pick out anything vastly memorable. The vibe is decent though, despite them trying to ruin it with some overly loud guitar parts and blasts of delay. Sweet Divinity - This just feels messy and a little aimless. More bad synth sounds that clash against one another in places and a fairly drifting, directionless vibe in others. It just doesn’t really manage to convey anything of note and feels largely pointless. Wonderful World - I can actually pick out a direction that this is trying to go in. Although I feel like his jumping off point was “what if George Michael said something other than ‘faith’ after ‘I’ve gotta have’?” and I couldn’t get that out of my head for the whole song. Sonically, this is a better blend, even though the excessive reverb makes it quite muddled. Some cool layered rhythms and a decent composition holding it together. It’s not really enough to save the album, and his vocal still isn’t great, but it’s not bad.

Triple J had playlisted 'Visions of You', which drove sales in Australia. We used to sell this album at the record store I worked at in the early 90s, so I know have heard this before, but can't remember much of it. I recall that it appealed to the dinner party set; tasteful beats, dub basslines, and a smattering of 'world music' influences to give it a sheen of sophistication. I suspect that this album was recorded on a shoestring budget (which explains the cheesy synths and slathering of digital reverb), but it sounds pretty good over-all, except for the over-busy drum machine programming and Wobble's fucking terrible singing. Wobble is a tasteful bass player but should never be allowed near the microphone. It is a welcome relief whenever Sinead O'Connor or Natacha Atlas turn up. Their charismatic presence lifts any of the tracks on which they sing. 2.5, rounding down for Wobble's singing.

Decent enough world music album. Starts strong but tapers off pretty quickly after the first few tracks. Not bad as background noise but not too much to really dig into and enjoy. Top tracks: Visions of You, Relight the Flame

kind of a more dub version of primal scream? Eh could live without it

This takes me back to the early 90s when music in the UK was grim. I didn’t warm to this. The first song was musically fine, but the guy can’t sing. It didn’t get any better.

Wobble’s signature dubby bass lines accompanied with worldly sounds (some Spanish and Indian influences?). He can find a solid groove, there’s some nice cross-instrument rhythms, but in total songs aren’t too memorable or interesting. In a list of necessary albums - why do I need to hear a drunken Brit do it when I can hear the real thing?

It's ok

эспаньола

guter groove, aber etwas wirr und konzeptlos.

Spannende Vita

Grote hoeveelheden matig. PiL, maar dan iets minder kut en met een soort oppervlakkige invloeden van muziekstijlen van ver. Wtf doet Sinead hierop.

ummm it's fine. i appreciate the effort to be a little different here! a lil inspired! a lil cross-cultural! the problem is that, for me, it all ends up feeling sort of bland in spite of that effort. also the title track is really bad. but i guess i don't hate it. yet another example of an album that i need the book page for bc i do not understand why this would get included.

Ehhhhhh... I don't know...

World music just isn’t for me. Occasional cool sounds. I dig the synths.

It moments, it's groovy. And that's why it's a 2 star

Nah, trying too much to be something it is not. It's probably useful as a stepping stone to some authentic world music?

I'm feeling secondhand embarrassment for Sinéad O'Connor being involved on this record. Why is it on the list, it hasn't aged well.

In which the original bass player from Public Image Ltd forms a world music collective and creates a “dial a style” record with an eclectic mix of non-Western music blended with 90s pop. An interesting idea but most of it didn't work for me. Shout out to Sinead O’Connor (RIP) for bringing life to the one good track, Visions of You

A couple of bright spots. Visions of You is decent and I liked Everyman's An Island, but I mostly found this alternately irritating and boring. It's like an entire album of the song that represents the lull in the running order.

No idea what the goal of this keyboard orchestra is

not available for streaming

Jamais écouté avant. Top : Visions of You Flop : Soledad

#notforme

Tätä vähän tuntus vaivaavan semmonen perinteinen, että keksitään aihio, laitetaan rekki päälle ja sitten soitellaan. Voin olla väärässäkin, mut liikaa jää omaan mieleen jamittelumeininki. Ihan korvamyötästä tää on, mut ei nyt kuitenkaan herätä erikoisempia viiliksiä.

Any moment that Jah participates in singing this goes down towards a 1 for me. The other sounds and artists he brings in are fine, but not his culture and kind of boring. There are a few musical bits that salvage this project, but overall not impressed. 1.5/5 -> 2/5

genuinely quite tickled by this very earnest record, which uses dub as a launching point to access all sorts of music which exists in that deep, repetitious vein. perfectly reasonable mission, unfortunately undertaken by a white British guy with a signature hat. it's really silly, and doesn't feel like it's in particularly productive conversation with any of the genres Wobble's pulling from, but it's far from boring! flamenco, raga, Jez's terrible music from Peep Show - nothing's off limits here, and like. that's Not a Good Thing. but it's kinda fun anyway!

Rätt lökigt

Inte det värsta jag hört, men inga speciellt förmildrande omständigheter heller.

Completely forgettable

When I saw that it was world music and the name Jah, I didn’t expect a British white guy.

There's lots of variety on this album, but it wasn't that interesting to me. Liked Songs Added: Visions Of You

A bit... odd. Not my thing really, not sure what folks see in it. Not *bad* per se, just... yeah.

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.

Real mid just not for me

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.

2+ Stars (6/15)

Another forgettable album, disappointing.

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.

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.

2/5

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

started strong then lost steam. i like the Sinead Song

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

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

Niet heel spraakmakend

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

not terrible but not really my thing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This was decent and eclectic. High 2s.

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.

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

Great tunes, wobbly vocals.

Maso

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

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

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

Not for me

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.

2.0 - Weak

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.

Priem

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

weird

Very boring

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

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

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

Not that good.

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

Great band name. Music was kind of meh. 2.5

Suffers from too much hype.

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*).

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

Kinda like a boring version of the Spyro soundtrack

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Pretty forgettable

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

Goes downhill fast ...

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.

instrumentais interessantes, mas meh

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.

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.

*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

Inacreditável um disco desses estar na lista!

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.

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

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

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