Rising Above Bedlam

Dne

Best Song: Bomba. Every female vocalist on this album is 300x better than the male one. Why would he set himself up to fail like this? Worst Song: Rising Above Bedlam. Aimed for weird, landed on boring. Overall: It isn't unpleasant, but it feels like the "Taco Bell" version of world music. Everything superficially resembles the kinds of dishes you're expecting, but everything tastes a bit flat.

Not really exciting. Once again an ok album, but why it is in a list of “must hear” I dont know.

Very jam-bandy. Wasn’t really into it

faux ethnic background beats, ranging from groovy Sim City 3000 to passable new wave to self-indulgent filler. extra demerits for distracting vocals, heinously cringy spoken word, and jank MIDI blather on the back half of this album. 2/5

fuck, stop trying to cram some bullshit UK artist no one has ever heard of down my throat. This dude's sad, jazzy-synth, world music was not something I needed to listen to before I died

Not really into it.

Það eru ágætis hugmyndir og stef hér á ferð, en þetta líður fyrir mjög dated hljóðblöndun og leiðinlega rödd. Sum lögin eru leiðinleg, önnur byrja vel en svo fer hann að syngja...

I remember when I first exposed to Jah Wobble. It was on tv, a clip from Glastonbury in the early 90s. Probably about the time of this album. It struck me as weird hippy shit. Maybe, I figured, if you were in a field on mushrooms, it might sound alright…

This turned out to be quiet varied, passable for the most part. Some of the vocals were poor.

Meh

This was pretty interesting but don't think I'm interested in hearing it again tbh. Think I enjoyed "Erzulie" with all the trumpets the most

Didn't work for me at all. Best track: Not sure? I tried to pay attention and I couldn't

2/5. Yeah it was okay, two songs on the album were great. The rest were not memorable.

My memories of this were better than the reality of revisiting it, sadly I was disappointed this time around

More like descending into Bedlam! Opening track was alright, then I kinda lost interest about halfway through.

Yuck

Visions of You is a kinda cool song and the bass licks are cool throughout, but this is very dated and 90s in the worst way. Sounds like it would have been described as "world music".

En ihan ymmärrä, mitä tää on, mutta ok

En raaski antaa ykköstä, basso jymisee niin viattomasti!

muy falopa muy

This album is fine. It's solid reggae but nothing insane. Not sure why it's one of the 1001 albums everyone must hear.

Not my style

2.5

Meh

demasiado

Cack to Bedlam

Jah Wobble is trying to make something different here and I admire that with its fusion of world hooks and rave culture beats plus Sinead O’ Connor always welcome. Downside is the new agey vibe and come down sound (too bright and shiny and polished in the mix) is underwhelming and ultimately repetitive.

This is bizarre.

Not my cup of tea but I respect the homage to music around the world. As for albums I prefer a bit of cohesion at least a motif and I might be dumb but I couldn’t find it

This sounds like something my dad would listen to, I didn't dislike it. I felt like I was on vacation in the DR but that something was off. Perhaps it was the rice and beans I ate earlier or maybe I took the tequila too fast. It could also be the restlessness in the air that often accompanies the threat of revolution. This could be my chance to change the world: I single-handedly dismantle Dominican democracy and install the Taco Bell Chihuahua as the new leader. Regardless, it served its purpose as background music exceedingly well, but I won't be coming back anytime soon. Or maybe ever.

This whole thing just faded into the background. The male vocals were very weak and the songs with the female vocals all sounded the same. Not bad but nothing more than fine

There were sounds. So I guess that constitutes an album.

Honestly I'm confused here's a rating

HL: "Bomba", "Every Man Is An Island", "Visions of You" Hard to rate, somewhere between 1 and 4 stars :p Pro: très éclectique Con: It's like Graceland without the memorable songs Pro: Inspired instrumentals Con: Wobble's singing voice Con: I'm not feeling too hot tonight, so that might affect my enjoyment too January 3 2023

Listed as world music, but it's just bog UK electronica. Whenever I get an album like this, I click around Wikipedia until I find the part that lets me know it is some long-forgotten UK musician. Never fails. 2/5.

I didn't mind this. I wouldn't say it's very memorable, definitely not the best album I've ever heard, but from the reviews I was led to believe this was going to be worse. There were two or three standout tracks, and I did partially appreciate what the vibe of the album was trying to be. It's alright! 2.5/5

Looking up this one, I saw more remixes than albums and that's a red flag for me. This album cover is crazy uggo, and that's another red flag. This one is digging out of a hole for me is what I'm saying. The blurb on the wikipedia page that basically says this is a refreshing departure from Wobble's shitty music of the past is pretty lukewarm. Upon listening, this was not for me.

Dub bass, world music and vocals from your uncle who thinks Area 51 is a 'psyop'. This is pretty grim stuff all told, absolutely reeks of patchouli and cider in two-litre plastic bottles. Does anyone truly enjoy this bobbins?

Definitely need to be on psychedelics for this.

Strange album. Kind of all over the place from a style perspective.

Mah...shoulder-shrug

Never heard of this band before and the title was intriguing. This definitely is an interesting album but it really reeks of its age. It's pretty dull.

Kind of forgettable record for me. There's some Middle-Eastern elements in there that make it pretty unique sounding but overall it doesn't stick much for me. I kind of found it hard to connect with and figure out what they were going for, and this left a gap that made me want more cohesion than I got. I liked "Everyman's an island", which felt like a 90's version of a 70's crime fighting movie music.

also kinda weird.

Sounds like Sinead O'Connor doing background vocals. By golly it actually is! African rhythms and instruments are fun. I like the overall theme of striving toward something beyond the mundane, i.e. rising above Bedlam, ha ha. I don't know if the music really helps me along there though. It sounds pretty Bedlamish. I LOVE the title Invaders of the Heart! It just doesn't really do that. I wish it did! The title reminded me of another album by C.O.B called Moyshe McStiff And The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart. That music really does invade your heart! An album that should be on this list, one of the greatest folkish albums of all time. I guess that's what I want from music. I want it to invade my heart.

Very interesting and eclectic album. Probably not to my tastes but liked some of the songs and Sinead O'Connor's collaboration.

It wasn't awful, but I didn't want to finish it

Great bassist, great bass playing but the sound of World Music in the early 90s as played by white people for white people

Meh.

Dull and annoying. It had some semblance of a vibe but I didn't really get into it. 1.5 but I'll give a two as I wasn't outright offended.

It was……interesting. Not really my style

Membre i un dels causants del so de P.I.L., Jah Wobble va tornar anys més tard amb aquest nou experiment sonor. La seva vena i capacitat artística és fora de dubte. El so i la tonalitat és d'una gran qualitat. El problema és que la barreja de tants ingredients: guitarres (i veus) espanyoles, sons àrabs, voluntats raveres, percusions africanes... gairebé mai arriben a bon port... Un disc per escoltar més per com sona i què podria arribar a ser, que pel que és en realitat

Sounded like the artist has a bunch of different mates who agreed to do a song each and they all have a different sound, songs were all over the place. Couldn’t get into it

Meh. Not for me.

It was inevitable, there had to be a time when an album I didn’t like came along. I appreciate the listen though and the massive mix of influences, I have just heard so much better world music inspired albums in my time!

Come on guys we need more world music, all you’re giving me is fucking post punk. How about that Jah Wobble? Awesome, what is he Jamaican or…? Says here he’s from Stepney. Ah, he’s black though, yeah? Nar, mates with the Sex Pistols. Oh ffs, does he make reggae though? Yeeeeh, kind of dubby-post punk. Oh whatever, stick it in.

Hmmmm....couldn't get on with this. Trying to work out what I think of the fusion of world music. Either shedding light on lesser heard styles or a cultural appropriation pick & mix with a dub bass line and bad mystical poetry spoken over the top? Im tending towards the latter. To me the fusion rips the soul, and authenticity from the borrowed styles and sounds, rendering them plastic. And the poor poetic ramblings grinded on me....platitude, attitude, gratitude...FFS...its full of 90s new age sentiment that leaves me a bit empty. Sort of become one with the planet by err thinking of trees or something...the whole thing seemed a bit shallow to me

I know he played bass in PiL and naturally the basslines are the best thing about it. I thought it started off ok but got a bit repetitive with the generic world music

on jah?

Jah Wobble is a great guy and musician with lots of good ideas. This album is a bit meh. If I would put one album of his on this list (not necessary), it should be "The Legend Lives On... Jah Wobble in Betrayal". That one has some reasonably ok songs and classics with "Betrayal" and "Blueberry Hill" (one of the best cover songs ever).

A trip around the world with a really annoying boring nasal man.

blergh

Very hard to find this album on any platform... so I was disappointed by the ratio of enjoyment/time_spent_searching_for_the_album

a lot of trouble for this album...

Not great. When the album finished on Spotify, it autoplayed the first track of the Massive Attack album we had a few weeks ago, and I realised that there's a lot of similarities between that and this, except that the Massive Attack album is basically better in every way. The songs with the woman singing in Spanish are generally OK, the ones with the bloke chuntering on generally aren't. However, the title track (particularly at the end) is so peculiar that I actually quite liked it for its bizarreness, 'oh look, a fragment of plastic! Oh look, a sports commentator. Or was it a disused railway line?' 2/5. Just.

Middle eastern jam band electronica with a 90's vibe. Nothing bleeds faster than the cutting edge. Listen at your own risk.

Upon discovering, prior to listening, that this was classified as world music by a guy named Jah Wobble, let's just say I didn't picture John Joseph Wardle from Stepney, East London. Then start listening, and try to imagine that this guy was inches away from being in the Sex Pistols. But since Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious are such better noms de plume than Jah Wobble, maybe it was for the best. I guess if 1973 Sid Vicious drunkenly gave me a nickname I would run with it too? Not 1978 Sid Vicious though. But Jah Wobble was too crazy for the Sex Pistols!? "Rising Above Bedlam" is not crazy. But going by the nickname your drunk and slurring 16-year-old friend gave you for the rest of your career and life. That's crazy.

I finally got to this album on YouTube. The music is fine. The talking male vocals don’t do it for me. I’m in between 2 and 3.

Yllättävän hyvin toimi vaikka hoilailu välillä koetteli kuuloaistia. Instrumentaalisti toimi, mut vielä jäätiin kolmesta tähdestä

Meh. Not really my thing. There's a lot of 90s stuff in this list: the era where I was the most judgmental of music. But this isn't my thing.

Понравилась Visions Of You

A mal vieilli. Cet album me paraît intéressant sur le plan historique, car il évoque une esthétique très populaire dans les années 90. J'en profite pour me la péter et hurler que, sur les douze premiers que ce site m'a proposés, c'est le premier album dont je n'avais jamais entendu parler.

First song.

Not bad considering 2

Sehr abwechslungsreich, klingt irgendwie nach Urlaub aber auch ein bissi weird. Ungodly kingdom motiviert zum dancen! schwanke zwischen 2 und 3, aber unbedingt hören wir ich’s trotzdem nicht.

What starts out as an interesting and engaging exploration of world music ends up as a fairly disappointing listen by the second half. Favorite Tracks: "Visions of You", "Relight the Flame", "Ungodly Kingdom"

Not a fan of this at all. Really dull.

Meh. When the best that you can say is "This sounds just like....", and then can't even remember who they sound like, that's not much of an impression.

Don't really know what to say except meh. Some nice bits but not all that interesting to me.

I only knew the single with Sinead O'Connor. The rest of the album is in a similar style - it is all 3* I would say, but -1 for the production/sound - I won't listen to it again.

This album in my opinion just wasn't good. The only reason why I'm not giving it 1 star is because of the song Visions Of You. That song was great! 2.5/5 stars.

It's all the very much the same: I have his later album, and 'Becoming More Like God' (my favourite track on it) is great, but it's the same as Visions of You on this album. Layers of sound and vocals over a bass riff which goes diddle-dee, diddle-dee, didddle-diddle-dum-dee. Very nice, but this is the sort of stuff anyone could write, with some studio time and session vocalists. I like it, but is it art? I think not. I'm beginning to think (no, that's a lie - I've always thought) I can do better than at least 25% of the stuff we've had so far.

its a multi cultural hudgepodge but nothing is really good

Found this a good vibe. Thank you

Absolute mess of an album. Some guy singing. A Spanish woman. A cockney man chatting. All over the place

Out there, which I somehow didn't immediately expect from "Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart". Learned my lesson. Some parts were interesting - I find it tricky to rate these ones as an entire album to be honest

A bit too out there for me. The main singer's voice (in a weird Britpop style) began to grate on me after a while. Rating it 2 stars in an effort to stop rating every album 3 stars.

Strange

Surprisingly bland for experimental music. Maybe in the background.

Visions Of You does a good job of setting up the rhythmic style of Relight The Flame, but the vocals on Relight are a huge bummer. Bomba is cool. Ungodly Kingdom was a fun listen. Sweet Divinity has all the problems of Relight the Flame but none of the charm.

This was also weird, but not in a good way. Not a fan.

Meh

I would listen to this on drugs

Initial cover art I was like "oh boy, this is either Hip Hop or something really dumb". Immediate thought listening was: is this the eponymous category of "World Music"? Also surprising that the guy named "Jah Wobble" is white, heh. Guess he was part of Public Image Ltd. It feels like this is using various sources of music, instruments, etc without any conclusion. Music that sounds just "there", feels very 90s Best Buy World Music CD section. I find it sort of cheesy. Especially the voiceovers. It's like, look at my super unique music cause I have these other instruments! Everything is so on-the-nose. The level of introspective goes as deep as a philosophy major in freshman year who smokes a lot of pot and thinks they are super smart, braaah.

I kinda love this, though I don't understand any of the acclaim. Except, perhaps, for Soledad, which weirdly fits and weirdly sticks out. The soundtrack for a movie (or something) documenting an altered series of karaoke numbers.

This is on the list over dozens of great innovative international albums because someone is a really hardcore Sex Pistols/PiL fan. Not me though. Wobble and co are simply okay.

sounds very dated, cool music combos though I dont what it is the vocals or the production which does not appeal to me at all

Do we really need more "World" albums on this list that are put together by a white British guy? It's not the ripping off of other culture's music that is the problem really, it's that it is done so poorly. The music ranges from boring to bad, completely uninspired. The vocals are generally terrible, especially when Jah does it (Jah? white British guy). +.5 points for Visions of You, which is ok to good. I'm crediting Sinead O'Connor for that. Too bad it was the first track. It gave me false hope that this wouldn't be bad. 1.5

Production wise this spunds like Paula Abdul but if she took MDMA one time and sort.of.liked hearing lesser dance.muaic. Electronic music is noty thing and albums like this are the reason why.

no me gusta

straight booty cheeks

Some of the instrumentals were nice. But Jah’s voice really rubbed me the wrong way. As a whole this didn’t register with me. Side Note: if you’re going to have a song that’s the same name as the album, it should be one of the better ones in the mix.

This was an acceptable listen. I do not think that the album is able to mix well its cultural influences despite being quite interesting on that regard. 6/10 [DROP]

this album is a world village coffeehaus mid evening liveshow slot and I'm drinking some cardamom scented blonde roast and schnapps nightmare as my ass gradually cleaves through some cheap beanbag material & onto a hard floor.

wow. why in god's name is this on the list AT ALL. this album is crazy from top to bottom. this is truly embarrassing to have released, I think. i looked this guy up and he releases like 6 albums a year, each with terrible awful AI album art??? seriously who the hell is this guy? why did I need to hear this before I died? this has to be THE single most baffling inclusion on this list, bar none.

Note sure how I made it one time through the whole album. Incoherent blending of styles mashed up into one album, and yet, seems completely forgettable.

I feel nothing towards this. Not necessarily good nor bad, just there. There's so many different genres slammed together its often off-putting. I hear Indian sounds, Spanish sounding music, & then the British guy "sings." It often sounds very early 90s. Nothing stands out either. 1

This album felt like being on hold with Comcast for most of an hour: in the annoyance and type of music. The only thing missing was the vocalist popping in every now and again telling me I could use the website instead of being on hold, after the website specifically told me I couldn't do the thing online and I needed to call I hate to rate this as low as a Lou Reed album, but here we are. ⭐.49

interesting

This creeps me out

This was not very interesting, might be decent background music if I was working on something but listening to it alone while driving it was pretty boring.

efter det her hører jeg aldrig et britisk album igen

Jeg plejer at være lidt apologist for de her tidlige elektroniske plader fra England, men av den her er ældet elendigt. Forbrændt brite som havde en out-of-body oplevelse på Ibiza ass plade. Ikke nok med at jeg ikke behøvede at høre den før jeg dør, jeg tror faktisk mit liv havde været lidt bedre hvis jeg ikke havde hørt dem.

I make a real effort to find SOMETHING positive in every album. Goddamnittohell but this list contains entries that are so thoroughly inartistic that they reveal the fool's errand in that intention. This may be the Archetype of the category. It’s inclusion can only be rationally explained as either (1) ironic or (2) experimental; as in “are there people who will consume, and even enjoy, ANYTHING if an 'authority' tells them that they should?"

Must listen? This album tells you something about albums and/or pop music that you don’t get anywhere else? I love Jah Wobble as many bass players do but this is not anywhere near essential listening. It did get two for featuring sinead O’Connor. But it lost two for winning a Mercury award. The only decent Mercury in pop was Freddie. 1 star rounded up.

чёт ниочём. Пустое. Попытка одновременно подражать и регги и восточной музыке. В итоге - ничего запоминающегося. Реально бедлпам

This wasn’t bad, I just didn’t like it.

Gvd wat kut. Dit album voelt agressief racistisch.

What the fuck was this

I would rather listen to authentic dub like King Tubby's This seems like colonizer music. Using various music styles from around the world without adding much. I'm fine with taking inspiration but this doesn't do much with it. Of course it's another English guy. . .

British

Not even Sinead O’Connor could save this. This is a dumpster fire but I am glad I can now bring up Jan Wobble to people and spread the curse.

going to take this as a good sign that this one wasn’t on Apple Music!

Right off the bat, I’m expecting Bob Marley and instead I get Billy Joel music with Enya as a background singer and a clone of the singer from UB40 taking lead. Is this an 80’s album? Nope. Wow! This is cheese imitation reggae Gross

Ei saatana mitä paskaa.

White British guy tries to be worldly. The instrumentation isnt bad, the vocals are atrocious.

M’ennuie

Definitely not for me.

I'm white but not this white. Even Sinead couldn't save this one.

You know how Paul Simon took a bunch of heat for “cultural appropriation” on his making of Graceland, even though it was pretty good art made with tact, taste, and a reverence for the places and people it lifted sounds from? Yeah that ire should be directed at this thing. I’ve got quite the tolerance for cheesy songs made with the intent to uplift the world while ripping uncredited non-English musicians (“Komodo” by Mauro Picotto is a good case study in this phenomena), but this is just bad all around. This is the bassist of Public Image Limited, one of the worst reoccurring bands to inhabit this list. I don’t think I need to say much more than that. There are times where this record isn’t outright bad, but those times are few and far between. Some lowlights include “Ungodly Kingdom” and “Sweet Divinity”. 1/5 sadly takes all the worst parts of the early 90’s sounds and puts them into an album

Some sort of abstract art gallery noise more then a coherent album. A bunch of random guitar lifts with bad singing, or talking or whatever they decided to switch to from track to track. I get it the guy can play the bass.

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

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

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

Not really my cup of tea.

Boring, pretentious and all over the place.

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

All over the place and none is it really good

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

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

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

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

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

1.5/5

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

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

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

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

Huh...

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

Mostly boring.... some good baseline occasionally.

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

Didn’t listen to

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASS

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

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

Enervating

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

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

Can’t find this album anywhere.

Fucking horrendous

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

Meh

Very weird

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

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

No

the invasion of my heart has been successfully repelled.

This smells like a white guy with dreads.

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

This album aims high and fails spectacularly.

I’m stealing parts of to reviews cause they explain this album better then anything I old ever say. You remember that kid from your floor freshman year with the guitar? This is what he makes when he’s in his 40’s, after a trip to India in which he thinks he’s found some life-changing revelation while talking to the first yogi he can find. He’s not deep, he’s not insightful, and he’s certainly ignorant. Oh and he paid for the trip to India with the money from the divorce settlement. This music would be at home in a Starbucks Putumayo collection cd. One star for basic musical competence. Zero stars for the songs, arrangements, production, and lack of taste.

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

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

Hmmm….no

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

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

I’m over it more than halfway through

Meh

me mata de uma vez

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

not my exact vibe

Much like my review for Run-D.M.C.'s Raising Hell where I said "This is bad, not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good..." This is bad, not bad meaning good, but bad meaning bad...

Crap and lame. Would rather put on Back To Bedlam by James Blunt. This is like the cheesiest ever tour of world music with a litany of terrible dated keyboard sounds and even more rancid sneery terrible talk-singy vocals. Around the same time as Screamadelica, this makes Bobby Gillespie or even Shaun Ryder and Bez seem like Jeff Buckley. In terms of music there’s a whole lotta crusty dub techno, ersatz Guns Of Brixton, cliche desert film score and Yvan Eht Nioj style Indian music. And for added punishment Sinead O Connor sings on a couple of tracks too. So there it is, Jah Wobble’s Invaders Of The 1001 List. Never rising above 1 star.

Not available

Wow! This stuff is so startling bad that I went to find out how it ever got made. Turns out, in the early 90s, the devil came back to the crossroads, just when Jah Wobble and Kurt Condon came along. Cobain played a few songs and the devil bowed his head and wished he had long hair to toss around to the rhythm. Jah wobble then presented his mess of sounds. The devil was much pleased by the ‘forgot to read the instructions’ drum machine groove; the downcycled and appropriated instrumentation, so poorly played and utilized below its potential; the child-like rhythms; the “Jesus I could do better than that” vocals. The devil rejoiced…but decreed that it was TOO evil to send this music forward to the people, and so he chose Cobain. Though the devil continues to spin him some Jah Wobble whenever he feels like a little flagellation of the soul for himself

Never listened before and won’t be listening again.

This list is becoming exhausting. Not even 15% done and I keep getting shit like this. A white dude from England that goes by Jah. How does anyone need to hear this crap. Jah Wobble has 11,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Now listeners does not equal good or bad, but I have friends I grew up with that have larger following and better music than this. I am getting close to throwing in the towel on the British circle jerk of a list. 2 more albums this week and they better be bangers or this journey is over. There is something to say about me not liking wildly accepted classic albums like Boob Dylan and U2, but what the fuck is this. Album review, it sounds like a shallow white guy that appreciates other cultures and did a crap job of blending cultures into one sound. It is not good, it is not coherent, it is not worthwhile, it is not unique, it is shit. 1.8/10 133/1001

Not for me!

I don't know this guy but I can already tell he's the most insufferable person in the world. 2/10

Before "cultural appropriation" entered the lexicon, there was this.

First listen

Unavailable

I don’t know what this album was to be honest. I’m not sure if there was a meaning but I didn’t enjoy it or connect to it at all. Even the vocals didn’t seem very good and felt all over the place. Did not enjoy it.

what in the psychedelic shit show was this

Nah

Sounds like Nigel from Spinal Tap did a reggae project. Utter shite.

What even is this?

Did not like it. A clusterfuck of genres and i just don't like that kind of singing that jan wobble bring to the table. That kind of sing-talking.

This is totally unfair, but my immediate reaction to this was that I didn't realize AI was around in 1991. World Electronica is a gateway phrase to mediocrity. It sounds fine, if you're into it, but it could have been generic library music, and I wouldn't have known the difference.

Chemistry teacher plays us the album he and his new girlfriend made over the Summer on holiday with parent's inheritance money

Ooooh okay, I'm vibing, girlypop!! Meh, I'm already having way less fun on this second song than I was having on the first song. I only listened to maybe half???? before I dipped. Kind of weird and like it wanted to be something better. Maybe upon a relisten (if I ever get around to one), it will click.

Absolutely unlistenable

Not available on Apple Music but from the reviews here it doesn’t seem like it would be worth it to look for an alternative.

hui das chönt emfall no en harzige werde. fuck ich find de world musig 90er scheiss afoch nöd geil. visions of poo alte. nai finds nöd so schlimm aber ich ha vorher aretha glost und das het halt null seel die dünne froschige stimme bringed halt nöd so viel. relight the flame isch jo gad au ehner basisch so. die "spanisch" gitarre hilft nöd mitem "indische?" touch zeme. ui. und d rick astley ass toms alte wüüüüürkli. bomba tönt au wie en slightly nervöse massage warteruum. seg nöd mamacita du arschloch. ah d sinead o connor singt zum teil? cool aber sorry immernonig cool. ok sie singt nur ufem erste song. die eigentlch sängerin isch belgierin/ägypterin und irgendwie chunt mer s spanisch gad zimli schräg ine. aha de jah wobble isch de bassist gsi vo public image limited scho klar finden so scheeeeeisse. erzulie het etz no en groove moll bass isch erstuunlich cool. everymans an island joo okay. nai actualöy nöd okay. soledad stresst mi etz au seeehr. nai. da git e 1 au wenn nocher no zwei meisterwerk chömed. es isch sooo laaangsaaaam. er singt au afoch nöd guet. so nöd cool schlecht sondern sonder inkompetent schlecht. boah nai die synthi blöser uf sweet divinity naaaaai.

hahahha erst gad letscht wuche han ichs wort bedlam kenneglernt und jz stolper ich scho wieder drüber. Whitechapel wird aber wahrsch besser sii visions of you isch schomal recht langwilig gsi, nöd schlecht aber echt nüt speziells hahah das isch ja mit abstand de grössti song fuck isch das langwilig looogisch ischer brit everyman's an island hani no ok gfunde ah scho fertig ja ich hans nöd guet gfunde und ich chegg nöd, wiso das uf de liste sött sii (ussert dasser brit isch) ah und public image ltd isch au arshc btw

Meningsløst tull.

The first song has all the streams, and then 20000 people moved through the rest. Hardly worthy of a list.

Honestly had to skip this. A random white guy in his 40s doing his best world music impression with karaoke vocals. 12k monthly listeners on Spotify. Cultural appropriation. Awful.

Pre-listening thoughts: I felt guilty the other day that World is in my least fav genres listed on my summary but dude I think the editors of this book are including bullshit World entries (like this). I am positive there are better World albums out there, not made by an entitled white guy who appropriated other cultures’ music. Why did this need to make the list. Post/during listening thoughts: ok slay Sinéad O’Connor! But holy shit all the other vocals are garbage. And the production! The first track is only mildly redeeming. I am actually pissed that this was an inclusion on this list. Fuck you Jah Wobble. 2/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no Fav tracks: Visions of You Least fav tracks: everything else but especially Bomba’s production

terrible

Holy cultural appropriation Batman!

Vocals sound like the lead singer of XTC, but music is worldly for lack of better words.

That guy may come from PIL, but what he did on his own is terrible. I'm baffled that this album made the cut to this book.

I just can't believe this album is part of this list. How much did he pay for this??

So, this is on the same list as Abbey Road, Nevermind, The Dark Side Of The Moon, Straight Outta Compton, Paranoid, Kind Of Blue, Illmatic, Kid A, Rust Never Sleeps... Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart is considered good enough to be there among these. I must be really missing something.

Who told him he could sing? Who told him he could play bass? They were lying. Cultural appropriation done badly. Why is this on this list? More forgettable twaddle. I was going to give it a 2, but the longer it ran the more bored I got. 1/5. (why can't you give 0?)

Couldn’t get this one on my music service. They had some of his other albums, but I wasn’t wild about what I heard.

This really fucking sucks. Just pick a fucking genre, guys. What the fuck is this pretentious bullshit. This is actively insulting and occasionally problematic. Did not enjoy. 1/5

nope

Hmm a goose honking on the opening track. The vocals come off a bit amateur, karaoke. It all feels like magazines in a dentists office in the 1990s and it's wall to wall carpet in an ugly pattern.

This album was so bland. And when it wasn't bland it was annoying.

What is this nonsense? Why is this on here?

Didn't get on with this one. An English born musician cosplaying as a world musician and it leads to some paper thin interpretations of the genre. Only person who I think ever has successfully got away with this is Paul Simon

Knowing nothing about this artist, I assumed this was a reggae album and boy was I unpleasantly surprised when whatever the heck this is started blaring out of my office speaker. Oof. Sorry Jah Wobble, but you can't call yourself that and produce this trash.

I tried and tried and couldn't find the full album. From the bits I heard, I don't think I'm missing anything.

Schrecklich.

no gracias bro

Awful. Could not get past the first two songs.

Wow, this is so bad. Couldn't get through the whole thing.

This album smells like patchouli in a cultural-misappropriation kinda way.

usually i try to listen to albums with an open mind, but boy howdy, from the first track, i knew i was going to not enjoy my time with this album. the production is so badly dated and cheesy, it sounds like music from a second-tier straight-to-vhs-and-only-sold-to-libraries educational program. the world music influence added here only compounds on that, especially when it is talk-sung over by a bored sounding english man who sounds like rowan atkinson's zazu from the lion king. this really is my trifecta of dread - boring electronic music meets white dude doing world music meets woefully dated production.

# Album Name: Rising Above Bedlam # Artist: Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: For me personally, this is an absolute shocker. Dog shit in fact. what is it even doing on the list i'll never know. # Top Tunes: Absolutely fuck all. # Would I listen to it again? fuck no.

This album is the dictionary definition of white guy world music

This album is so important it's not even on Spotify. There's over 50 other Jah Wobble albums on there but not this one. I had to find it on youtube and now i'm irritated that I had to go through all that hassle to listen to this nonsense. The bass is decent. That's it.

1l

I don't even know what this was trying to be.

The only reason this gets a 1.5 and not lower is because Natacha Atlas makes an appearance. I’m still giving it a 1 on this site site, because it doesn’t deserve to be rounded up. It’s pretty much cultural appropriation trying to mask itself as acceptable because it features actual artists from the cultures and regions it is taking from. Also the talking instead of singing by Jah Wobble is just incessantly dull.

- phew.. war mal wieder ein Album, das ich nicht komplett geschafft habe (auch wenn es keine -1/5 war)

Why is this list so terrible?

nicht so meins, leichte electronic und orientalische Einflüsse

Public Image Ltd had some good songs, this is just cheesy. pass the velveeta

British guys doing reggae stopped being cool after The Police dabbled with it. How did this make it on this list, this was awful. I regret ever hearing it or even knowing of it

No thanks.

This is not for me. It does not invade my heart.

It's giving 90's Nirvana mall vibes.

Thoughts before listening: Is this going to be some sort of 90s British reggae? Doesn't sound very good if that's the case. Definitely never seen this cover or recognize the artist. Review: Well its not reggae although there are dub elements throughout. Lots of other stuff too. Apparently Jah (why I assumed reggae) was the bass player for Public Image Ltd which is a band I can't get into. Same for this. Theres just nothing here thats grabbing me and the vocals aren't very good either. I'm leaning toward a 1-star rating. I don't really like it.

Not a fan... I always try to give it a listen even if it is not my taste, but this was just awful. 1/5

Couldn't listen because this goober has decided to take this album down from everywhere. Loser.

Reminds me a LOT of the B-52s. I really like the fusion of styles here, but I think this album is more successful when it treads into non-English lyrics. I'm not sure I can justify giving it a 2 for that though. Really didn't enjoy

Hmmmm. I like PiL - but think it's probably Lydon's raw snarl that lifts it. This is.............. not good.

Potpourri ist noch das netteste was ich sagen kann über diesen Stilmix. Ist das World-Music? Oder irgendwas mit Ethno? Da bin ich komplett abgehängt. Der "Sänger" gehört in eine Punkband, schlimm.

1/5. I sometimes think the curator of this list is trolling.

I first heard of Jah Wobble when I heard Eno/Wobble's Spinner. Loved it. Then I learned that he came from PiL, so I decided to not seek out any of his other works. Well, judging by this, I was right to ignore his output. "Icky" is the best word I can come up with for this. Is that a Casiotone drum kit? This is "world music" for people who don't like brown people. This better not throw off my YouTube algorithm.

The bass playing is pretty slick, especially on Erzulie. But otherwise I'm not interested. The male vocalist is boring and bad, and the instrumental being a weird mix of synthetic and acoustic just is not combining very well. This gets worse as I listen too. I'm so checked out, and just waiting for the album to end.

A hot mess of every early 90s shit fusion pop sound, rhythm, and instrument, with nothing of interest to be shown for it.

No disponible en Costa Rica

Bad. Not good. Should not be on this list

Not available anywhere. 1 star it is

I wish I could say this bored me, but it didn't. It annoyed me to the point that it became a gnat on my ass.

I had to try multiple times to get through this album. The top review for this album is right, but there are some okay songs. I won't listen to them again, but they didn't make me want to turn it off. Those songs were "Visions of You" and "Erzulie." Other than that though, this album was grueling to get through. Plus this guy is connected with Johnny Rotten. Fuck that guy.

No.

Previously of Public Image Ltd., this is bassist Jah Wobble's experimental attempt at "World Music." This is cultural appropriation at its finest. Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart is exclusively British musicians playing with "foreign" influence, with the exception of trumpeter Harry Beckett who is actually of Barbadian origin. This album did not chart, has little to no historical or popular impact, and is just offensive.

Not my style

This was difficult. Kind of all over the place, nothing really appealed to me.

Rising Above Bedlam by Jah Wobble and The Invaders of the Heart kicks off with the captivating vocals of Sinéad O'Connor, setting an exciting tone. However, the album's lengthy compositions make it hard for some listeners to connect with, especially those not already into world music. It feels like the music is trying too hard to showcase its global influences, bordering on self-indulgence. While ambitious, this approach may overshadow the album's broader appeal. Overall, this might not resonate with everyone and falls short of greatness, particularly for those not keen on world music. NUMBER OF BANGERS - 1 STAND OUT TRACK - Visions of You

After reading the review about the guy from down the hall in college, I felt like that summed it up. Upon reflection I see a commercial outlet for this album. The kid from film school decides to make a combination of Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers that will "be this generation's The Omen." The writer/producer/director/star is talking to the assistant he got by falsly promising academic credit for working on a "real film set." "He'll work for a credit and a sandwich? Will he come down on the sandwich? Okay, if Jimmie can't get off from Starbucks, make a PB & J and get him in here."

I don't understand how some albums get on this list. Like the first song was ok and then it just got worse for me from there -- fine, I don't have to like every album on here. But what was this album doing that was new or different or that makes it stand out? And my god, those lyrics "Love conquers fear ... in the arena ... of LIFE!" Bleh

Not as unlistenably awful as a lot of the records I’ve given a 1/5 - I kind of appreciate some of what this is trying to do. I just think its inclusion in this list is such a waste. Trying to be an eclectic ‘world music’ album that just uses the most base level features of the genres and cultures it borrows from over some awfully dated synths. I’d have more leniency if it was a mid 80s album or something but it’s 1991, it should sound cleaner than this

I'm not the type of person to throw this phrase around lightly, but I think this album should have been called Now That's What I Call Cultural Appropriation. I think that Jah Wobble and company (Sinead O'Connor sings on this album, neato!) had some pretty big aspirations in making this album, but unfortunately those aspirations didn't play out very well in practice. This album is pretty much a mess: there's Spanish singing, without elements of latin music, there's political messaging without any teeth or meaning, and there's a lack of overall cohesion from track to track. This album feels pretty empty in all aspects, and it was a chore to get through. Sinead O'Connor's vocals were nice, but overall, her talents are pretty much relegated to the background, which is incredibly unfortunate. I'm glad this is the only Jah Wobble album on this list, but now I'm dreading the Public Image Ltd albums.

WHAT?!?? I kept listening to this without any idea who or where it came from, foolishly thinking the nex song would tell me more about what this is supposed to be. Then I finished the album. I have no idea what this is and maybe that is for the best. Favorite track? "Ungodly Kingdom" I guess. 1/5

Truly a mess of an album. Supposedly lead by a bassist, the bass lines are simplistic. The genre is "world music" while being written and performed by 5 white people from the UK. It's tiring to listen.

just feels fake Okay, I was going to give this a 2, but why? What am I giving it credit for? There’s nothing I enjoyed here, so why not give it a 1?

Not a fan

Visions Of You is a fairly boring song, but Sinead O'Connor's voice elevates it significantly. The rest is pretty terrible.

The first song is probably where Enigma got his inspiration for "Principles of Lust". For crying out loud, what a horrible album.

Got 4 songs in and said nah i'm alright

I can see the talent here and why it’s very popular but I am rating these on my own personal opinion and this just wasn’t for me. Favourite: Wonderful World Least Favourite: Erzulie

This 1991 album still carries many hallmarks of the 1980's production values, which sounds dated and in many ways, unappealing to me. Digital recording was perhaps nascent and synthesizers overused. However the bass lines are excellent, and this album is sonically interesting overall, incorporating various elements of world music (Spanish, African). It flows continuously through various attractive grooves and trance inducing states. It's psychedelic and an interesting listen for sure, but the vocals by Jah are by no means exceptional. Meanwhile the lyrics, when not profound and deep, come off occasionally as trivial and of low caliber. That said, on RISING ABOVE BEDLAM, Jah Wobble is reflective, cheeky, and an extraordinary instrumentalist and this album was an interesting and new experience.

Sucks Cultural appropriation the album

AJ/ wobble my ass

Unorganized collection of random genres and vocals. There were some passages of some songs that were average, but no one track is even good on this. Then you add in the bad vocals on each track and there is nothing positive about this album for me.

Mega ASS

I just couldn't finish this album. This album sounds like someone went backpacking around Asia, went to a few full moon parties and came back "enlightened". It's pretentious and feels like someone is just trying to hard to be deep and worldly. Relight the Flame sound like someone singing bad karaoke of a lesser known Disney tune whilst trying to imitate Leonard Cohen.

Weird album. It took a couple of tracks to learn to ignore the terrible singing. Still not that great once you can. Kind of reminds me of the last record by the Clash, which was terrible.

There wasn’t one part of me that liked this.

I did not like it. Lyrics were gibberish.

• It’s giving “on my gap yah” • The male vocals are a bit unbearable if i’m honest • I would never listen to this album again • Favourite song: Bomba

No

I don't see myself ever listening to this

Ok ish

What on earth was all that about then? Not particularly interesting or enjoyable, as hard as I tried to listen.