Rising Above Bedlam

Pretty interesting combo of reggae, electronic, pop, and a bunch of other things that are hard to classify. It's certainly attention grabbing. I like how spiritual and uplifting some of these songs feel, especially Visions of You and Everyman's an Island. The bass on the whole album sounds very good, but it's Jah Wobble playing it - that shouldn't be a surprise. The whole thing is very unique, but not always mind blowing - feels like some of these styles could have been executed with more detail. There is some other issues as well - overly long and meandering songs, thr instrumentals being much stronger than the vocals, just to name a few. Overall it's still quite solid but could have been much more.

Looking at the album art of this, I think I have cracked why I don't like this 90s era of art: the vision is there, but the tools to make it are not. The simple digital collage on the front of this album would look ten times better if had been done as traditional art, or if it had been made twenty years later. Anyway, the music. I have heard Visions of You before. It's OK. I can't deny that's it's an earworm (unfortunately). The title track sucks, empty spoken word pretentiousness. Overall I think this album is stupid and shallow, but I can't say I hated it. I bet this is the kind of thing that Super Hans thinks is really deep and meaningful.

I mean, it’s a vibe. But it doesn’t stray from that vibe for a second. And if they are saying anything profound it is lost on me. It’s not that long of an album and I was getting bored by half way through.

I knew this band from exactly one song from back, what? 30 years ago now ("The Sun Does Rise"). I always enjoyed that song, but never explored the band's music further. It was pretty much what I expected. Some really great beats and eclectic sounds. Then there were the slower songs that just didn't grab me all that much. I liked a lot of this album. It's a 3.5, but I'm going to go with a 3 here just because I would skip a couple tracks if I listened to it again.

I think Jah wobble is an amazing bass player, but this seems super dated. I can’t imagine anyone going back and listening to these songs. Maybe I’m wrong.

Very world beat

Can't believe I made it half way through this album. Western Boomers getting all jazzed about discovering that the rest of the world exists, then slapping some synths over their music.

Really scratching that music for PE teachers itch. Bad though. The fact that this is PIL adjacent makes so much sense. There is real musicality here but it’s the same musicality as the demo tracks that play on old keyboards when you scroll their sound libraries. This just truly did nothing for me save some moments on a couple tracks, Erzulie is fine. Unless this had a real cultural moment I don’t think it should be anywhere near this list.

It is not a bad album, but it's not one of my favourite genres. I kind of enjoyed "Visions of You", "Rising Above Bedlam", or "Everyman's an Island". On the other hand, I don't like the most Spanish-influenced tracks (such as "Bomba" or " Soledad"). So, it is kind of average, in the range of 2,5 stars.

I think I'd prefer the bedlam. ★★

Wobble har gjort vansinnigt mycket roligare grejer. Han är bra på dub, även här emellanåt, men det andra tjafset... Suck! Lyssna istäljet på hans album från ifjol Buslines of southwest London eller nåt sånt, utmärkt Londondub Starka ett för duben

Jag tycker inte om det.

Det här var inget vidare. Rytmer utan sväng. Trista synthar och trummaskiner. Trots världsinfluenser finns New age-soundet där i bakgrund, och det vet ju sen gammalt att det är av ondo. Det är väl först med avslutande Wonderful world som det blir intressant och få är det tyvärr lite för sent.

Urvattnad dub mixas med spanska gitarrer och arabisk sång. Resultatet blir inte särskilt roligt.

all the world vibes In the mix made this a good listen

This is an early 90s album that honestly is intriguing yet confusing in terms of its vibes. I’m not even sure what I would say in terms of genre. The songs alternate between a male and female artist. The male sings in English in a creeping voice that made me a little uncomfortable. The woman sings in Spanish and she is strong and boastful. The vibes range from tribal to classic Spanish to synth-heavy melodies. It’s honestly a whirlwind of different styles and I’m not really sure what else to say? Some songs I really enjoyed and others not so much. Guess we’re going with a solid 3!!

I am mad because Relight the flame's snare sounds do similar to St. Anger's snare. Man, THE FIRST SONG WAS SO GOOD WHY DID YOU RUIN THE REST OF THE ALBUM. When I saw dub in the key words, I got excited because I like dub and dubstep. This is a disgrace to dub. All of the albums song are so similar and terrible, by the end of the second song, I wanted the album to end. The Erzulie was also pretty good though. Usually like dub, but this just isn't for me. Highlights: Visions of You and Erzulie 2/10

I kinda warmed to this as it went on. His basslines obviously very cool and I liked the fusion of styles by the end. I think if his vocals were a bit better, you could have a great album here.

Yeah, not sure about this one. It's oaky, and Tah's bass is strong, but I don't think I'll be looking for this again any time soon.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? THIS IS THE "WORLD" MUSIC YOU INCLUDE IN THIS LIST? Insulting to the many phenomenal albums you can listen to from non-English speaking countries, and which were not included in this list. Even the "non-English" albums are just some English dude making "world" music. Christ.

Listen to this 1992 Mercury Prize shortlist nominee.

Really boring music

I look forward to finding an album that I love. This unfortunately wasn’t it.

Parts of it were fun. 2.5

World music.

Not crazy about the lead vocals, but the music is pretty cool. Diet Talking Heads

Better than Coldplay

This is good and interesting but not something I would listen to regularly.

A total mess, but rather a nice mess

Listened before: nope Visions of You - 3/5 Relight the Flame - 2/5 Bomba - 3/5 Ungodly Kingdom - 1/5 Rising Above Bedlam - 2/5 Erzulie - 1/5 Everyman's an Island - 1/5 Soledad - 1/5 Sweet Divinity - 1/5 Wonderful World - 1/5 Average score: 1.6/5 ⭐ basically gentrified world music. no thank you

A good mix of sounds. Nothing more.

Cool album. Soledad is my standout, so very cool.

Ожидал худшего, но в принципе оказалось ничего, даже достойно

Bueno, sentimientos encontrados... Hasta el track "Erzulie" fue increíble, un crecimiento de disco fantástico con una muy buena cadencia de baile... hubiera cerrado el disco ahí, porque los temas siguientes se sintieron como más experimentación innecesaria... lejos de ser un disco perfecto, considero que es sólido para una escucha en un momento de baile o para la escucha de los mejores tracks.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Wobble and own quite a bit of his output. Even I accept this isnt his best work. But I refuse to score it a 3.

Sort of, almost, interesting. But ultimately, a no go for me.

sounds like tribal music at the start I like it. sounds like a good album to get high to

No entendí mucho de qué la iba. Y tampoco me gustó mucho. Un trip hop reggae. Qué se yo. 4/10

I was quite annoyed by this

bounced off of me more than anything. unremarkable and just didnt make an impression

this felt like a box-ticking exercise to complete the john lydon extended universe and i truly did not enjoy it. 1.5

On another day maybe a 3 but today it irritated me during a long drive

1,5

LOVED IT!!!

Not bad.

# In-Depth Review: *Rising Above Bedlam* by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart **Released:** 30 September 1991 | **Label:** Oval Records / EastWest | **Genre:** World music, dub, ethnic fusion --- ## Overview *Rising Above Bedlam* is the second album by Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart, and it stands as one of the most significant—yet often overlooked—records of the early 1990s world fusion movement. It was shortlisted for the 1992 Mercury Prize and has since been included in the *1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die* list . Hot Press called it "one of those rare blueprint albums that don't get proper recognition of their significance till some years after their release" . --- ## Lyrics The album's lyrical identity is split between two distinct voices: Jah Wobble's own spoken-word contributions, and the vocal performances of Natacha Atlas and Sinéad O'Connor. **The Title Track** is Wobble's most distinctive lyrical moment—a wry, surreal stream-of-consciousness monologue delivered over sparse bass and percussion. It reads like a psychogeographic poem of urban alienation: > *"Rising above Bedlam / On an elevated section of motorway / The city landscape around me / A discreet plea for insanity"* The imagery is deliberately bathetic—a Roman Catholic priest making "a desperate semaphore" from an overhead gantry, fragments of plastic, sports commentators, Italian football players, and "a tube of industrial adhesive" catalogued as "a few of my favourite things" . It's a darkly comic meditation on disorder, memory, and the detritus of modern life. Wobble's delivery is deadpan, almost detached, which gives the absurdist catalogue a haunting quality. **The Vocal Tracks**—particularly those fronted by Natacha Atlas—operate on a more impressionistic level. Atlas sings in a mixture of Arabic and English, her delivery carrying an emotional intensity that transcends literal meaning. Tracks like "Erzulie" and "Soledad" use language as texture rather than pure narrative. Sinéad O'Connor's contribution on "Visions of You" is more conventional in structure, but her vocal carries the spiritual searching that would define her own work of this period . The lyrics across the album engage with themes of **spiritual searching, urban dislocation, and cross-cultural connection**. The title itself—"Rising Above Bedlam"—suggests both escape from chaos and transcendence through it. --- ## Music Musically, the album is a genuinely hybrid creation, and its refusal to sit comfortably in any single genre is both its greatest strength and the reason it remains difficult to categorize. **The Rhythmic Foundation:** Wobble's bass is the album's gravitational center. His dub-derived approach—massive, spacious, and hypnotic—gives even the most eclectic tracks a physical weight and cohesion . The basslines are not virtuosic in a traditional sense; they are architectural, building spaces for the other instruments to inhabit. **The Fusion Element:** The Invaders of the Heart drew from an unusually wide palette. Middle Eastern and Arabic melodic modes are prominent, particularly on tracks featuring Natacha Atlas. Justin Adams' guitar work incorporates both Spanish flamenco and Arabic percussion, while the horn arrangements (trombone, trumpet, tenor sax) add a jazzy, almost North African texture . The title track is a deliberate throwback to Wobble's PiL days—sparse, bass-driven, and confrontational . **The Pop Element:** Some tracks, most notably "Ungodly Kingdom," lean into a glossier, more accessible sound that surprised listeners familiar with Wobble's earlier experimental work. The production is clean and punchy, with drum programming that places the album firmly in the post-acid-house landscape of early 1990s London . **Standout Tracks:** - **"Visions of You"** — the opener, featuring Sinéad O'Connor. A trance-like, beautiful track that many critics consider the album's emotional peak . - **"Everyman's an Island"** — a Middle Eastern-inflected piece widely praised as one of the album's most remarkable moments . - **"Erzulie"** — seven minutes of haunting, distant beauty with Atlas on vocals . - **"Rising Above Bedlam"** — the title track, a PiL-esque spoken-word piece that serves as the album's conceptual anchor. --- ## Production The album was recorded across three London studios—Oval Studios, Alaska Studios, and Greenhouse Studio—and produced by the band themselves . The production is notably **polished and spacious**, which was a deliberate choice and one that divided listeners. Wobble's earlier work, particularly with Public Image Ltd and his collaborations with Holger Czukay, was characterized by a raw, abrasive, often difficult sound. *Rising Above Bedlam* represents a significant shift toward clarity and accessibility. The dub influences are present but filtered through a cleaner, more contemporary production aesthetic. The percussion is crisp, the bass is deep and defined, and the vocals sit high in the mix . This glossiness served the album's commercial ambitions—"Visions of You" became a modest hit—but it also drew criticism from some long-time fans who felt the edge had been softened . The album sounds very much of its time: early 1990s, post-acid-house, pre-trip-hop consolidation. It sits alongside records by Massive Attack and The Orb in its willingness to fuse electronic production with organic, global influences—though it never quite achieved their level of cultural penetration. --- ## Themes Several thematic threads run through the album: **Urban Alienation and Transcendence:** The title track's motorway epiphany, the "discreet plea for insanity," the catalogue of detritus—these are images of a man navigating the chaos of late 20th-century London and finding moments of strange beauty within it. **Spiritual Seeking:** The album is, as one critic noted, "intensely spiritual" . Tracks like "Visions of You" and "Sweet Divinity" reach toward something beyond the material, but the spirituality is earthy and grounded rather than ethereal. Wobble's realization that "love is stronger than fear" runs through the record as a quiet thesis . **Cross-Cultural Connection:** The album deliberately rejects what Hot Press called "the empty internationalism of an airline advertisement" . This is not world music as tourism; it's world music as lived experience—the sound of London's global village . The blend of Arabic, Spanish, Jamaican, and British influences is not decorative but foundational. **The Legacy of Punk:** The title track's spoken-word delivery and sparse arrangement are a direct callback to PiL, suggesting that Wobble saw this album as a continuation of that project's confrontational spirit, even as the sonic palette expanded dramatically . --- ## Influence *Rising Above Bedlam* occupies an important but somewhat underappreciated position in the lineage of British world fusion and post-punk evolution. Wobble's explorations into world music **predated much of the genre's mainstream popularity** . When this album was released in 1991, the "world music" label was still in its infancy as a marketing category. Wobble was not following a trend; he was helping to define one. More directly, the album's fusion of dub, electronic production, and global influences **prefigured the trip-hop and downtempo movements** that would dominate the mid-to-late 1990s. Wobble's work—including this album—influenced artists as diverse as **Primal Scream, Massive Attack, Björk, and The Orb** . The Orb, in particular, were directly inspired by Wobble's early work, and the cross-pollination between his world fusion and their ambient house was a significant current in early 90s British electronic music . The album's Mercury Prize nomination gave it a level of prestige that helped legitimize cross-cultural fusion as a serious artistic endeavor rather than mere pastiche . --- ## Pros and Cons ### Pros **Genuine fusion, not appropriation.** The album's blending of Middle Eastern, Spanish, Jamaican, and British elements feels organic and deeply felt. Natacha Atlas and Justin Adams were not session musicians but integral collaborators, and their contributions give the music an authenticity that much "world fusion" lacks. **Wobble's bass is extraordinary.** His dub-derived approach to the instrument is distinctive and foundational. The bass provides both the rhythmic engine and the emotional weight of the album. **The title track is a unique achievement.** Wobble's spoken-word performance over minimal backing is a genuinely original piece of musical psychogeography—funny, unsettling, and memorable. **Strong vocal performances.** Sinéad O'Connor's contribution to "Visions of You" is beautiful, and Natacha Atlas brings dramatic intensity to her four tracks . **Conceptually ambitious.** The album attempts something genuinely difficult: to create a music that is both rooted in specific traditions and transcendent of them. It largely succeeds. **Historical significance.** The album was ahead of its time and helped pave the way for broader acceptance of global fusion in British music. ### Cons **The production can feel dated.** The glossy, early-90s sheen that made the album commercially viable now dates it in ways that Wobble's rawer earlier work does not. **Inconsistency across tracks.** The album's eclecticism is both a strength and a weakness. Some tracks ("Ungodly Kingdom") lean too heavily into a pop sound that sits awkwardly with the more experimental material. **"Visions of You" overshadows the rest.** As one critic noted, the opening track is "epochally, eternally great" and "overshadows the rest of the album" . This is a real structural problem: the album peaks in its first five minutes. **Wobble's vocals are an acquired taste.** His spoken-word delivery on the title track is distinctive, but listeners expecting conventional singing may find it off-putting. **Some tracks feel like sketches.** The album runs just under 52 minutes, but not every track earns its length. Some of the instrumental passages meander without the focus that Wobble's best work achieves. **The fusion can occasionally feel surface-level.** For all its ambition, some tracks use non-Western elements as color rather than structure—a criticism that has been leveled at the broader "world music" movement of which this album is a part. --- ## Verdict *Rising Above Bedlam* is a flawed but essential album. It captures a specific moment in British music—the early 1990s, when post-punk veterans, acid house refugees, and global musicians were colliding in London's studios—and it captures it with ambition, intelligence, and genuine emotional depth. It is not a perfect record. Its production has aged, its eclecticism sometimes works against coherence, and it peaks too early. But its best moments—the title track, "Visions of You," "Everyman's an Island"—are genuinely transcendent, and its historical importance as a bridge between post-punk, dub, and the coming wave of global electronic fusion is difficult to overstate. For listeners interested in the roots of trip-hop, the evolution of British world music, or simply the strange and beautiful sound of Jah Wobble's bass, *Rising Above Bedlam* rewards the effort it demands. It is, as Hot Press wrote, "as electric as it is eclectic"—a record that deserves the belated recognition it has slowly accrued .

3,4 Highlights: Visions of You, Relight the Flame

Had never heard of this. A few really great songs in this experimental mix.

I've seen this album cover before while flicking through the book, though it's anyone's guess as to what the genre could be. It looks to be world music because of how "graphic design is my passion"-coded the album cover is, though I would have remembered seeing this cover in the world music category of this website when I took a scroll down that page a few months back. The really shitty MIDI pianos from Julian Cope's "Peggy Suicide" album are currently blaring in the back of my head due to both album covers being similar in quality. What genre did that album belong to again? Some kind of lo-fi, early alternative garage rock? Whatever, that's my genre prediction. 'Ere goes. Huh. This was, in fact, world music. Guess I wasn't squinting at the world music genre page hard enough. I didn't mind this. Dare I say, I thought it was kind of alright. The nonspecific electronic sound is quite interesting. The music is simultaneously rooted in 80s synth music and the then-emerging rave sound of the 90s. The thudding reggae-influenced percussion and bass are also quite decent, allowing the album to toe the line of being sparse without sounding empty. Miscellaneous embellishments such as the Arabian string instruments, pianos cosmic, layered guitars and heavy reverb are also welcome additions. The vocals from Jah Wobble are admittedly somewhat lazy and shitty, though on the whole I thought they were listenable and backed by just enough vocal hookage to where they didn't chafe with the album's sound. The same can be said about the guest vocalists. All in all, while I'm not particularly enthused by this music, there wasn't anything that pushed me away or upset me either. In total, this was an adept and tolerable listen. Book time. Jah Wobble is an associate of Johnny Rotten, being the former bass player for Public Image Ltd. He's also worked with Holger Czukay of Can and The Edge from U2. The entry closes with "It was difficult to figure out what you were meant to do to it: dance was one option; but it also seemed to be the perfect accompaniment to a stoner's deep fug." Wikipedia has fuck all on this album. It peaked at No. 121 in Australia of all places and a handful of critics liked it, though that's about it. Hmm. I'm somewhat in this album's corner, though at the same time I really don't think it has any right to be on this list, especially with how nonspecific the world music sound is. Fuck it - we are kicking this album to the curb. In place of this album, I humbly submit "The Fragile" by Nine Inch Nails for inclusion on the list. In all fairness, I haven't listened to the album, though two list albums seems about right for an artist of NIN's standing and I've heard that it's their second best outing behind "The Downward Spiral".

5/10 Raro. No es malo pero qsy. Tiene buenas partes, pero tmb otras muy pj que no me copo

I...uhh... don't know. Enjoyed the groovier songs quite a bit, didn't care for the Cruisin the World techno music.

It is... quite strange how I feel about this record. It presents an incredibly wide amount of elements from different genres, like downtempo, dub, Latin and Asian music between others, which sounds super interesting in theory. But it does not work well, not at all. The first half might have the chilling vibes and atmospheres of downtempo, but everything else just does not add nothing really memorable nor substantial, apart from occasional groovy bass line or some high spirit performances that somehow don't excite me in any capacity. I specified the first half before because the second one just gets very boring. It is quite infuriating to hear all these sounds from different parts of the world being used to create these void of emotion experiences. I think I'm being to harsh. This album is not terrible. It is paradoxically forgettable, since the combination is very unique but the outcome incredibly meaningless. I would even dare to say that this is somehow patronizing, feeling more like the artist created this with a "look how great I am for mixing all these things" mentality instead of feeling like a message of love to all the different styles. On top of everything, I find very irritating the guy's voice, so the album is certainly not good.

This album isn't on Apple Music, so that's one strike. I recognize Jah's name from being a Public Image Limited fan, but otherwise don't know much about him. (I liked this little tidbit on Wikipedia: "Jah Wobble adopted his stage name after a drunken Sid Vicious mumbled Wardle's name, which he kept, noting that 'people would never forget it.'") Found it on YouTube, so here goes... Enjoyed the first track, with Sinead. The rest was fine. Kind of World Music-y.

Hard one to rate this, there were lots of really good bits but every time the talk singy English guy came in I was miserable. Balances out at a 3.

I don't know where this began or where it was going, but it felt like nowhere.

Not excited at first, thinking this was going to be another Duck Rock, which I really didn't like. Jah Wobble's vocals are very much "80s punk rocker world music dub" and pretty dated, and his lyrics are pretty dated too. BUT it's significantly better than Duck Rock, it's a better adaptation of new sounds, the songs are sometimes quite good, and basically the whole album is made worthwhile by Natacha Atlas. 3.5/5 Would I keep this on my list? Depends on whether there are better representatives of this world music dub style. Maybe.

I just feel completely neutral about this. There was nothing that stood out in a good or bad way.

Jab Wobble's Invaders of the Heart - Rising Above Bedlam (1991) Ok, this album is not for me. While I appreciate the experimental sounds throughout the album, it didn't align with me. It goes from single, popish hits to longer drawn out jams that had hints of reggae, Indian, possibly Latin inspired as well? I will not plan on giving this album a listen again, but glad I tried something new. Album Rank: 2.0 Favorite Song: Ungodly Kingdom

Must admit I've never even heard of this album. Not the early 90s sound I'm looking for, to be quite honest. Good on him for exploring global sounds and all that, but the kind of mish mash of non-western music filtered through western sensibilities is one of my least favorite UK music trends. Definitely my bias here, but I think US acts do cribbing from so-called world music a lot better.

Straight ass cheeks tbh. I enjoyed a song maybe.

Aggressively bad and incohesive.

Kept me guessing

601/1089 - It's almost okay. Requires more structure and less sloppy singing.

In 1991 this cultural mashup was probably revolutionary. In 2026 it sounds a bit hacky.

Stick to the bass, Jah. Leave the vocals to people who can actually modulate their pitches somewhat. It makes for a strange experience - interesting and diverse music, with the common link being an entirely flat, emotionless voice. But compare this against the voices of the women, singing in languages other than English. There's actually some life there. It's just weird. Rating: 2. It's got a couple of nice bits, but by and large, it's somehow a cacophony, and monotonous at the same time.

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

interesting and experimental, but a lot of this album sounds similar in a way that leaves me feeling bored near the end. i think i could maybe give it a 3 if it was a bit shorter or if there was more variety throughout the album. i wish there was more music like the last song "wonderful world" throughout the album.

I know of Jah Wobble from the early days of punk and PiL, so this wasn’t quite what I expected. It’s a really good sound, though, and an enjoyable listen. And, as you might expect, the bass is excellent throughout.

I had fun with this

The 1001 Must Hear List scores on another one. Never heard of Jah Wobble or his Invaders Of The Heart, but I’m glad I have now. Got a sweet blend of modern beats with traditional instruments and a bit of island flair and international lyrics. (Even got some spoken word in there.) All songs are good, title cut is weakest link, Everyman’s an Island is top track. Best world music listen to date. (4.4*s) Will listen to all of their other music, but doesn’t look like there’s much of it.

I am at a crossroads with Jah Wobble. Rising Above Bedlam has promise but something about the 90s mixing cheapens it up. The attempts at adding in some world music flare are marginal at best but top tracks do include the Spanish lady lead. I think the biggest downfall is trying to cram a bunch of genres into one album in an effort to sound hip. Even the band name is too jumbled...Jah just be tryin' too hard. Despite the shortcomings, I wouldn't be surprised if JJ Wardle had influence on guys like Albarn/Gorillaz...looking to @JLBusch21 to confirm any collabs. 2.03 wobbling planetary star systems.

Rising Above Bedlam may not have been the greatest album but it was still competent and diverse enough to keep me interested the whole way through. It's got a decent featuring of guitar and bass work which wasn't really expected from the namesake for some reason. It also has a smattering of a handful of other instruments that get their moments to shine appropriately. The vocals oddly range from Sinead O Connor to what sounds like African chanting at times. The whole thing adds up to something somewhat interesting but nothing overly special. All in all I didn't mind my time with the Invaders of the Heart even despite some 7-minute jams which went down relatively easily despite the playtime. I never know quite what I'm going to get from the world music entries on this list yet most of them continue to be solid. While I initially lamented seeing foreign artists I wasn't familiar with I'm starting to welcome them as a change of pace away from a ton of other standard genres (mainly country and getting pretty tired of folk). I wouldn't have realized Jah Wobble was a British Londoner who ran with the likes of Rotten and Vicious as none of that was in any way evident from this album. All the more reason to appreciate when something like this ends up on the list. While not the best it still deserves a somewhat positive review for a handful of reasons. 2.67 stars

like screamadelica if it was somehow even more boring and also appropriated more cultures than i can count. a real slog, and honestly made me uncomfortable from all the painfully tedious world influences

Solid album. Cool bass and “world music” flourishes. Perhaps of its time.

Neat. Cool at times

The top three reviews of this album are so good, there's basically nothing else I can say. My only thought to Jah "Fucking" Wobble's credit was, "why is it cool when George Harrison does it, but lame as fuck when this chud does?" The answer is, I don't know. But such is life. At times enjoyable, occasionally commendable, but always just a weird fucking white British dude. Fave tracks: - Visions of You - Bomba - Rising Above Bedlam - Soledad

Might be what people on ayahuasca listen to?

It was definitely mediocre. Nothing stood out as either good or bad it just played almost in the background. First track was very pleasant but went on too long.

You know what...yeah. This says: hello 90s, you don't know it yet, but we're going to have some European, some chanty Asian dance, a bit of African and some Britpop; we're going to wear jewels on our faces and embrace some ethnic flavours in a poppy way - wait and see. Cultural appropriation, schmultural schappropriation - embracing other cultures is a good thing, you wet-wipe dingbats. This is fun and interesting; I don't get the hate for it.

DNF not that into it

I have heard of Jah Wobble but never really been into anything he has done. This listen didn’t get off to a good start as I couldn’t find it on Apple Music, however Qobuz had my back. What a revelation! I throughly enjoyed this and will definitely be checking out other stuff he has done in the future. Very interesting and cool!

1. 4 2. 3 3. 3.5 4. 3 5. 2.5 6. 3 7. 2.5 8. 2.5 9. 2 10. 2.5

2.7 2x

World music…no thanks

The bass line on Visions of You catches you at the start, and the rest of the album is a fun groove. The variety of the album feels like Gorillaz, which isn’t a bad thing. More playful than a perfect work of art, which is fine by me. Enjoyed it the whole way through.

This is #day754 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… it's been a rough couple of days with this list. On to some worldbeat with an early-'90s flair, you're saying? I'm kind of fine with the track featuring Sinéad O'Connor on vocals, but I don't particularly care for the rest. No idea why you must hear this album before you die. Let it be a 2 out of 5. Looking forward to #day755.

Super 90s electronica

:|

I have tried many times over the decades. Yes it sounds great, yes it is innovative, yes I will eventually buy the vinyl, but where are the songs?

I fully expected to hate an album by a white guy who calls himself Jah Wobble but this was solid.

It was interesting- a bit of a smorgasbord- at first I thought it was some Brit pop or 80s, but later it felt middle eastern… dunno don’t feel any synergy or connection. Some decent music though

Certainly not my bag, something about this album doesn’t feel real, to me it sounds like an extended version of advert music that Sandals Holidays might have commissioned for a campaign promoting their £499 pp Morocco deals in 1991. 2

The first track is ok but the rest is utter bollocks. If this was considered "a refreshing departure from some of the flat, occasionally tedious and self-conscious material [Wobble] lobbed out in the '80s", then fuck me that stuff must have been truly unlistenable. How this was nominated for a mercury prize is beyond me.

Syltynt. Elendig miks av sjangere, føles som en random sammensetning av instrumenter og toner.

Kind of an interesting world music sounding album. It was fine.

Overall Rating - 3.15/5 (6.30/10). Vaguely Latin-ish, not bad, but not anything special.

it was OK

Started off well with the first track, which felt a bit like quieter 90s indie rock. And then it became world music, which, you know, a lot of other artists have done that better and more authentically.

Fun instrumentals paired with one of the most grating singing voices I've encountered in music

1,7/5