Reggae today is in danger of suffering the same fate as once popular music such as Jazz or Dixieland or Big Band crooners. While modern Reggae still holds a certain cache among some, the vast majority seems to morph into a world version of Rap and Hip Hop. This requires a move away from the assimilation with melody and indigenous culture musical signatures that made Reggae the darling of the musical and cultural world for so long. I guess all good things must end, but it behooves us to remember that things are always darkest near the dawn.
Now you may harbor certain feelings about America that may not be so life affirming but one of the truly great things about America and its citizens is the way they assimilate ideas freely. Some in America may scream yell and point fingers amid squeals of cultural appropriation, but Midwest artist Tim Gandee, better known as Gingermon, has taken in all the wonderful indigenous aspects of Reggae from Jamaican Pop, “Bob Marley Reggae” and hardcore Jamaican Dub Music and stirred it up with American Pop sensibilities and lyrics and released the vibrant “Baked To Perfection” (Midwest Coast Records). This album is easily one of the strongest commercial Reggae releases that have not come out of Jamaica since the heyday of The Specials or UB40.
He begins the record with the one two punch of “Babylon Say Freeze”, featuring Brian Marsh, and “Oh No” featuring Gingermon. That is a joke, you the reader must lighten up. “Babylon Say Freeze” is ripped straight from the headlines of the news today and generally treads the same topical grounds of a Black Lives Matter Rally in Washington DC. Musically it is as hard hitting as it is lyrically bracing. The message comes across loud and clear. On the other hand, it is a breath of fresh air to hear the pure confectionary Pop Reggae of “Oh No”. It has a soaring chorus and very pleasing melodies and chords.
“Baked To Perfection stays in that mode for a few songs and they explore the idiosyncratic areas and moods of Pop/Dub Reggae. It breaks out of that wave with the cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison”. More a singalong-like version with various acoustic instruments it very much reveals the originality and brilliance of the songwriter. Good enthusiastic vocal performance on that song by the Ginger One. One of the highlights of the latter half of this release is the song “Sativa”. An ode to our favorite woman in our lives, and of course I mean that smoky mistress - good ol’ Maryjane, this song should be a single and an anthem for the legalize it crowd that is gaining so much momentum in movements around the world. All in all, this is a solid record that is going to stand the test of time.
