Human Rights & Justice

On this album, Daweh Congo is backed by the Roots Radics, so the grooves are utterly beyond reproach; on every track, guitarists Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont and Dwight Pinckney unite with the fearsome bass-drums combo of Style Scott and Flabba Holt to build a rock-solid rhythmic foundation for Congo's singing and chanting. This leaves the songs and the singer, both of which are a bit more variable in quality. The songs themselves are generally quite good; the program consists of ten cultural/religious numbers, one piece of lovers rock ("Come On Over"), and one sound system boast ("Big Bad Sound"), and all of them show evidence of a talented and clever songwriter. But Congo has a distressing tendency to wander off pitch, and in several cases it sounds like he might be making up the tune as he goes along. Still, there is some very fine material here, including the title track, the catchy ganja anthem "Herb Tree," and "Mother Arose," which is based on the chord changes from "Three Blind Mice." Recommended with reservations.