Last January, GROUNDATION, The Next Generation made a comeback with the announcement of a new album: “ONE ROCK”. In the process, the Californian band released their Original Riddim featuring the legendary Israel Vibration and the Abyssinians. Today, the band released the 9-track ‘One Rock’ project with, of course, their own familiar sound with the strong demanding voice of Harrison Stafford.
The album opens with the, earlier mentioned, ‘Original Riddim‘, wherein the band wonders who came up with that first original riddim and where it originated from. track 2 on the album is the February released ‘Human Race‘, addressing the state of our race and what to do to fix our current problems:
“Calling all the members of the human race Can we keep up the pace Oh, are we gonna lose what we have gained? Don’t let the words of a fool come lead us all astray”
Track 3 speaks about another issue that we come to face on a daily basis; “Greed“, a polyrhythmic track that instantly catches your attention by the beautiful voice of Brady Shammar.
On ‘Day when the computer done‘ Stafford and the band share their/his worries about the use of computers and Artificial Intelligence. Once again, also this track is filled with tempo switches, deep basslines, heavy horns, and, another beautiful voice, this time of Alreca Smith.
The next track ‘Market Price‘, starts with a solo piano intro that leads into a frenzied horn arrangement before turning into a slow one-drop. The song is about the megalomania behind many world leaders and the millions of people who follow this madness.
On Silver and Gold, what we get out of it, the band sings about Materialism. A person can have it all in life, but after we passed and are gone, all that will be left is the Silver and Gold.
Silver and gold
It is not good for you, not clean for you
In the end silver and gold
Will be surrounded by bone and dust
Leaving only silver and gold
Without even the memory of him
Jah-Jah know!
The uptempo title track on the album ‘One Rock‘, is dominated by a piercing guitar solo and the oh-so-familiar voices of the Congo’s. One Rock is directly followed by ‘Absolutely Clear‘, addressing the inequality and human rights on our planet and how we should unite and stand up against our false leaders and rulers.
The final track on the album ‘Iron“, once again, features the legendary Israel Vibration and the lyrics give us the advice to turn to Jah and seek strength to handle the pressures of life:
So deep inna di darkest trials of your life
So you may stumble before you climb
But Jah na give more than you can bear
So when the time get hard just say
“I’m gonna mold a likkle iron today!”
Again, Groundation didn’t let us down with this new album, once again I enjoyed the musical skills of the band and the high quality of production. As a non-native English speaker, I sometimes have to relisten a track multiple times to catch the deeper meanings of some of the Lyrics, and I will do this for a while the coming days, another great album from Harrison Stafford and his band! ”I love this Album!”
By Danny Creatah
