More Time (Linton Kwesi Johnson album) explained

More Time
Type:studio
Artist:Linton Kwesi Johnson
Cover:More Time (Linton Kwesi Johnson album).jpg
Released:1998
Genre:Dub poetry
Label:LKJ
Producer:Dennis Bovell
Prev Title:A Cappella Live
Prev Year:1996
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Next Year:1998

More Time is an album by the Jamaican-British musician Linton Kwesi Johnson.[1] [2] It was released in 1998 through Johnson's LKJ Records.[3] [4] "Liesense fi Kill", about police brutality, was released as a single.[5] Johnson supported the album with an international tour.[6] [7] The lyrics to many songs were reproduced in Johnson's book of poetry Mi Revalueshanary Fren.[8]

Production

Recorded in Switzerland, the album was produced by Dennis Bovell.[9] Johnson was backed by Bovell's Dub Band.[10] The album was delayed so that Johnson could attend to his literary career. The title track rails against the culture of British workaholism.[11] "Reggae fi Bernard" is about the death of Johnson's nephew. "Reggae fi May Ayim" is dedicated to the poet May Ayim.[12] "If I Waz a Top Natch Poet" references Johnson's roles of poet and popular musician, contrasting high and low art.[13]

Critical reception

Robert Christgau, in Rolling Stone, opined that "L.K.J. may well be the subtlest political thinker in pop history, and bandleader Dennis Bovell's urbane skank proved to be Nineties reggae's most imaginative alternative to dance-hall boom-bah."[14] Christgau also praised "If I Waz a Tap Natch Poet" and "Reggae fi Bernard". Billboard wrote that the album "is powered by [Johnson's] indefatigable rebel spirit and honed for maximum impact by 20 years of serious rhyme rocking."[15]

AllMusic concluded that "despite his tweedy, bespectacled image, his politics are anything but objective or disengaged—he writes about social injustice in general and racism in particular with a quietly seething sense of outrage and an incisive wit."

Notes and References

  1. Global Music Pulse . Billboard . Jul 11, 1998 . 110 . 28 . 47.
  2. Book: The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Literature . 2020 . Wiley . 324.
  3. News: Phillips . Caryl . Prophet in Another Land . The Guardian . 11 July 1998 . T28.
  4. News: Music . The Times . November 6, 1999 . Features . 11.
  5. News: Billen . Andrew . Why Inglan Is Still a Bitch for the Tap Natch Poet . Evening Standard . 2 Sep 1998 . 25.
  6. Williamson . Nigel . The U.K.: Ten Noteworthy Noisemakers . Billboard . Jul 17, 1999 . 111 . 29 . 38.
  7. News: Also Oct. 16 . Newsday . 12 Sep 1999 . D33.
  8. Book: Seddon . Deborah . del Pilar Melgarejo . Maria . Gale Researcher Guide for: Poetry in 'Rotten English': Linton Kwesi Johnson . 2018 . Gale, Cengage Learning.
  9. Global Reggae Pulse . Billboard . Aug 1, 1998 . 110 . 31 . 38.
  10. News: Lozaw . Tristram . Boston Beat . Boston Herald . September 17, 1999 . Scene . 25.
  11. News: Longley . Martin . Review: Johnson Waxes Lyrical with Dub . Birmingham Post . 18 Jan 1999 . 13.
  12. Book: Florvil . Tiffany N. . Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German Women and the Making of a Transnational Movement . 2020 . University of Illinois Press.
  13. McGill . Robert . Goon Poets of the Black Atlantic: Linton Kwesi Johnson's Imagined Canon . Textual Practice . 2003 . 17 . 3 . 561-574.
  14. Christgau . Robert . World . Rolling Stone . May 13, 1999 . 812 . 69.
  15. Oumano . Elena . A Fresh Look at LKJ's Fiery Reggae Dub . Billboard . Oct 3, 1998 . 110 . 40 . 29.