Solo Banton - In This Time (Irie Ites Records)

The album opens with ‘Dem Gone’, a touching salute to the departed, for which the Irie Ites team reworked the riddim of Alpha Blondy’s iconic ‘Jerusalem’.

Not all tracks on ‘In This Time’ are Irie Ites productions though, as The Ligerians, New Zealand beatmakers Naram & Art, French producer Sébastien ‘Westfinga’ Bizeray, and Russ D also made contributions, and for the mix, they collaborated with Roberto Sanchez.

After the recent events at the Eurovision Song Contest, the lyrics of ‘In This Time’ (set to a reinterpretation of Scientist’s ‘Steppers’ or ‘Straight To Jammy’s Chest’ riddim by The Ligerians) sound almost prophetic, making “tell-lie-vision” more literal than ever before:

In this time, the guilty a accuse the innocent
Them want to take away a child’s innocence
Can’t believe me no go tell no lie, this world different
Them a take de poison, a tell you say its medicine
Business, politics, we’ve seen the evidence
Corruption and bribes, propaganda on your tell lie vision 
Watch how them a jester, silence the protester
…

Solo Banton was featured twice on Joe Yorke’s ‘Hopeless’, and now Yorke returns the favour with a guest appearance on ‘In This Time’ (over a revamp of Max Romeo’s ‘One Step Forward’). ‘Acting Like That’, seeing Solo and Joe question certain behaviour, has definitely become one of the highlights of this album.

Of course, a good ganja tune is a must, and that’s exactly what we get with ‘Aroma’, for which Westfinga reworked the riddim to Earl Cunningham’s ‘Cool Profile’ (or the eponymous track by Jah Thomas).

We’re treated to some original productions with ‘Money & Ting’, featuring the ASAP riddim you might already know from tracks like Chezidek’s ‘The Game’ or Perfect Giddimani and Spectacular’s ‘A.S.A.P.’. Also, there’s ‘Pass Them’, for which Irie Ites recycled the Licky Licky riddim from King Kong’s track of the same name.

Solo Banton concludes with ‘Don’t It’, another great combination tune, this time featuring Spectacular and seeing Russ D revisit the Ram Dance Hall riddim. The track is immediately followed by a equally enjoyable dub version, and versions of ‘In This Time’, ‘Acting Like That’ and ‘Dem Gone’ still follow.

Solo Banton rarely disappoints, and once again hits the bullseye with this Irie Ites collaboration!