Search - Junior Kelly/Bounty Killer/Cap, Bounty Killer,Capleton J.Kelly :: Good Bad & Blazing (Dlx) (Dig)

Aaron T. from ARNOLD, MD
Reviewed on 3/31/2007...

top three ragga artists

Finally a Fumble!

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 02/02/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"German Label Minor 5 Flat 7 has pretty much received a 'buy on label only' tag from me. To date, every release that I have gotten done by the label has been top notch both from the artists and the production. They have even been exceptional at times, for instance, their 2 most recent releases, My Hope by Anthony B and Rasta Still Deh Bout by Josie Mel have been the best the label has done (with My Hope being their single best effort ever). And over the years various releases by Turbulence, Lutan Fyah and others have definitely impressed.



And all was going fairly well until I stumbled onto the rather odd but fantastically titled The Good, The Bad & The Blazing compilation. The title follows the artists, with Good being Junior Kelly, Bad being badman dj vet Bounty Killer and of course Blazing is the fire man himself Capleton. Before I heard a tune at all from the record I thought that Bounty wouldn't be too good of an artist for M5F7, their style is heavy heavy roots and the Killa has primarily made his name over the high tech digital styled riddims of the 90's and 00's. You won't find many of those at M5F7.



Thus a certain strain of the album (all artists have 4 tunes each) feels somewhat odd. Capleton also finds himself in an odd spot, but not as odd as Bounty. 'Blazing' is not as blazing as he would be over his typical VP release, but he is more than comfortable riding M5F7's toppa tops, one or 2 of his efforts even sound as if they might fit into his most recent, more laid back Reign of Fire album.



Junior Kelly on the other hand was made for the label and I would have more than welcomed a solo album (and would still in the future welcome) for him from M5F7. His Jah Jah's People is probably the best single shot here altogether. If it isn't then definitely the title belongs to his second effort All I Do. Each of his 4 tunes work (okay I'm declaring All I Do the best tune on the album). The Killer finds his best shot. The Prophet stays at a consistent level throughout, but probably his best is the closer They Don't Know.



Overall, The Good, The Bad & The Blazing isn't necessarily a fumble. Were this a Fireball, Brickwall or any other roots label release, it would be one of their better efforts, but Minor 5, Flat 7 has declared and rewritten a certain level of quality for themselves. This one falls well short of that level, but does not fall below the ranking of 'average', not by a longshot."