Search - Last Poets :: This Is Madness (Spec)

Two poets carry on.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 06/03/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The followup to their startling debut, "This is Madness" finds the Last Poets short one member-- Abiodum Oyewole had been arrested and sentenced for robbery, but poets Alafia Pudim and Omar Ben Hassen together with percussionist Nilija carried on, with the concept relatively unchanged. The difference is largely in the mood of the music-- Oyewole presence and his aggressive, political statements (the sort of revolution is coming, don't be scared and get up and take it) is gone.



The result is a somewhat less aggressive and more homogeneous album-- there's really only ten tracks, the "chants" are just the backing vocals more exposed. It works in some areas, but its clear the band wants to move on and doesn't quite know how to-- the really exciting material that keeps the aggressive moods of the opener ("True Blues", "Time", "White Man's Got a God Complex") work best, the rest isn't quite as interesting.



This release features really nicely cleaned sound and mini-LP sleeve artwork and really makes quite a nice presentation.



Start with their debut, if you enjoyed that one, try this one out, its got its share of good material, but the debut is better."