Do you really want to know about hard times?
Arise Therefore | Orange, MA United States | 01/25/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"That is the opening line to the tile song, and an intriguing question.
I got turned on to Pablo Gad while surfing the net for info on one of my favorite reggae bands, Black Slate. (Black Slate has become quite obscure, but if you find their self titled record on Alligator, it's really something special.)
Hard Times consists of songs Pablo Gad produced and recorded in 1980.
The melodic flow of Pablo's music reminds me of Black Uhuru. The production is more of a band supporting a singer and less of an ensemble as Black Uhuru. The drums are real, not synth and the grooves are feel-good. The tracks are mostly 4+ minutes and many take the time to include a little dub session.
His voice my not be for everyone. He has a thin voice and a tendency to do a little stylized off-key bend into the notes on words that are the point of many of the lyrical phrases. This however is subtle and you might not have noticed it if I hadn't pointed it out.
If you are a fan of late 70/early 80's roots or dub as I am, you will likely be glad to have this title in your collection. I'm very happy to have discovered Pablo Gad only 27 years after his original popularity!
(I gave it only four stars because I need to keep that fifth star for 70's reggae royalty like Steel Pulse and Third World.)
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