Various Artists - WeekendSessions 2

Tue 17th May, 2005 in Music Reviews

Following the rather successful release of Weekend Sessions, the follow up Weekend Sessions 2 is set to be just as big a success and probably more so. Featuring the smooth reggae sounds stemming from a variety of places such as New Zealand, California, Jamaica and even Australia, Weekend Sessions 2 is one of the most laidback and relaxing albums I have heard all year.

The collection features a favourite track from New Zealand’s Salmonella Dub who have returned to their acoustic roots with the fine track Longtime which sets the scene for the rest of the album to follow. The reggae sound is very therapeutic for the soul combining with very gentle, light-hearted lyrics, “just spread your wings and let the wind take your flow.” The vocals are strong with the background vocals providing an echo ambience that lingers on in your head, “Now that you got it don’t throw it away…” A beautiful journey to introduce the album.

Ex pro surfer Donavon Frankenreiter and friend G.Love, who were recently in the country with Jack Johnson for a sellout tour, are the next addition to the variety of songs contributed to Weekend Sessions 2. Donavon’s song It Don’t Matter is a great reggae song that will satisfy those who like a sound similar to Jack Johnson. “If it don’t matter to you, it don’t matter to me…”

G.Love’s contribution, Front Porch Lounger is another great track on the album. The artist to thank for Jack Johnsons introduction to the world, G.Love definitely deserves immense recognition for his sound. With harmonic rhythm and blues and sweet acoustic sounds, Front Porch Lounger is just like the song titles connotes, a laid back tune that’ll have you soulfully dancing away through an afternoon snooze.

The next artist, Pepper with the song Stone Love is inevitably going to remind you of the great Bob Marley. Stone Love carries within it the music that has a likeness to Marley’s Buffalo Soldier. The song is funky and catchy with vocals that are melodic at times and rap-styled at other times, “Close my eyes when I take a ride.” Basically the song is about being in love with getting stoned. Not exactly inspiring lyrics but nevertheless it remains a cool song.

Trust is the next song by a New Zealand artist, Che Fu. This is quite an old song taken from a 1998 release and it is probably the weakest link on the album. Trust doesn’t hold the funkiness that the rest of the album does and the lyrics and vocals are rather mundane, failing to experiment with nothing out of the ordinary. It is definitely a song to listen to the once to get through to the following one, but next time round is probably worthy of the skip button.

Miracles by Cornerstone Roots is another Marley eat your heart out track. “Presence of love, miracles can happen…”  The lyrics are nothing short of encouraging and are sung with soft husky vocals collaborating with a funky beat that you will struggle not to tap your feet to.

“My girl just don’t give a f#@k about me,” in Custom Kings’ Spin My Thread definitely has a way of waking you up from any slumber you might have slipped into. There’s something unnecessary and not to like about soothing reggae music having swear words seemingly forced into them. It makes the soulful seem crude and with no warning of language on the album it’s quite unexpected. The song overall actually isn’t too bad. It has a nice tune to it and the vocals sound smooth, but the whole swearing just for the sake of it has never been my cup of tea and would give the song a lot more appeal without it.

Summer Days by Melbourne’s hip hop pioneers TZU is my favourite song on this compilation. The whole song holds extremely funky bass riffs that are drop tuned and have a constant pulsating feel to them which makes your body want to quake and shatter to the beat. The lyrics state many of the regular happenings on a summer day and because of this it is very easy to relate to, and makes it a very cool song. The duo on the vocals creates a variety which works as a compliment to the groovy music as well as to the songs lyrics, “heat waves wriggle off the bitumen…this city’s like an oven, cook me like lasagna, I’ll sink a few beers and pray for rain and thunder…”

Another standout track is the last song on the album. Running at just under ten minutes is NZ’s Fat Freddy’s Drop with Hope. The length of this track gives the song an epic feel and being the last song on the album it adds to the journey that the album’s previous 16 songs had already begun. The journey experienced in Hope adds to the rather incredibly soulful experience of the whole album. “I see it singing hope for a generation,” is the most repeated line in the whole album and hopefully everyone gets the message after listening to it. The lyrics are great in this song and are truly heard to be sung from the heart, “I wanna drip like honey from the honey-bee, walk from the river down to the sea.” Undoubtedly a very long song, but every second has been used worthily and is deservingly listenable.

Weekend Sessions Two is a fancy to all the surfers out there, along with anyone who likes to kick their feet up on the odd occasion and just sit back and relax. It also succeeds to be a funky one for the late night dancing with your mates and quite the treat for any cd player in general.