Jah Wobble & Temple of Sound "Shout At The Devil" 30 Hertz Records 30HZCD17 2001 (53:44)

Hayati (5:48)
Mountains of the Moon (5:43)
Cleopatra King Size (4:37)
Zaardub (5:11)
Shout At The Devil (6:09)
Once Upon a Time in The East (5:35)
Maghreb Rockers (5:11)
La Citadelle (5:49)
Symphony of Palms (5:29)
Mistralazul 2 (4:12)

Given enough time Jah Wobble will, hopefully, collaborate with just about everyone.  Over the past few years he has successfully mixed his trademark, bedrock bass guitar styling with Laotian folk ("Molam Dub"), inventive saxophone ("Passage to Hades") and all out industrial rock ("The Damage Manual"), among others.  Here he teams up with Temple of Sound, the duo of Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah, both formerly of Transglobal Underground.  More success!  The disc is initially only available by mail order through Wobble's 30 Hertz label.  And no, this isn't an album of Motley Crue covers, just an unfortunate title coincidence.  Ten tracks, most in the 5 to 6 minute range, explore a genuine Arabic electro dub amalgamation.  Wobble provides the soul shaking bass lines, Dubulah the guitar, keys, strings and programming atmospheres and Sparkes a host of ethnic percussion such as riq, zils, Egyptian tabla and darabuka.  Among other contributors are 3 female vocalists - Shahin Badar, Natacha Atlas and Nina Miranda - who grace half the album with powerfully emotive, mostly foreign tongued strains.  Every track is solid.  Really solid.  The quirky loops of "Cleopatra King Size" are laced with electronics, stuttered guitar notes and booming low end.  The wandering bass line of "Once Upon a Time in The East" reminisces of Wobble's legendary late '70s tenure in Public Image Ltd.  The sweeping strings of "Maghreb Rockers" weave together a delightful tapestry of Middle Eastern flavors.  A rolling mass of effected percussion brings "Symphony of Palms" close to Muslimgauze territories.  And it doesn't get anymore lovely than the slower, more subtle "La Citadelle" - the lumbering groove, the solemn vocal, the gliding background guitar notes - all of which are revisited in the finale "Mistralazul 2".  Fantastic.  No word yet on what Wobble is up to next, but other recent releases include "The Early Years" and "Radioaxiom - A Dub Transmission" with longtime collaborator Bill Laswell ...

Temple of Sound
30 Hertz Records

Where did I get this cd? - 30 Hertz Records

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