Single Review
John Brown's Body – AmplifyJohn Brown's Body – Amplify

John Brown's Body are one of the fantastic artists signed to the Easy Star label, started by the legendary Easy Star All Stars. JBB are even currently supporting ESAS, and after seeing them live, I was excited to know what the studio recordings sounded like.

This is contemporary reggae at its best – as well as the obvious elements which you need for reggae, some are the songs are considerably more jumped-up than a lot of other reggae songs. Some are slow and chilled, but tracks such as /Shake The Dice/ are massively upbeat and have you madly wiggling in an instant. /Push Some Air/ is similarly paced, although there's a little bit of electro slipped into the beat.

This is, would you believe, their sixth studio album, with the first one
coming out thirteen years ago. Until the recent tour I hadn't heard of them, not that I really expose my ear to the current reggae scene. But they're a fantastic band, and have a great album here with Amplify.

One thing I did pick up on during the live performance, was the incredible vocalist, Elliot Martin. And the record only emphasises that. His voice is awesome, as it soars above the backing, although he has only led the bands vocals for the last couple of years after a line-up change in 2006.

The rest of the music, the rest of the album, is just, good reggae. And although you might argue that a lot of it sounds the same, well, isn't that often the case with this genre? That may be a sweeping statement, but I think it's reasonably justified. Regardless, the album, is extremely listenable.

4/5

Review by Thom
 Band Members
John Browns Body - Band
Elliot Martin (Lead Vocals)
Tommy Benedetti (Drums)
Nate Edgar (Bass)
Matthew Kofi Goodwin (Hammond B3, Clavinet, Synths)
Mike Keenan (Guitar)
Scott Flynnm (Trombone)
Drew Sayers (Saxophone)
Sam Dechenne (Trumpet)
Jocko (Sound Engineer)
 Track Listing
1. Amplify
2. Give Yourself Over
3. The Gold
4. Speak Of The Devil (Feat. Vaughn Benjamin Of Midnite)
5. Push Some Air
6. Shake The Dice
7. Sky Juice
8. Make Your Move
9. Ghost Notes
10. So Aware
11. Zion Triad
12. Be At Peace
 Band Related Links
John Browns Body Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?