The Rough Guide to Lucky Dube (CD - 2001)

Anyone who believes that Lucky Dube can't be the real reggae article simply because he doesn't hail from Jamaica is in for a rude awakening with this collection. Thanks to Bob Marley, roots reggae, long eclipsed by dancehall at home, remains very much alive and well in Africa, and Dube, a former mbaqanga singer, is definitely one of its leading exponents -- although his influence seems more the militancy of Peter Tosh than the outright and subversive melodicism of Marley. The politics are upfront and confrontational, which led to his music being banned in his native South Africa during the apartheid years, and even the arrangements -- lots of keyboards, female backing vocals, and impassioned singing -- are redolent of Tosh's solo work. It covers ten albums released between 1985-1999 and offers an excellent selection of material, with the early "Slave" a particular standout, as is "Crime and Corruption." He pulls no punches and never shies away from telling things exactly the way he sees them. Singing in English rather than a tribal language has helped his message reach many more people than it might have otherwise, and the big, anthemic choruses that have become a trademark of his work mean the songs stay in the brain. He's clever, a very conscious activist in the best reggae tradition, and someone worthy of stardom -- as well as this compilation, which does his career real justice. ~ Chris Nickson minimize