LUCKY DUBE
The Way It Is (Shanachie)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Lucky Dube is still the master of South African reggae, still the great voice of conscious, soul-searching music that deserves as wide an audience as it can find. His band has a sound like no other, traditionally rhythmic but driven by a very unique, rolling keyboard sound (Godfrey Mokoena and Sipho Ngwane) and accented by the best backing vocalists in reggae, and maybe any other genre (Thozama Matsoge, Vickie Vilakaze, Wendy Mseleku and Gugu Diamini).

With this splendid band behind him, Lucky Dube delivers ten songs of love, hope and encouragement, urging people to live their lives to the fullest and fight for truth despite the long odds and the knowledge that "if you stand for the truth you will always stand alone." Conflicts and righteous motivation always go hand in hand in life and in the songs of Lucky Dube, but in the end we only answer to "The Man In The Mirror." As always, there's a lot of comfort in his music.

On first listen I came to the conclusion that The Way It Is was a fine album that might just be a tad below last year's Taxman on the Lucky Dube scale, but repeat listenings reveal layers here that make this one stick in your memory the same way Dube's greatest album (Prisoner) did. Songs like "Man In The City" and "Crime And Corruption" are destined to be remembered for a long time.

The liner notes revealed a surprise - at least a surprise to me: Lucky Dube is a very funny man. He introduces the band by claiming "as you know, I'M the band! Me... Me... Me!" He then goes on to say that all the musicians listed below paid him 160,000 dollars each to get some credit. His songs are so serious! Who knew?

Track List:

Crying Games * Crime And Corruption * The Way It Is * You Stand Alone * Man In The City * Let The Band Play On * Man In The Mirror * Rolling Stone * Till You Lose It All * The Show Goes On

© 2000 - DJ Johnson