Psychotic Jonkanoo

Creation Rebel's penultimate album, Psychotic Junkanoo might not be the most revolutionary collection in the band's catalog, but it is one of the most enjoyable. Indeed, if it demands any comparisons, it is period Black Uhuru that comes fastest to mind, with Crucial Tony's militant vocals riding on a bed of delicious harmonies and, on the opening "The Dope," a guest appearance from sax legend Deadly Headley. Anthem by anthem, the album takes shape. Reworking Jah Woosh's "Woodpecker Sound" rhythm, "Chatti Mouth" is a frenetic singsong toast laid over a haunted, effects-riven rhythm. With backing vocals from John Lydon, "Mother Don't Cry" echoes Black Uhuru's "Abortion" in its stark delivery, and "African Space" is propelled by so startlingly evocative a wah-wah guitar that one doesn't even realize it's an instrumental till it's over. Across the board, Adrian Sherwood's production and mix are as crisply clean as any "mainstream" roots album — cleaner, in fact, as the rhythms float in a space all of their own, and the echoes simply ricochet off one another. Anybody searching Sherwood's catalog for an easy point of entry would do well to start here, and everyone else can simply applaud Psychotic Junkanoo as the last truly great roots reggae album of the 1980s.