Review

Fat Freddy’s Drop: Live at the Roundhouse (The Drop)

If you haven’t heard of this New Zealand dub / reggae outfit, this album is the best place to begin. There are so many good things to say about this album I don’t know where to start.

Firstly, it’s the first live album I’ve heard in years which isn’t simply a piece of flat sounding tat given away with a best-of compilation as a bonus disc. It’s a proper live album, capturing the band at a particular moment and recording an atmosphere where the musicians are tight but enjoying themselves. Each of the six tracks is ten minutes or longer, but they are all slick and funky enough to distract from their length, every minute is enjoyable and head noddingly great.

The only bad point I can make is that this album will be the reason why I won’t have enough money to pay my rent at the end of the month. Not because it costs hundreds of pounds, but because it reminded me how good a tight little brass section can be. After hearing the tracks, I rushed out and hired a brass section, just to wander around behind me as I went about my day, reiterating and punctuating little riffs and things I said. And brass sections aren’t cheap!
Words ADAM IRVING