Sizzla – Red Alert
JetStar Records (CRCD3093)

Sizzla Kalonji has clearly adopted the Gregory Issacs/Dennis Brown approach to recording: Put out albums as often as possible, on as many different record labels as possible, with little regard to quality control. In nine years of recording, Sizzla’s name graces almost 30 albums in Reggaematic’s library, ranging in quality from the sublime Praise Ye Jah, Blackwoman & Child and Da Real Thing to the instantly forgettable Blaze Up The Chalwa and Rise To The Occasion, with a whole lot of mediocrity in between. Buying a Sizzla album is an exercise in musical roulette: you just never know what you’re going to get.

Red Alert, Kalonji’s latest Jet Star set, is a slightly-better-than-ordinary collection of Dancehall bangers that breaks no new musical ground, but manages to justify its position in any Sizzla fan’s collection.

A host of little-known and unknown producers contribute the backing tracks on Red Alert, and most manage to contribute standard, clichéd rhythms that unobtrusively stay out of Sizzla’s way, but don’t do anything to enhance the songs. It’s possible that Red Alert was originally conceived as an album were Sizzla would DJ over classic dancehall beats from the mid-80s – at least a quarter of the album features reinterpretations of big beats from Dancehall’s golden era – but the concept was apparently scrapped. And while the idea might have been an interesting one, Sizzla doesn’t really shine on any of the “classic” tracks.

Sizzla himself is all over the lyrical map. Red Alert starts with the sort of love songs and meditations on life for the fans of Kalonji’s output on Da Real Thing. Rudebwoys will be pleased that Sizzla dusts off his shotta/revolutionary persona on the title track, where he brags that “the gun whe mi a buss nuh carry no serial number.” The obligatory pro-ganja track, “Burn The Herb” works well, especially when Sizzla credits weed for making him and his woman reconcile. “Boom Boom” evokes the spirit of Buju’s “Boom Bye Bye” for the anti-batty man set, and those who like Sizzla the cocksman will enjoy “First Thing.” (Sample lyrics: “First thing/ Woman haffi give me pum pum... She want mi to cock her up/and lock her up/ and block her up/ use mi something and stab her up/ but if she dis Selassie-I, mi will slap her up”).

The keeper on Red Alert is “Long Way,” a meditation on life and faith chanted over a simple background of Nyahbingi Drums and a lonely flute. “Long Way” rises above most of the pleasant, but disposable fare on Red Alert, and does just enough to frustrate the Sizzla fans who keep buying Kalonji’s mediocre albums in search of those fleeting, transcendent moments when it all comes together.

THE VERDICT: Another month, another Sizzla album. Sizzla fans should buy it. If you’re new to Kalonji, wait for next month’s joint, or buy one of the classic Sizzla collections.