Slept on albums part 1

Digging through my vinyl earlier made me remember classic LP's that I haven't thought about in years and possibly mean not too much to anyone other than me. So I thought I'd bring some of them to light again, maybe y'all copped them, maybe you didn't but they are worth talking about anyway.

First one is Divine Styler - Word power.

Man, I loved this album when it came out (I had it on tape first and played it till it snapped). I hadn't really heard of them when I copped it on release date but saw they were down with the Rhyme Syndicate so thought i'd take a chance. Actually I think I bought it as it had a track called "It's a black thing" which I got confused with the similarly named track "It's a black thing" by Kool Rock J and DJ Slice (you can see why).

The first couple of tracks were OK but nothing out of the ordinary and by the time track 4 rolled around (a weird almost house-like "Last Black house on the left") I was seriously thinking my purchase had been wasted.

However from then on the album really takes off in a big way, it has everything you could want; Breakbeats, screeching violins and horns, crazy concept intros, helicopter fades and Mos Eisley Cantina band samples.

As the album closes, so the mood changes to a more pensive, almost plaintive, lyrical focus. The beautiful "Rain" is the penultimate track and lilts with an interpolation of Tenor Saw's fine work.

The album is laced with samples throughout with the closer featuring a hefty chunk of Marvin Gaye, which is well chosen and is a great way to finish.

Word Power didn't do very well commercially, but was really well received by the critics. I gotta say, I loved it.

Some of albums of the time sound very dated now, but there is a sort of freshness to this one without losing any of the charm I felt when it was released.

Oh....and this track bangs!!!!!!!!!!!!