Dub Pistols - 6 Million Ways to Live

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  • According to Dub Pistols’ new album, there are 6 Million Ways to Live and I’ll add that none of those ways should include listening to this album. The moment of truth came after track 4, when I feared that the bad hip hop wasn’t going to stop... I was right. You don’t have to listen to me, but I could save you from 60-some-odd minutes of discomfort. The Bird’s Eye View: Track 1 = instrumental intro Tracks 2 and 3 = reggae = decent Tracks 4-8 = hip hop = bad Tracks 9-10 = funk/hip hop = ok Track 11 = instrumental closing The Breakdown: Horace Andy (Massive Attack) - the vocals of track 2 “World Gone Crazy,” infuses a timbre of honesty and is the cohesive element that brings the song together - legitimizing it as a solid reggae track. Its chill and groovy beats seem to set a nice tone for the album. However, that doesn’t last long and I only wish they would have built upon this song instead of going in the direction they did. The downturn of the album is ironically the song of the album, “Six Millions Ways to Live.” It begins with a melancholic, pretty guitar line, which gets rudely overshadowed by the rapper who from start to finish repeats, “…six millions ways to live life” and that’s about as much as he says. As for the next 3 songs, they follow suit and remind me of drum’n’bass MCs that can’t think of anything else to say besides, “Raise your hands in the air.” Finally, “Architect” slightly rinses away the bad taste left by the preceding songs by introducing some funk and fun. The mixture of a fun bass guitar line, Planet Asia’s guttural voice and decent lyrics complementing the funky rhythm, breaks the inanity of Dub Pistols’ poorly written and unauthentic attempt to pose this album as a social and political commentary.
RA