The wrong island in the title of this album is Southsea in Hampshire, England and it's the wrong island in more than one respect as on listening to this (one of two new reggae albums in my review pile) I was wrong-footed as I was expecting this album to be the really bad one and the other one to be the really good one and, well, it didn't turn out that way.
In the old days, this band would probably have been dismissed as being cod-reggae, while in fact these days they are far more line caught coley reggae than cod. This debut album is far better than I thought it would be.
The opening of Daybreak that has the band singing (or is it chanting "Zegema Beach"?) in a way that makes it sound like The Prodigy's Smack my Bitch up over an old skool reggae tune with rap-style lyrics. P & T is a real party tune that sounds like Babyhead and should certainly get a dancefloor going.
By the time they sail around the island on Yall Joel, the drummer has just about enough luff in his sails to give the shadows-like sound of the guitars a reggae feel with his drums while the rest of the band lilt along at a nice relaxed pace.
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Run Nuttin is a good story song about a man who when he was young he didn't run nuttin and then, well, was he or was he not running weed and other tings? Y'all have to listen to find out. Either way it wouldn't have sounded out of place on an Earl Sixteen album.
Hydra sees them fighting against the embargoes while I'm wondering what you could embargo in Southsea other than fraudulent football club owners. Still they sound like they have a good old beach party feel going on during Easy Now: the only problem being it's early April and the wind is whipping in and they are shivering on the beach going "Easy Now" as they want to get back indoors again. Despite the recent spell of weather, it ain't summer just yet.
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