Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
MCGOWAN
MAGOWAN'S considerable vocal ability is clear from the first two lines of song on a three-track, roots reggae, CD sampler.
He has a very strong set of pipes, he pronounces his words clearly and he is in total sync with the music (very familiar from Gyptian's Serious Time) as he sings:
"It's just another day in the city
Crazy things happen every day
Takes naught to see a man die..."
MaGowan demonstrates his ability to change his voice and style by simultaneously picking up the pace and lowering his voice in increments as he sings "it is surely not like taking a stroll in the park."
Ending with the warning "youths watch you move" and having set a reasonably high standard, MaGowan maintains it with the other two songs, Condolence and Introspection (which is a pretty neat name for a song, isn't it?). They are also slow, with the quickest being saved for last.
He demonstrates that he is aware of more than the sound of his own voice and some 'message' that he has been ordained to deliver (which, unfortunately, is what much of what passes for 'conscious' music is) with two references to current, important events.
The first is in Condolence, where MaGowan asks "Mr. Man don't you care/about the two little kids raped and murdered/and the 15 year-old found in the river".
He goes further afield in Introspection, where he sings "I see people dying/USA flooding".
MaGowan attempts to comfort the women who have lost loved ones ("oh woman, no cry/even if tears full up yu eyes"), making me wonder just what gives him the right to say that - and he answers just that with "how can I tell you not to cry/when you have to face it every day how yu kids die".
NOT ORIGINAL
While MaGowan may not be saying anything stunningly original (and that is very hard to do), he makes a mark by making his point in striking ways. And let us not forget that striking voice.
Lyrically he hits a few clichés, such as "they don't want us to come together/because they know, they know, they know what it will do" in Cold World, where he also uses 'dark' in a negative sense, which I personally dislike - but I may be in the minority there. We all have heard 'no woman no cry', as he sings in Condolence, before and the query "what's wrong with the youths?", as he sings in Introspection should not be unfamiliar.
However, he still puts his own stamp on the songs and with the level of ability and promise that these three songs show, he should not have to sing 'MaGowan say' in his songs to be recognised much longer.
