Album: Eek-A-Mouse Most Wanted: Greensleeves 1980-84

Artiste: Eek-A-Mouse

Rating: ★★★★

Well, what can one expect from a six-foot mouse? Certainly not trademark 'bong bong biddy bengs' but instead, a far from transmuted mix of classic dancehall, roots and flagrant individuality, which have earned him thousands of fans worldwide.

Eek-a-Mouse was born Ripton Hylton in Kingston in 1957 and is credited with the singjaying sub-genre of reggae. Hylton got his stage name after a racehorse he always bet on romped to victory the sole time he did not place his bet. The rest is history.

The Greensleeves' Eek-A-Mouse MOST WANTED instalment follows the success of other releases such as Wailing Souls, Yellowman and Ranking Dread and featured 12 tracks from the artiste at the height of his career in the 1980s. Henry 'Junjo' Lawes produced most of the featured tracks with a few by Linval Thompson.

The fact that the classic dancehall anthem Anarexol heads the compilation is hardly surprising.

Eek-A-Mouse's characteristic sound accompanied by the bold trombone is a nostalgic yet fun foray into the 1980s dancehall.

"Lef mi slim ting and me gone a farin. When me come back, say the girl big and fat. Mi waan know if a Joe Grine or Anarexol do dat. Di boom and de Anarexol clash."

The track is one of nine extended versions on the CD which were once available only on 12inch. Others include Teacher, Noah's Ark, Christmas-A-Come, Wild Like a Tiger and Terrorist In The City.

Roots vibe

The roots vibe is picked up in Ganja Smuggling which has a quicker pace than Anarexol. Detailing the rise of a smuggler, the ballad speaks of "picking collie buds in the mud, with money just a pour down like rain ... ."

The pace carries through to the Wa-Do-Dem in which the Mouseketeer hails his 'virgin girl' and rides much on drum and base, the horns taking a break.

"We take a walk go a Kingston mall. Whole heap a people jus' a start to laugh because she too short and a me too tall-Hey-a Wa-Do-Dem?"

The prophetic Noah's Ark is a typical roots offering and bears testimony to his prowess delivering a serious message through music. The experimentation with sound is also evident on the track. The pervasive Roots Radics touch coupled with Lawes' novel approach made this first collaboration with Eek-A-Mouse quite popular.

Risking monotony, the same 'rootsy' message is carried to Do You Remember. However, it almost got a little confusing at the start of the track when the band (members shouting in the background) does a retake and the Mouse clears his throat (with an unmistakable grunt) before re-starting. Downright odd, but then we are dealing with a singjaying Mouse!

Cool bad man

The tracks Terrorist In The City, Wild Like A Tiger and Operation Eradication highlight inner-city life and transpose '80s themes with those of the present.

"Operation Eradication fire (M)16 and not M1. Due to the situation, dem say dem come fi cool bad man. Sometime they make mistake, kill pure innocent one."

The proverbial 'woman hustler', selling STAR, Daily News and Gleaner then comes to life.

"Hold your paper Little boy call your mother, tell her 'bout The STAR, Daily News and Gleaner."

The Mouse does not fail to convince the listener of his understanding of the nuances of inner-city life and growing up. The uptempo Teacher enters the classroom and tells tales of floggings and not wanting to be the 'riding mule'.

Sensee Party is simply what it says, an intoxicated saunter into a smoke-filled dancehall. On the final track, Christmas-A-Come, the Mouse rides the rhythm in the same laid-back style. However, the lyrics are moving: "Mumma say no money nah flow. One pants me have she patch it, what a woman can sew. Me take me shirt and cover it, no one really know."

The compilation is a good listen, although there is the threat of being distracted by the importunate 'bong bong biddy bengs' which thread every track but maybe that is what is meant by 'distinctive' from a Mouse's perspective.