Westbound Train - Transitions (Dig) (CD)

All Music Guide

Westbound Train have been skanking around the Boston scene since the new millennium got under way, and Transitions is the group's third album, although their debut for the Hellcat label. Like Bim Skala Bim, the godfather of the Beantown ska scene, the septet's trad sound is fired by emotive, soulful vocals. And although they're not quite as polished as Bim yet, this Train is still bound for the big time.On this 16 song set the band showcase the transitions that drove the Jamaican scene through the Sixties, from the horn drenched, jazz flavored numbers of the ska, through the sweet, harmony drenched sounds of rock steady, and on to the rougher, more adamant rhythms of early reggae. The band are equally adept at all these genres, and freely adapt them to their needs, bringing the music full circle with the inclusion of Sixties's American influences as well Motown, Stax, funk and even rock weave their way through.Obviously, those labels and styles heavily influenced the Jamaicans as well..., but Westbound utilize them in more traditional American ways than their island counterparts ever did.As for the songs themselves, there's so many great ones within that it seems selfdefeating to play favorites. Be it the nod to Dave Ansel Collins on the incendiary "Soul Revival" that counterintuitively boasts a great sax solo, the ebullient calypsomento tribute "Fatty Boom Boom" (the perfect entry for the Jamaican Independence Festival Song competition, except for its composers's nationality of course), or the glorious protoroots meets Motown "Travel On", this album is stuffed with instant classics of every genre.The bustling reggae of "Please Forgive Me", the sweetharmonies spilling across "I'm No Different", the strutting vocals on "The Runaround", the emotional vocal performances elsewhere, and through the rousing instrumentals and stirring solos splattered across the set, Transitions isn't just an homage to the past, but a reinvention of all its power and glory. - JoAnn Greene, All Music Guide Read more Less