Given how much ground reggae's covered over the past twenty years or so (how many rivers it's crossed, if you wanna get all blogger rock-crit in your phrasings, which I can't recommend, stuff'll rot your teeth an' all), how come roots stuff doesn't sound corny? Not in the way that trad-folk does, or 50's-revival, or any other genre bound in time, which is to say, all genres. I know, I know, "great music is timeless," but the jury's still out on whether that assessment applies to pop songs, and certainly history plays with the sound of pop music like a kid goin' ape on a Mr. Potato Head. So why, when I'm listening to Sugar Minott, do I just hear flat-out greatness without all the this-was-a-long-time-ago postmodern fizz? Is it just the familiar exotic weight-allowance that keeps alien things current? I don't think so, anyhow; certainly there are other other-cultural musics which, when they've dated, sound that way to me.

Just askin'. Listen to Sugar Minott if you get a chance. Joy to all the ravers for you are the future.