Mongrel (3) - Better Than Heavy

Label:

Wall Of Sound, Wall Of Sound, Wall Of Sound, Wall Of Sound

Catalog#:

WOS045CD, 949.2045.023, 949.2045.220 21, 949.2045.023CD2 21

Format:

2 x CD, Album

Country:

Released:

23 Mar 2009

Genre:

Hip Hop, Reggae, Rock

Style:

Dub, Experimental, Indie Rock, Conscious

Tracklist

	Disc 1 (Better Than Heavy)
1-01	Barcode	3:54
	Featuring - Mpho* , Pariz 1 , Saul Williams , Tor Cesay*
1-02	Lies	3:21
	Written-By - Simone*
1-03	Hit From The Morning Sun	3:32
	Featuring - Mpho* , Pariz 1 , Tor Cesay*
1-04	Off The Leash	1:02
1-05	The Menace	3:21
1-06	Act Like That	3:23
	Featuring - Kyza , Logic (9) , Purple* , Mic Righteous , No.Lay*
1-07	Julian	3:47
1-08	Better Than Heavy	4:13
1-09	Better Them Than Us	3:29
	Featuring - Skinny Man*
1-10	Alphabet Assassins	5:20
	Featuring - Deadly Hunta , Doc Brown , Frantic Frank (2) , Ill Mill , Kyza , Logic (9) , Purple* , Mic Righteous , No.Lay* , Skinnyman , Skirmish , Smife , Stylah , Tony D (4) , Wordplay , Wretch*
1-11	All Your Ever Afters	3:46
	Disc 2 (Better Than Dub)
2-01	Guess Who’s Coming Home	4:56
2-02	Gun Dub	3:47
2-03	Mr.20%	4:07
2-04	Better Than Dub	5:24
2-05	Mesopotamia	3:23
2-06	Alphabet Vs Brother Culture	3:41
2-07	45681950	4:10
2-08	Brainwashing	3:25
2-09	Hit From The Morning Dub	3:19

Credits

Artwork By - LukeInsect.com
Bass Guitar, Guitar - Drew McConnell
Bass Guitar, Guitar, Synthesizer - Andy Nicholson (2)
Clarinet, Saxophone - John Petter
Drums - Matt Helders
Effects, Guitar, Piano, Strings, Synthesizer, Trumpet - Joe Moskow
Effects, Percussion - Stuart Doughty
Engineer, Programmed By - Brendon "Octave" Harding* (tracks: 2-01 to 2-09)
Guitar - Skip* (tracks: 1-08, 1-11, 2-01 to 2-05, 2-09)
Lute [Ngoni] - Bassekou Kouyate (tracks: 1-08)
Melodica, Synthesizer - Joe Moscow Dub Circus* (tracks: 2-02, 2-07, 2-09)
Mixed By [Assistant] - Anthony Lueng
Mixed By, Producer - Adrian Maxwell Sherwood*
Sampler, Other [Sfx] - Crocodile
Scratches - DJ Moodie* (tracks: 2-03, 2-08, 2-09)
Trombone - Chris Petter
Trumpet - Dave Fullwood
Violin - Johnny Fielding (tracks: 1-11)
Vocals - Brother Culture (tracks: 2-02, 2-04, 2-06) , Jon McClure , Kareem Dennis* , Samia Farah (tracks: 2-02, 2-04, 2-05) , Skip McDonald (tracks: 2-01)
Written-By - Deadly Hunta (tracks: 1-10) , Doc Brown (tracks: 1-10) , Frantic Frank (2) (tracks: 1-10) , Ill Mill (tracks: 1-10) , Kyza (tracks: 1-06, 1-10) , Logic (9) (tracks: 1-06, 1-10) , Purple* (tracks: 1-06, 1-10) , Righteous* (tracks: 1-06, 1-10) , Skeef* (tracks: 1-01, 1-03) , No.Lay* (tracks: 1-06, 1-10) , Minto* (tracks: 1-01, 1-03) , Williams* (tracks: 1-01) , Skinnyman (tracks: 1-10) , Skirmish (tracks: 1-10) , Smife (tracks: 1-10) , Stylah (tracks: 1-10) , Tony D (4) (tracks: 1-10) , Cesay* (tracks: 1-01, 1-03) , Wordplay (tracks: 1-10) , Wretch* (tracks: 1-10)
Written-By, Producer - Mongrel (3) (tracks: 1-01 to 1-11, 2-01 to 2-09)

Notes

"Lies" includes lyrics from a Nina Simone track, "I Wish I Knew How It Feels To Be Free."

CD2 contains dub versions of tracks appearing on CD1, mixed courtesy of Adrian Sherwood at On-U Sound Studios, Soho Recording Studios and Livingston Studios.

Track 1-01 "Barcode" is shown as a barcode on the CD sleeve

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Reviews & Discussion

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Rated 5/5

Review by skaface Aug 21, 2009

Indie Supergroup (members of Arctic Monkeys, Reverend and The Makers and Babyshambles) meets Hip Hop (Lowkey) with a heavy dose of Politics, Dub and Funk. This album was given away free in The Independent, British newspaper, in March 2009. Numbers of how many copies of this album exist must be sceptical, "free" copies being sold over auction sites can't help.
"Barcode" criticises the British Government and their plans to introduce Identity Cards, "You're a number, You're a barcode, Got your details all on file." "Lies," sounds something like The Specials might have done in '79-80, as Jon McClure and Lowkey swap chorus and verse. "The Menace" is one of the stand out tracks, as it hypothesises how religion and terrorism have become intrinsically linked. "Julian" is the first track that gets the Dub experience, a slower track but moody with a dark undercurrent. "Alphabet Assassins" has to be up there to include the most featured artists on one track, with none fewer than sixteen extra artists, as each rap attempts to consist of words only beginning with initial letters Z back to A.
Better Than Dub sees most tracks on Better Than Heavy getting a rework courtesy of Adrian Sherwood and the On-U Sound treatment.