Dreadzone – The Best Of Dreadzone: The Good The Bad And The Dread

I remember the first time when I heard a Dreadzone song. It was back in the early '90s, late night at MTV and the track was called "Zion Youth". "This music comes from the future world, those are the sounds of globalisation", I thought to myself. Then I found out that Dreadzone came from the founding members of Big Audio Dynamite , the cult band created by Mick Jones after his departure from The Clash, and I became a big fan of their music. Previously, John Peel did the same!
After almost 20 years and 6 original albums, the mix of dub, oriental flavours, hypnotic rhythms and cinematic sounds remains a Dreadzone registered trademark.
The best of Dreadzone is now coming at the right moment. It contains some rare excellent versions of "Fight the Power" and "Life Love and Unity", and some new edits too ("The Good The Bad and the Dread", a little too cheesy in my oppinion).
I would have liked to see some of their finest tracks such as "One Way", "Maximum" and "The Warning". "I know" can be entertaining when performed live, but it's probably not the best choice for a song somewhere at the end of the album. You feel like eating a flapjack after a sophisticated French dinner. It wasn't really necessary to add something BAD just to follow the title line.
For hardcore Dreadzone fans, this album could have been a better one. However, for an initiation it's a very pleasant listening to the music of one of the greatest but criminally underrated acts of the last 2 decades.
Unfortunately, the globalised world doesn't seem to listen to such artists in these days. Probably this is the reason why the album ends with "American Dread".