Over from Dusseldorf, Germany, ‘Twists ’n’ Turns’ arrives; the third album from reggae/rock power trio The Tips. It rocks, it advocates rolling, and is loaded with political commentary.
The album begins with the monolithic lead single ‘Birds In The Trees,’ featuring hero of the genre and vocal powerhouse Benji Webbe of Skindred fame. Opening with a short, slow a-capella chorus of warm reggae harmony before hitting you hard with a truly stonking riff, which calls your body to rock and head to bang; before immediately shifting back three gears into a supremely chilled skanking groove for the verse. This really is a fantastically arranged song and a perfect intro track for the album, giving you a taste of all things to come within the first 40 seconds. The chorus is short, sweet and simple and acts simultaneously as a brilliant heavy drop point to end the verses and a launch pad into that awesome bouncing guitar riff.
After all that excitement a step back is taken for track 2 – ‘Leaving Home’ – a wonderfully laid back but sharp tongued track of political deep dub lamenting the struggles of Latin immigrants in the US. The verses are understated and groovy, providing a perfect platform for the vocals to sit on and lyrics to soak into you. It’s clever and poignant, establishing their dub chops and letting the listener see a drastically different dynamic to the band within their blended style.
The third song ‘Wasting Time’ is no exception, mixing things up with a fresh, poppy, reggae tinged soul song that is almost Bruno Mars-like. Sounding entirely coherent, it carries a hook that sits in your head for days. Following that is ‘Chosen Fool’ in which the energy is cranked back up for a brilliantly mashed dub/punk song about the paranoid and fear-mongering tendencies of modern media. This presents the best blend of their reggae and punk rock roots.
The middle of the album takes a bit of a turn down, not really matching up to the quality of the first four tracks with the trashy, punk rock ‘Johnny’s Song’; one of the album’s more flat dub songs ‘If You Want To’, and the solid but eventually repetitive dub/rock ‘City Lights’. Ultimately the second half of the album falls flat compared the promise of the first.
‘Alien’ lures you in with a deliciously slow groove of the dub you’ve come to expect thus far, with the ever present soul lashings in the harmonies and melody and a newly blues tinged heavy chorus. The jazzy piano-drums-guitar solo really stands out, building us up to the albums second heaviest moment.
Though somewhat patchy in places, this is a top quality album, featuring some fantastically high high points and entirely forgivable low points that don’t really detract from your total appreciation of this band. One thing that can definitely be said is that they are masters of their genre mashing, in which they are sometimes more successful than the genre frontrunners. Taking influence from all corners of both their reggae/dub/ska and punk/hard rock roots and making a more coherent and natural blend. It’s a varied album with it’s fair share of bangers and clever, slick song-writing. ‘Twist ‘n’ Turns’ presents a wide appeal, pleasing to fans of reggae, pop, rock, punk and soul.
HOMER KELLY-TARRANT