CHOOSE AN ALBUM Aswad / Live and Direct Anthony B / That's Life Beenie Man / Many Moods of Moses Beenie Man / Art and Life Buju Banton / The Early Years Buju Banton / Inna Heights Buju Banton / Til Shiloh Capleton / More Fire Capleton / Still Blazin Cocoa Tea / Feel the Power Cocoa Tea / RAS portraits Culture / One Stone Culture / Payday Junior Kelly / Love so Nice John Holt / Police in Helicopter Gregory Isaacs / Private Lesson Diana King / Think like a Girl Barrington Levy / Duets Barrington Levy / Englishman/Robinhood Little John / Give the Youth a try Luciano / Messenger Bob Marley / Songs of Freedom Bob Marley&the Wailers/Complete Wailers I Bob Marley&the Wailers/Complete Wailers II The Marley Family Album Max Romeo & The Upsetters/War Ina Babylon Pablo Moses / In the Future & Dub Nicodemus / Dancehall Giant Ernest Ranglin / In Search of the Lost Riddim Augustus Pablo / This is... Augustus Pablo The Skatalites / Ball of Fire Sizzla / Be I Strong Steel Pulse Sound System/Island Anthology Strictly the Best Volume 27 & 28 Sugar Minot / Collector's Collection, Volume I Ron Taylor / Ethiopian Kings Tenor Saw / Fever Trinity / Shanty Town Determination Peter Tosh / Honorary Citizen Yabby You / Jesus Dread COMPILATIONS Essential Dancehall Reggae Jam Down Vibrations Joy Ride Reggae Songbirds

ARTIST: Cocoa Tea
TITLE: Feel The Power
PRODUCER: Phillip “Fattis” Burrell, Calvin Scott
LABEL: VP Records
RELEASED: 2001

Singer Cocoa Tea has been doing his thing for over two decades—good for a hit single and some high quality album tracks every few years, though he has never truly achieved reggae star status during that time. Thus, it seemed like an odd move when Motown signed the veteran singer (born Calvin Scott) in the mid-'90s, considering how many bigger stars were available at the time; the venerable R&B label was probably attracted to Cocoa's smooth voice and his ability to score hits with lover's rock ("Rocking Dolly," "Good Life"), as well as with more political fare ("Riker's Island"). That creative alliance resulted in just two releases, and no hit records, so now Cocoa Tea is back to his old tricks—which, to reggae fans, is not a bad thing, considering how many wonderful songs Cocoa has unleashed over the years.

Armed with an excellent stack of Phillip "Fattis" Burrell's recent backing tracks (many of which also showed up on Sizzla's recent Taking Over release), Cocoa Tea comes through on Feel The Power with a very solid Rasta-drenched record. The crisp, mellow music nicely complements Cocoa Tea's lazy, warm tones, especially on "True Love," "I'm Sorry," and the title track, where Tea weaves his vocals around an insistent Spanish guitar line. In "Who," the singer documents the confusion surrounding the 2000 U.S. presidential election, an unexpected topic for a Jamaican artist to tackle, but one which Cocoa handles well, both musically and lyrically ("I was not hoping for George Bush to win it/I was not on Al Gore's meal ticket"). "Sweet Life," while very pleasant, sounds like Cocoa is working hard to make money on the next Jamaican tourism ad campaign ("Let's meet some special place, some special time of day/Down in Montego Bay/Scuba diving in Mo Bay"). As usual, Bob Marley's influence seeps into a few tracks, as in "Feel The Power" and "Moses Law," songs for which Cocoa pilfers some of Marley's melodies and lyrics.

Perhaps because of his brief association with Motown, Cocoa's latest material definitely seems as if it was developed with a non-Jamaican listener in mind; both the non-threatening, melodic music and the broad themes touched on in the lyrics open up Feel The Power to an audience that might shy away from the confrontational sound of Capleton and Sizzla. For the most part, however, Cocoa Tea sticks to the tried and true styles that have kept his career humming for two decades, which means that if you know and like his music, you will probably find plenty to enjoy on Feel The Power.

By Lem

Review originally appeared on Musictoday.com.

Personnel: Donald Dennis, Khan Chin, Althea, Sherida, Nikki, Steven Stanley, Chris Meredith, Andrew Campbell, Ernie Wilks, Earl “Chinna” Smith, Connie, Paul “Computer Paul” Henton, Paul “Teethimus” Edmund, Rudy Valentino, Steve Locke, Diavallan Fearon, Dean Fraser, Shawn Darson, Fabian Smith, Robbie Shakespeare, Nigel Staff, Michael Spence.