I remember at the time of its release that many reviewers considered
Bass Culture a slight disappointment because it didn't reach the highs of
Forces of Victory. Granted, following up a record as great as
Forces of Victory is no easy task, but all these years later I wonder what were people thinking.
Bass Culture is tremendous, another successful collaboration between
Johnson and
Bovell with songs that are, at times, even more confrontational (e.g., "Inglan is a Bitch") than anything he had previously recorded. I will admit that the Dub Band sounds better on
Forces of Victory, but
Johnson is hitting his stride at the time of this release and experimenting with song structure and lyrics a little more (i.e., not everything is explicitly political here). Still, I defy anyone to come up with a reason to not own this record. An extra added bonus is John Kpiaye's great guitar playing. ~ John Dougan