Elephant Man

Reading the song listing for the Elephant Man compilation Monsters of Dancehall, put out by Greensleeves, is enough to make you tired.

It is not just that there are 20 songs (long enough, even in these days when the number of tracks served up on an album is usually what would require a double serving of big black discs in the vinyl era) on the CD which lies behind a picture of a snarling, green-haired figure tugging at its hair and credited as much to 'The Energy God' as Elephant Man.

It is the songs.

OK, there is nothing new here (the songs are culled from the Comin 4 You, Log On and Higher Level albums) but there are sufficient dance move songs to make you wonder if the party ever stops and, if it does, why the room is still rocking. Log On, On Line, Higher Level, Genie Dance and Egyptian Dance (hmm. What exactly is the difference between those two?) all make the cut (are you tired yet?).

When the vertical dancing stops, the horizontal one begins. So there is Give Her It Good, Chiney Ting (remember that it is "fatter dan de bokkle of a Heineken") and Bad Gal, Bad Man. Having those bases, the badness weighs in with Bad Man a Bad Man, Replacement Killer, Tall Up Tall Up and No Hail Me, with the good old fun of Shizzle Ma Nizzle and the rare slow track of Jamaica.

In the fast paced world of dancehall, these songs are as old as an Isuzu Amigo is in car land (OK, not that old, maybe an F150). But they are, curiously, loads of fun (most of them anyway), just like how the amigo can still be your faithful little friend.

And that is what this dancehall monster, green hair, glare, garb, gold jewellry and all is, in the end, your jolly little pal who makes you say 'shizzle'.

Track listing

1. Log On

2. Elephant Message

3. Genie Dance

4. Watchie Pum

5. Krazy

6. Bad Man a Bad Man

7. Give Her It Good

8. Egyptian Dance

9. Jamaica

10. Truth Hurts

11. Tall Up Tall Up

12. No Hail Mi

13. Bad Gal, Bad Man

(featuring Ce'Cile)

14. On Line

15. Chiney Ting

16. Robbing

17. Higher Level

18. Shizzle Ma Nizzle

19. Replacement Killer

20. The Bombing

M.C.