Another Moses
Of the three youths who left a home for polio-stricken children in Kingston, Jamaica, for "bush-living" freedom and music dreams, only "Wiss" and "Skelly" remain ofIsrael Vibration. That reggae harmony trio helped define the form's electric synthesis of sweet and raw in '70s anthems like "Friday Night" and "Give I Grace." The group split up for most of the '80s, regrouped in the '90s to deliver what many believe were that reggae era's most electrifying live shows, then broke up again in the late '90s. Yet the fractious Apple's first solo outing and the Israel Vibration duo'sPay the Pipergive fans reason to rejoice. That final split set off a seismic creative jolt that moved all three artists to turn in their most original recordings in decades. Apple was always straining at the harness of having to consider two other points of view. He's free to flex his considerable solo star power here--while still cushioned by (uncredited) background harmonies that re-create the signature yearning Israel vibe--and to apply his emotive, gut-propelled "roots" vocal style to 10 typically incisive presentations of "black-man redemption" lyrical concerns.--Elena Oumano