Burning Spear: Mek We Dweet

 Burning Spear: Mek We Dweet

1990

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Mek We Dweet  2. Civilization  3. Garvey  4. Elephants  5. My Roots  6. Take A Look  7. Great Men  8. One People  9. African Women  10. Mek We Dweet In Dub


I think I've covered my Bud Light & Clamato Chelada addiction (aka: alcoholism) in previous posts...

Couldn't get enough of the damn things...

Anyway, one night I was at the local Pride station (which has the most supernaturally low beer prices I've ever seen...I have no idea how they do it) and ran across these...

Foam Michelada cups! This wasn't the exact brand (the brand I usually  bought  somehow does not exist online...wha?), but the concept was similar...A foam cup filled with spicy powder and a couple of Saladitos (dried, salted plums) that you fill with beer and tomato juice (optional)...And oh my God!!! So great...I never even bothered with the tomato juice...It was so delicious as is...

I spent the last year or so buying them like freakin' crazy!  But then roughly a month ago I went to Pride to pick up my usual $14.99 30-pack of Rolling Rock and Michelada cup, but this time something was wrong!  The rack that was usually filled with Micehlada's wasn't there anymore...Just a shelf with a bunch of crappy wine! What?!

"Are you out of Michelada's?" I asked the girl at the counter.

"Oh, yea...I don't see 'em...We must be out..."

Alright...A minor setback...My weekend would seem a little empty, but no big-ola...I can go back to Bud Light Chelada's for a weekend...But over the following weeks, I kept going back and going back and still...Nothing but crappy wine...

I hate you yellow wine!!!

Out of desperation, I went to every other liquor store I could think of, but to no avail...No place carried the damn things anymore...So I decided to take matters into my own hands...

Well, I had plenty of beer...And Saladitos are no problem to find...Any gas station sells those...

But what was that powder? Chili powder? Cayenne pepper? I wasn't 100% sure, but last weekend I was at Walmart and saw this...

Fruit Seasoning!! One look at it and I could tell it was the seasoning inside the Michelada cup! I opened it up and tasted it right on the spot to be sure (Note: I would have bought it, even if it wasn't, since I did open it...The Friday Night Record Party never condones theft (chops stealing hand off thieving infidel))...And yup! This was it...I bought it along with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce...

I got home, mixed the Saladitos, Fruit Seasoning, Worcestershire and beer together in a big cup and YES! I'm stating this mixture is roughly 90% accurate...I think I know what's missing...I think a bit of lime would put this over the top, so I'll pick up some next time I'm at my local grocers...I'm also missing the Tamarind, which I remember seeing as in the ingredient list on those old foam cups, but what I have is close enough...I've been happily gulping this stuff down by the bucketful  since I first made them...Try it at home sometime if you like, it's delicious as hell...

But I didn't invite you here to swap recipes, I invited you here to talk about some Burning Spear...

Well, I enjoyed "Marcus Garvey" so much I decided to jump ahead 15 years and a dozen albums and get right down to the nitty gritty...1990's "Mek We Dweet"!

Nah, I didn't plan on making this my second Burning Spear album...It was just the only other one I've found so far...I played this over and over, reading and re-reading the album title, trying to figure out what in the hell "Dweet" meant...I've listened to enough Jamaican albums to pick up a bit of patois and could usually decipher any new words that would come up, but this one had me stumped...

Dweet, Dweet, Dweet....

 Turns out I was over-thinking it..."Dweet" is exactly what it sounds like..."Do it"...And "Mek" is "make," and "we" is "us," so I think what's being said is essentially "Make Us Do it"..."Let's Do it"?  "Let's do it for Jah Jah Rastafari"... I dunno...Anyway, for awhile this was a thing keeping me up at night...

Boy, listening to this back to back with "Marcus Garvey" would be jarring if the opening track wasn't so immediately likeable...This album is bright, happy shiny, slightly synthetic  late 80's-early 90's reggae...But it's among some of the best I've heard from that particular subset of reggae...See, if the music seems a bit synthetic it's not a problem because Spear himself brings such deep, rootsiness to it all...

Still, it's the type of album you listen to while lying on a beach while you're drinking a pina colada out of coconut with a little umbrella in it....The title track just makes you so happy to be alive... Winston's semi-toasting style fits this sunny style to a tee..."Mek we dweet, make me dweet...." Great shit if you any love whatsoever for 80's reggae (yes, I'm aware this came out in 1990, but it sounds very 80s')...

Then the second track, "Civilization" storms in with pop metal guitar riffing and I had to make sure someone didn't replace my Burning Spear record with a Winger record...But it turns out it's just a bit of set dressing and the light reggae starts up again...

I'll give you three guesses as to who the third track (titled "Garvey") is about...

 Ding! Ding! You guessed correctly...Again, Burning Spear is at his/their best when singabout Marcus Garvey, so I'm not going to complain...If it ain't broke don't fix it, I guess...

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this album..Could have been worse...I think even if you have a deep hatred for 80's production you might be able to dig the title track at least...It's hard to hate on something so positive, even if its never going to be in the same ballpark as his classic "Marcus Garvey" album...

Here's "Mek We Dweet" by Burning Spear...Enjoy..