VA - The Pier Compilation Volume 1

How do you judge a compilation disc? I mean really, you can't judge it on past work because well, it's a compilation. You could judge it on the individual artists work, but often a compilation disc isn't about the individual artists. It's about how the tracks work perfectly together to form this cohesive work.

In this humble writer's opinion, compilation discs are best looked at for vibe. Not necessarily if the songs are all the same genre, not necessarily if they're saying the same thing, but if the feel you get when you're listening to the record, track to track, you keep that initial feeling of joy or whatever you feel when you listen to a great song. Does The Pier deliver on their first official disc? Absolutely.

For a two year old site The Pier makes some heavy strides on its 1st official compilation disc. On Volume 1, The Pier delivers some of the biggest names in the scene today and these names brought with them 19 unreleased tracks (Pier Exclusives). 19 tracks that mind you, will blow your mind.

This is, essentially, a who's who in the scene today. The Dirty Heads mixing it up with Rome, The Movement, John Brown's Body, Ballyhoo!, & The b Foundation among 14 other immensely talented artists who knew what they were doing when selecting these tracks for this comp. Everything just flows together, whether it be some tunes about love, about the genre itself, living, or just the every day things in our lives (just in real cool song form).

Songs like the first track, Lay Me Down (The Dirty Heads w/ Rome) and Tell Me Baby (Another Day), evoke those feelings of summer love that we all have, and to me that's what this compilation represents, love. Not love necessarily love for a guy/girl, but love for music, love for the genre, love for that feeling you get when you listen to a great song. While Ballyhoo's When Worlds Collide and B Foundation's Time really make you want to full on groove. Don't sweat it you straight up reggae lovers The Movement's Care (You Don't Even) and Pato Banton's Reggae Party" deliver in spades, so go on and form some sort of dance circle and dance the night away.

The smoothness/flow of this record is outstanding. Good job to everyone at The Pier.

By Iain Axness

Genre: Reggae Rock
Year: 2009
Type: Compilation
Audio Format: MP3
Bitrate: 252 kbps
Size: 133 MB


Track List
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01. Dirty Heads w/Rome - Lay Me Down
02. The Movement - Care (You Dont Even)
03. John Brown's Body - Make Your Move (Dubmatix Remix)
04. Ballyhoo! - When Worlds Collide
05. OPM - Holiday Under The Sun
06. The Black Seeds - Strugglers
07. The B Foundation - Time
08. The Supervillians - Slosh
09. Pato Banton - Reggae Party
10. Mike Pinto - Never Say Never
11. Can't Hang - Wait A Minute
12. Rome - Only
13. 3rd Alley - Antidote
14. Another Day - Tell Me Baby
15. Stick Figure - Livin It
16. SUNSET BUS - Take It easy
17. RAC - Flourish
18. Flip & Rollie - Reggae Show
19. Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad - International Mother Dub