This album has a really good old school live ambient feel to it. It’s got the horns that remind me of Berkeley in the early 80’s. It’s got the male/female vocal duo leading it all. It has the fuck-the-man politics combined with an open and positive/stoned lyric that is timeless in California rock and roll. This album moves you. It has its moments of brilliance and falls. It has that ambient live action with drama and interview snippets that grab your attention. He slips in and out of storytelling. A couple of pieces with an open mic sound. It has guts that catch you. My favorite part of the album is that it holds your attention with its elaborate sound tuned to the old California sound, it sounds like it’s from Oakland or Berkeley in ’71. But he’s from Ocean Beach in San Diego. Drums and vocals are in the mix. The other instruments are behind and supporting the vocal patterns and stories. An effects-heavy lead guitar, crazy horn, sampled bus sounds, the kind of underground organ sound that lends itself to preaching, it’s often the voice of an instrument that’s enhanced by drums and vocals. Nas spits out/grows up the stories with a mature voice that gives credence to the word. And he sings in a laconic howl with an emotional background that participates with Nas and the proverbs.

California talks about freedom, the fight for freedoms and the history of California fighters. The words and awareness of the album loom large. The words support the hard left, working hard. The kind of work that the right does not call work. The type of work that is in the band of OB. Overall this album is very nice. The music and atmosphere is nice for a morning, it has some really nice listening moments and it comes together very well for this band’s second album. Call your past in memory of California for the past 60 years. Everything is fine here. This is how we roll.

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