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Chalwa Concentration Time Review by Gary Hill This is a reggae album. Well, that's not entirely true. Don't get me wrong, the biggest element here is reggae. The cut has a lot of other elements at play, though, from space music to jazz and much more. It's a strong set that never feels redundant. It doesn't have any clunkers and really shines brightly at points. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 5. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review

The Journey (JP Furnas & Greg Hollowell) While the basis of this cut is reggae, there is a lot of jazz and some trippy psychedelia built into it, too.

Roots (Aaron Woody Wood & Mike Rhodes) Old school rock and roll is added to the mix here. Still there is plenty of reggae, too. It's a cool cut and some intriguing guitar dancing all over it.

Concentration Time (JP Furnas & Greg Hollowell) While this is more pure reggae, there is still some psychedelia built into this number. It's classy for sure. In fact, this is one of my favorites here.

Can You See (JP Furnas) I dig the reggae concept on this number. It has some soul built into it, too. It's great stuff.

Life Goes On There is a bit of an adult contemporary pop music vibe to this thing. It still has some reggae in the mix, too, though. It's classy stuff. I dig the echoey instrumental section on this thing.

Fire The synthesizer on this is cool. It lends a bit of an electronic edge. Otherwise, though, this is more pure reggae than the songs that have preceded it. This is also one of my favorites here.

Staring at the Sun This one lands more in the pure reggae end of the equation, too. That said, we get some space rock here, and the keyboard based instrumental movement is classy.

Sisters of the Moon (Mike Rhodes) World music vocals in the background start this cut. It works out to a cool reggae jam that's just so much fun.

Beating of the Drum I dig the distant sort of vocals on this tune. The groove is full of class, too. The tune is a lot of fun.

BassBalls (Nik Hope) The spacey echoey sound of this number works well. There is a healthy helping of TV chatter sort of drifting over the soundscape. It's basically an instrumental beyond that, though. This is another that does a great job of merging reggae with space music.

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