Marlon Asher - Illusions (Clear Port Entertainment/Zojak World Wide)

For 'Illusions' Asher collaborated with a whole host of producers (Don Corleon, Chris 'Digital Chris' Elliot, John Cardininali, Yeti Beas...) making for a varied but not always coherent track list. The majority of the tracks on 'Illusions' could definitely meet with our approval. For the great 'Save Their Soul', the album's first single, producer Don Corleon revamped the classic Ain't Got No Love riddim (as known from Horace Andy's 'Zion Gate'). 'Shashamani' is a beautiful tribute to the Rasta-enclave in Ethiopia, which shows a thorough knowledge of the town and its surroundings (Asher visited Ethiopia in 2007). The euro trash reggae of the Derrick 'Wundah' Cyrus produced 'Look Into The Sky', we could have done without though, and ganja tune 'Marijuana' both content-wise and musically is a completely unnecessary addition to the track list.