John Brown's Body

When Elliot Martin, lead singer of the progressive reggae band, John Brown’s Body, had throat surgery in early 2008 to remove polyps, one might think a laid-back set of songs could be in order. Nothing could be further from the truth on Amplify, the band’s newest album, which features 12 new tracks, highlighted by the beats of the opening title track and the inspiring “Give Yourself Over.”

This is a fresh batch of tunes, serving as a new outlook for a band that lost bassist Scott Palmer to cancer in 2006.   Produced by Martin and Jason “Jocko” Randall, the band’s energy is soaked up and spread out in all the right places, never allowing Amplify to slow down and catch its breath.  A heck of an achievement for a band that had every reason in the world to call it quits.

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