Big Sugar - Brothers And Sisters, Are You Ready? (2001)

Tracklist

01. Red Rover (Album Version)
02. Nashville Grass (Album Version)
03. She Left Ashes (Album Version)
04. Nicotina (She's All That) (Album Version)
05. So Not Over (Album Version)
06. Butterball (Album Version)
07. Bump On The Head (Album Version)
08. Lost And Found (Album Version)
09. Bad Old Days (Album Version)
10. We Could LIve (Album Version)
11. Pretty Bird (Album Version)
12. All Hell For A Basement (Album Version)
13. O Canada (Album Version)

Having benefited both from Gordie Johnson's tinkerings with dub side project Alkaline and the acquisition of additional riddim guitarist Mojah, Big Sugar veers into a distinctly more esoteric direction on this, their fifth outing. As with 1998's Heated, Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready? is loaded with a batch of dependable high-octane rock crunchers (particularly album opener "Red Rover," lead single "Nicotina," and "All Hell for a Basement") and some passable exercises in rock-dub fusion (both "Nashville Grass" and the chirruping "Pretty Bird" coast along on reggae-informed guitar lines). Unfortunately, it's not always enough to disguise Johnson's obvious creative lull; too many of the songs plod along aimlessly for this to rank among the band's finer moments. A consolation note: the inclusion of an amped-up "O Canada" and the coinciding release of Brothers and Sisters Êtes Vous Ready? (which marks the first time an English-speaking Canadian band has ever simultaneously released an album in English and French) will forever ensure that Big Sugar has a spot in the annals of Canadian music history.

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