As last year’s ‘Pama Outernational’ album steadily ships out to overseas territories, and as Pama International embarks on a further summer of promotion in the UK, the Rockers Revolt label has taken the opportunity to reissue the band’s earlier material. First up is the debut eponymous album complete with bonus/rare goodies. This is a label that knows how to treat the fans.
‘Pama International‘ was originally released in 2002, picked up a Punktastic review in 2004, and has been a staple of live performances ever since. As far as introductions go, the album set out a stall, simple as. Dripping with chilled grooves, a dub essence and all manner of instrumentation, this was the first offering of a band looking to indulge those 60’s and 70’s vibes whilst treading some very English waters. A couple of up tempo numbers (‘Truly Madly Deeply’; ‘Thank You’) hinted at a ska theme at a time ska was ebbing and froing, but this was essentially a reggae/soul number.
Today it still stands up. Perhaps an extra half star could have been added to the original 3/5 PT review, but essentially this is a record that seems pretty timeless. It may not hold up to the past two Pama International albums (the band has truly been maturing, as passé as that sounds) but there is a definite identity and niche on display here that the band still carries to this day.
Bunched onto the end of the 11 album tracks are an additional five remixed tracks. These songs themselves originally made up the now deleted 2005 EP, ‘Dub Store Special’. Reworkings have been a trademark over the past years, and will continue to be (‘…Outernational’ is due for a redux very shortly) and to be honest the tracks here are more likely to appeal to fanatics or remix geeks. The Groove Corp version of ‘Second Chance’ is a real beaut, whilst ‘Dub Quake’ foretells of that ‘…Outernational’ sound to come.
Ultimately, this reissue has a two pronged approach. Firstly, it makes a nice collectors/completist piece. Secondly, for those only bumping into the band these past few years, it’s a nice opportunity to listen to what came before and hasn’t been available for a while. New listeners though might want to start out with ‘Love Filled Dub Band’ or ‘…Outernational’. Both are a little more accessible.
Alex