Shake Off The Dust...Arise

 (6 customer reviews)

This was the first album he put out, before "Live At Stubbs" and it is truly what I saw a magazine article call it; "Hasidic Reggae". It has that slower reggae sound, not as poppy or upbeat as his albums since "Youth" and a message of or even to G-d that you sometimes don't find in his newer stuff. This is in no ways a knock on his latest albums, but you can hear on "Shake Off The Dust..." he was trying to find a way to combine his beliefs into a music that was often fairly religious itself, that being the reggae style of Peter Tosh or Bob Marley.
The version of "King Without A Crown" here is so much more soulful than the one on "Youth" and "Chop'Em Down", which he redid uptempo for "No Place To Be", is excellent.
Be forewarned: If you don't like the older reggae sounds of Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, or Toots & The Maytals then you might not like this one. But this is what got me into Matisyahu so I really think if you like him, you'll like this.

In my opinion, this is his best work. The sound is a bit unrefined, but it has a lot of energy. It has so much more soul than the albums that came after it. It's really beautiful.

It has been discontinued for some reason. Probably because the songs on it are a little different than the "official" recordings that came out later...or because there are different musicians on some of the tracks. I honestly think he should have stayed with the musicians here. The music blends very well. It's less "rock" feel than the later works, and more melodic. Very nice vocal intros on some of the tracks.

Looks like its become a collector's item. I could sell mine now and make a quite a profit. But its so good I'm going to hang on to it!

Its is a really good album. It is very spiritual like all of Matis' music. It is less refine but the message still comes out clear and loud. If you can find it buy it even if it may be a bit pricey.