Reviewed by Paul Poulton

Three albums to Lt Stitchie and four to Stitchie, that's a goal difference of one. Since he got religion he dropped the Lieutenant from his name but the one-time dancehall star also seemed to drop the level of his creativity too. We didn't miss the sexual innuendos, but fans bemoaned the lack of his witty toasting in his new Christian tracks. However one goal is enough to win a match and I would say clearly and unequivocally that Stitchie is back and in better form than he ever was. "Wear Yu Size" might have been a funny number one reggae hit in England and Jamaica but the new Stitchie has hit the funny bone even harder with 'Real Life Story', it's pure and simply a lot of fun. The flight attendant tells us to "sit back and relax" while we enjoy the journey and off we go at the speed of sound. Melody plays more of a part than Lt Stitchie's DJ days, check out the beautiful "Wretched Life" here, with its stark beauty. There are however plenty of gun-fire lyrics. Papa San and Lt Stitchie once fought it out on stage with an exciting lyrical sparring match. It seems like there is a bigger picture here that we could easily miss, something is happening in reggae music. Papa San recently sang that God has been "nice to me", Stitchie sings "Christ Nice" and repeats those two words until we get what he's talking about. Like John Bunyan, Stitchie has quickly found out how to use Scripture and then relates those same Scriptures in a form that's easily understood and very entertaining. When he sings "years I spent in vanity and pride" somehow we know it's true. Stitchie has worked very hard on these songs and with 20 tracks it's an excellent package.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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