What first caught my attention when sampling Robert Burns and Mike Ogletree’s “The Kilmarnock Edition” this past evening, was not the fact that Mr. Robert Burns has been long dead; he died in 1796. I was not concerned with what a dead man was doing on the cover of a rock/reggae cd, I was not concerned with how this CD found its way into my hand, and eventually onto my iTunes, ( Iman has a way of doing things). I was concerned with one of my favorite poems of all time, “Red, Red, Rose,” and how it had been transformed from a Scottish classic dating back to the 16th century into a reggae song I could beat my feet to. I was happily confused with what I was hearing; I dug deeper into The Kilmarnock Edition. ‘Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect- The ‘Kilmarnock Edition’ was the title of Burn’s original collection of poems, which were sold for 3 shillings a copy, and sold out all 612 copies in under a month. Beat that Hova!! I know you are double platinum multiple times, but I bet you’ve never gone triple shilling before. Hah!
Mike Ogletree, a Scottish drummer best known for his role in 70’s band Simple Minds, has ‘remixed’ the classic words of Robert Burns into a soulful, reggae/rock CD. A very novel and interesting concept for a musician’s project, I give it three thumbs up. Not only does “Red, Red, Rose” really rock, but “Man was Made to Mourn” most definitely is a turn on.
This is a very chill CD, reggae vibe really works with Burns’ powerful, well thought out and even better organized messages, and the fact that its all in Scottish dialect just makes it that much more entertaining for us Americans. “A Man’s a Man,” is also another track worth giving a listen to; you can sample and buy all the tracks online. Just use google. Not only has this album inspired me to revamp and give my career as a poet another chance, but it as given me hope that one day my sweet words correlating the majestic hillsides of Italy( as seen from the Eurorail) to my broken heart and insane brain, will be made into a fancy, smooth sounding jam. So Mike, if you ever want to record “Cheifly in a Moco Dialect – The Woody Edition”, I am more then game, and can even assist in production, or at-least some voice over.