Let's start with the disclaimer: Eek-A-Mouse will sound to some like a breath of Jamaican fresh air. To others he will sound irritating, juvenile, and downright bizarre. Even hard-boiled reggae fans may balk at his unorthodox delivery, incoherent babbling, and cartoon character vocals. With that said, this record is darn cool. Sounding like Mickey Mouse smoking a huge spliff, Eek-A-Mouse, for better or worse, did much to chart the course of reggae in the 80's as the first dancehall toaster of his type: a babbling, eccentric hooligan with a pocketful of nonsensical rhymes and a penchant for odd, synthesized riddims... no wonder all of my stoner friends love him. Sure, there's plenty of dub fire here (dub magnate Linval Thompson produced some of Eek's early singles), but the focus is most definitely not on thunderous bass riffs or brain-nuzzling echo effects. It's all about Eek-A-Mouse, one of the most singular reggae vocalists of all time. He's not quite a singer (he certainly has no talent for rocksteady or lover's rock), but he's not quite a DJ in the manner of Big Youth or Dennis Alcapone either. Think of him instead as the prototypical dancehall DJ: a pioneer from an innocent period in dancehall history when a loose-limbed kid like Eek could virtually scat over a tinny, cheap beat and craft a helluva good song out of it. The slippery title track saunters over a charming dub-lite beat, while "Operation Eradication" gets dirtier with a slinky organ-based roots groove, and "War Don't Pay" harnesses a fab percussive dub track for Eek's loose crooning.
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