On her ninth solo album, The Great Bailout, Moor Mother confronts the problematic aspects of historical relations between America and Europe (specifically Great Britain). This activist record by the Philadelphia-based artist refers in title to the compensation awarded to 46,000 British owners of enslaved people in 1835, following the abolition of slavery (the payoff of the 20 million pounds in
… question continued until 2015). The Great Bailout sounds like a continuous, insistent poetic recitation, and chafes in both content and sound. For example, the (mostly) spoken word is supported by boisterous sounds and restless percussion. The lyrics, substantiated with historical facts, hit the mark: from the ominous readings of Death By Longitude and Liverpool Wins to God Save The Queen, on which Moor Mother (armed with the power of repetition) gives a contrarian dimension to the British national anthem - just as The Sex Pistols once endowed this phrase with its own, controversial charge. (SD)more
