by Todd Kristel
After seven years, the vinyl-only Clear Blue Skies EP was finally released on CD. Third Earth Music added ten additional tracks and a remix of "Clear Blue Skies" to expand the group's nine-song EP to a 20-track album (the original version of "Clear Blue Skies" is the unlisted final track). Not surprisingly, the album has a 1990s feel. It also seems a bit too much of a hodgepodge, although some may appreciate the combination of braggadocio, humor, and social commentary. Furthermore, the additional tracks tend to be rather short (eight of the album's 20 tracks are under two minutes long). But with its thick, low-end heavy beats, some good scratches, and Breezly Brewin's deft flow, this album is generally appealing. "Epiphany" offers goofy rhymes like "fungus among us," "Loosifa" takes a darker turn with a hellish narrative tale set against an Eddie Harris loop accompanied by live guitar and violin, and "Luvamaxim" is more relaxing and sample free. The album ends with some freestyling by Breezly Brewin on WKCR and his dual performance on the album's highlight, the original version of "Clear Blue Skies." Brewin plays both sides in an argument in which a white father rages at his son for dating a black woman (for the father's role, Brewin's voice was recorded at a higher speed and then replayed normally to get it an octave lower). Although unlisted due to legal reasons, the original version is better than the remix, which is also included on the album.