The Very Best of Eek-A-Mouse

iTunes Review

The first and still best collection of Eek-A-Mouse’s early songs continues to serve as a reminder of what an original talent he was. His signature was his wildly inventive scatting; almost all early-'80s toasters employed that trend, but none with the vim of Eek. His trails of rhythmic nonsense syllables are one of music’s most ambiguous sounds. They can be used to translate the ineffability of romantic or lustful thoughts or punctuate a report of brutal street violence. He was deeply playful and deeply mournful, often in the same moment. Within the five-year span covered on this collection, he addressed the life of a newspaper delivery woman (“Star, Daily News and Gleaner”), the effects of an anti-anorexia pill (“Anarexol”), and an account of a concussion sustained in a motorbike crash (“Peeni Walli”), in addition to detail-oriented accounts of Kingston political unrest (“Terrorists in the City,” “Assassinator”) and dancehall lust (“Wa-Do-Dem”). For all the unforgettable aspects of Eek’s persona, the listener must award credit to his backing band, The Roots Radics, which is the glue holding these songs together.