Wa-Do-Dem

iTunes Review

While it wasn't, strictly speaking, his first album, Wa-Do-Dem is generally considered Eek-A-Mouse's coming-out party. Eek presented a wholly original style. His half-sung, half-spoken vocals can be playful and ghostly in turns, and his ability to turn nonsense syllables into otherworldly incantations is a sign of his genius. Eek’s eccentricities complemented the rock-solid rhythms of The Roots Radics, which recorded these tracks under the supervision of Henry “Junjo” Lawes. The musicians were obviously inspired by Eek’s peculiarity, as “Lonesome Journey” and “One Hot Summer” include wonderfully atypical touches, like harmonica. While Eek’s vocal style immediately set him apart from the crowd, he was equally bold when it came to subject matter. “Ganja Smuggling” is a rueful narrative about a poor boy’s initiation into the drug trade. Likewise, the narrative of “Operation Eradication” grew from another deeply personal experience: the death of Eek’s close friend and fellow reggae toaster Errol Shorter (not to be confused with the still-living Errol Scorcher, another of Eek’s contemporaries).