Wonders Of The World

Reviewed by:
David Peisner

The Long Beach Dub All-Stars’ philosophy on life—which is worth mentioning only because it informs almost every track on their second album—can be summed up like this: the sun’s shining, the weed’s fine, it’s a-a-all good. It’s lazy, shallow insouciance masquerading as Zen insight, and while it’s not hurting anyone, it’s an intellectual cop-out that makes Wonders Of The World feel like The World According To Jeff Spiccoli. Musically, LBDA’s formula doesn’t differ much from the band they sprang from (Sublime), and in fact, vocalist Opie Ortiz is a dead vocal ringer for late Sublime frontman, Bradley Nowell. “Sunny Hours” plagiarizes the Sublime hit “What I Got;” a particularly unnecessary swipe considering Sugar Ray’s been doing the same thing with regularity since before Nowell was even cold in the ground. With its organic hip-hop grooves and a slew of guest rappers, “Life Goes On” fares much better, though not as well as the standout dub-reggae instrumental, “Grass Cloud.” If they’d only shut the fuck up more often…

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