Well They Said They'd Be (In Full Gear - Stetsasonic)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	In Full Gear - Stetsasonic
Date:	10/11/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of bangers

Disadvantages: One weak track

"In Full Gear" was released in 1988 and was it second album from the first Hip Hop band Stetsasonic. It finds them following on from their classic, yet relatively underrated debut album from 1986 here we get Daddy-O and Prince Paul of the band on production with extra help from Ced Gee of the Ultramagentic MC's as their MCs, Frukwan, Wise, Delite and Daddy-O (taking on a double role) do their things at the other end.

1. "In Full Gear"

They get things underway with a fly jam where they bring some of that live stuff that they were able to excite listeners with the first time around. I couldn't help but taking in when they got down to things here as they bring in a hardcore jam that brings the rawness of their debut, but manipulates it to make it sound much more manageable this time around. It did a lot, but wasn't quite at the standard of their classic "On Fire" record.

**Four Stars**

2. "DBC Let The Music Play"

Moving right in on some classic James Brown material that you really won't be able to miss, you find that they come down with a powerful tune that I felt was incredibly good at doing its job where livening listeners up is concerned as it gives you a chance to embrace it for being material coming out during one of the most significant years for Hip Hop (and probably the next landmark after Run-D.M.C.'s debut.

**Five Stars**

3. "Freedom Or Death" (Lude)

4. "Float On"

We find that with this one we get a track that shows just how far they have gone since their debut, whereby they stuck to what they were good at with the straight-forward Hip Hop material, as in this case we find that they make for a track that looks back to material from Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's debut (to the years when proper ballads were accepted in Hip Hop - and were also found on the first albums from Kurtis Blow and The Sugarhill Gang). It is a song Love Rap jam and after some time it all came together.

**Four Stars**

5. "Stet Troop '88!"

Here we are greeted with some more of the hardcore Hip Hop material as we see that in this one we have Daddy-O raging in DJ Run fashion to hype things up over the top of a beatboxing-based joint that seems to take a lot from Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew's work from as early as 1985. This jam goes hard and takes you right in from the start as Daddy- and Frukwan do what they do best with the flows.

**Five Stars**

6. "Pen & Paper"

Going off over the top of a funky bassline, we see that here we get a joint that has them showing just how well they are able to carry through elements from the Old School Hip Hop period to this time (when they were making significant changes in an attempt to make it a much more serious game. They go all-out on this one and get close to reaching their full potential with this recording.

**Four Stars**

7. "Music For The Stetfully Insane" (Lude)

8. "We're The Band"

After getting a heavy Prince Paul instrument piece we find that the six-man New York band come out with a tune that I felt was able to carry through the incredibly funky fell of their debut in their rhyming style alone (which is something that had to be lost as the hardcore sounds completely overshadowed anything that represented the older ways. It goes hard and I can't see and faults in it.

**Five Stars**

9. "Rollin' Wit Rush" (Lude)

10. "This Is It, Y'All"

You get an explanation of their line-up before they get down to this one and throw down a jam where they rhyme about their approach to things and exactly what they do as they rock it and do it all as no one else had been able to do prior (and were seen not to be matched until The Square Roots (later known as The Roots) began doing the same out in Philadelphia in the early nineties.

**Five Stars**

11. "Extensions" (Lude)

12. "Sally"

This jam goes hard and I felt that it was a great choice as one of the singles from the album as it stands out so much and I felt that it seemed to carry through the sort of energy that came through in quite a lot of their first album (and so reassured listeners that they weren't going too far away with this one in spite of the debuts of the likes of Eric B. & Rakim, Public Enemy and Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo (who changed the game completely).

**Five Stars**

13. "Talkin' All That Jazz"

This was another of the singles from the album and I thought that this one stood out above quite a lot of what you get on this album as they show that they have embraced this Jazz Rap turn in the Hip Hop world, and although it hadn't quite developed by this point, they experiment with this as they bring in a little of the political themes too to give it that little extra to show how they are moving it all on.

**Five Stars**

14. "It's In My Song"

We get a rather cluttered set on this one as we see that we have them making for a jam that has them mixing in a range of different things that led to them having such a massive impact as an early Hip Hop band as here they come through on what I'd say is a pure Hip Hop track, but done with so much intensity that it sounds like they're off doing a Rock-influenced joint as a bit of a change to things.
**Five Stars**

15. "The Odad"

They go out for a Reggae-styled tune with this one and I have to say that really I can't say that I really enjoyed many attempts at this kind of things by any Hip Hop act (especially during this period when it was so popular) and so what you get from this one is a a dip in quality from the band and prevents them from making the most of all that have to offer by changing it up to such a large degree and so it did little more than annoy as a result.

**Two Stars**

16. "Miami Bass"

I felt that this was a nice inclusion to the album and one that I really didn't expect to get from tem as we see how they have been influenced from the alternative sounds in Hip Hop of the time when they come out with a track where they have to embrace the Miami Bass scene (led by the 2 Live Crew). It doesn't take on true Miami bass fashion, but they do a great contemporary East Coast dedication to it all.

**Five Stars**

17. "Showtime"

They end the album here (before going on to bonus remixes) and I felt that it was done in the perfect way as we have them throwing down a track where we get much more live instrumentals than have been heard elsewhere on the record and so it seems to have much more power than a lot of the others on the things and completely takes you over as they close it out with a killer jam to leave it on a massive high.

**Five Stars**

This is a big album from Stetsasonic and one that I felt gave so much and acted as a great way to carry on from where they had began things two years prior to this point. There's only really one weak track here and without that it would have been hard it complain about what comes of the record.

Summary: Stetsasonic's second album