Fugees - Refugee Camp Vinyl

Fugees (Refugee Camp): Lauryn Hill, Wyclef, Prakazrel.
Additional personnel: Steve Marley, Steady Rider (vocals); Earl Smith, Ian Coleman (guitar); Mallory William (piano); Taro McLaugnlin (organ); Glenn Brownie (bass); Wilburn Cole (drums); Sharon Marley, Eric Newell, Pamela Hall (background vocals).
Producers include: Clark Kent, Wyclef, Prakazrel, Salaam Remi.
This eight-track EP compresses the Fugees' two-album output for the heads who may only know 1996's THE SCORE, and spotlights the aspects that have led to their mega-platinum success--lyrical compassion, new-school-plus-one production, Lauryn Hill's mad mic skills. And for those who already knew these beats backward and forward, the remixes take the songs to a new level.
Clark Kent's take on "Ready Or Not" (now based on a loop of the Modern Jazz Quartet's "Django") makes the track completely over, while a re-recorded "No Woman No Cry" (complete with Marley offspring on vocals and Wailers guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith on six-string skank) pulls longingly on the heartstrings. But the EP's most fun moments come during the taped phone conversations dispersed throughout--particularly the one in which a music executive moans about the band bootlegging its own records and giving them away.

• Format: Vinyl