“I Will Not Stop Singing”

As the title states, these Malawian inmates will not stop singing – at least until the 30 minutes of this album are up, or perhaps until their allotted one-minute-plus-a-few-seconds track-time concludes. Yes, as with producer Ian Brennan's first volume of prison-yard recordings, this sequel retains its problematic brevity, in terms of total playing time and individual track lengths. It's refreshing to experience curt editing for a change, but the scalpel held here is surely too eager to slice. Often, a performance sounds cut off prematurely. Setting this quibble aside, some of the contents remain appealing – notably the songs that stretch out to almost three minutes duration. The situation has deteriorated inside Zomba Maximum Security Prison since the first set's release, particularly for the women, despite the album's high global profile. One of the best tunes on this second set comes first: ‘I Am Done With Evil’ by Vincent Saulos is led by a simple beat, with guitar, lead vocal and answering chorus. Another stand-out is Chisomo Chipembere's skipping, bright vocal, backed by guitar and deep bass drum, its chirpiness at odds with its title, ‘Ambush of the Slaves’. Another compact pop song is emphatically strummed out by Saulos again, a reggae amble, with a nimble bassline. One of the downers is the near-excruciatingly flat vocal of Officer Kaunde, perhaps included due to her position of authority.