Music Reviews
Artist:
LucianoTitle:
Jah Is My Navigator
The best reggae music of this century has – without question – emerged from within the ranks of the turban-toting, Vatican-spurning Rastafarian tribe known as Bobo Ashanti. Sub-genre figureheads, Sizzla and Capleton (along with assistant figureheads, Anthony B, Jah Cure and Richie Spice – to name just a few), have now spent over a decade producing soulful roots music of a similar quality to that of 70s artists like Wailing Souls and Johnny Clarke, while simultaenously mastering and adapting the adrenaline-soaked electronic dancehall of the 80s and 90s.
Luciano is one of the more hit-and-miss artists to emerge from the Bobo camp (although 'camp' probably isn't a term they'd be happy with), and 'Jah Is My Navigator' contains more 'miss' material than 'hit'. While much his previous output has been pretty strong and displayed his diversity excellently, this album only really shows one side of Luciano – a syrupy, slightly cheesy soulful side – that contains none of the fervour of his earlier dancehall offerings such as 'Send Dem Come'.
There are a couple of stand-out tracks, however, in the form of 'Darkness' – a heart-trampling call for equal rights – and even the title track, 'Jah Is My Navigator', on which Luciano characterises the Rastafarian God as a sort of spiritual Sat Nav, over an uplifting, sunny beat.
Taking into account the quality that Luciano has proved capable of in the past, this album is something of a disappointment.
Rating: 2/5
Label: VP Records
Words: Tom Ellen
