Easy to Love
Maxi Priest
(VP Records)
Two Stars
Lovers' rock can be musically too smooth and lyrically too schmaltzy. But fans of the reggae subgenre won't be disappointed – this is about as smooth and schmaltzy as it gets. Gravity, unsurprisingly, is the single off the album, a chugging rhythm driven firmly by the legendary duo of the drummer Sly Dunbar and the bassist Robbie Shakespeare with Priest's fine voice like the icing on top. From the obligatory duets, the singer DeLaRose weighs in on Your Love to Me, a lovely, summery track with more than a splash of Marley's Don't Rock My Boat. More like this and I could be won over. But, no, it's back to the R&B horror of I Could Be the One, before closing with the lighter-waver Hearts Across the World – pleasant, but is it reggae? The album's slick arrangements – think Stars-era Simply Red – are almost too perfect. With Priest, one of reggae's finest voices, backed by one of the genre's finest rhythm sections, Easy to Love should have been a roaring Caribbean V8. Instead it merely idles.
artslife@thenational.ae
