Artiste: Beres Hammond
Album: Love Has No Boundaries
Rating:
IN THE midst of love there is life. Beres Hammond's latest release, Love Has No Boundaries is a testament to this.
The album is an ode to love from beginning to end. But this feature does not suggest a limited perspective on the subject, nor does it imply a lack of versatility in presentation.
The album opens with an intro to put all other intros to shame. The soulful, bluesy 'Interlude' which lasts 1:38 minutes has more depth and feeling than many a title track on many other singers' albums. It should have been made into a full song.
He sings: "I'm that voice that's blowing in the wind/ and I'm that heart that's always hurting deep within/I'm that soul that's longing to be found/ I'm that song that will always be around"
You know you've found a good album when you press repeat on the intro.
Solid Love which follows carries the theme of love and speaks about the love between people and nations, a message which is quite relevant today. Dean Fraser's horns speak eloquently on this track.
Good musicianship aside, the album also features a few welcomed cameos. Big Youth's barritone coming less with Beres' to create a mello party vibe on Good Old Dancehall Vibes; while Buju brings hardcore dancehall on Thanks Fe Me Pride and Joy his abrasive voice almost eclipsing the singer's more mellow tone.
Natural Black urges on Let the Good Times Roll though he does not have the presence of a Big Youth or the animation of a Buju.
SMITTEN LOVER
On songs such as All For Me, Thanks Fe Mi Pride and Joy, If This Isn't Love and Be That Person Beres deals with love from the perspective of the smitten lover. Love Mood on which he encourages a lover to "ride easy take your time/ watch for the corners/ and watch for the turns" as she hurries to catch him in a 'love mood' is a witty and insightful expression on sex and desire; yet it is done with the class and control of a consummate lyricist and songwriter.
It is difficult to choose favourites on the album which possess so many good tracks, but If this Isn't Love, the title track Love Has No Boundaries and Feel Love are so fresh that they stand out among the rest. If This Isn't Love is the song you play on your twentieth wedding anniversary. It is the song for the couple that loves from day to day, everyday.
Love Has No Boundaries is a pledge of love that makes new lovers excited and old lovers fantasize. On this R&B flavoured track the singer croons "I'll give you all the strength you need/ the air I breath/ I'll share Oh yes/ And I'll feel your pain/ over again/". And that's just a part of the chorus!
SINGJAY
Feel Love is a beautiful, hardcore, love song on which the singer redefines singjay. There is a rub a dub melody that will inspire many to get up and move.
But just when your head is properly floating in the clouds, the album takes you unexpectedly back to reality and to the more communal aspect of love. The track is followed by Let The Good Times Roll and Weary Soldier both in the vein of love, one for each other, the other for the environment.
After the philosophy of peace and love, the mood again changes to romance with 'Be That Person' and 'If I Should Wait'
Is it Beres' best? Perhaps not. But its certainly up there with the rest of his most endearing and potentially enduring work.
The album's intro is justified.
Alicia Roache
