( L - R ) Prince Mydas and Rik Rok - CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
TWO SINGLES from Music Owned By Artistes (MOBA) principals Rik Rok and Prince Mydas, Laughter In the Rain and Just Imagine respectively, establish an easy listening thrust by the new, Atlanta-based label.
And this easiness on the ear comes from not only the lyrics, but also from the music and delivery.
However, Laughter In The Rain starts with a drum track that would normally indicate a dancehall song. But, the other instruments establish an R&B sound over the hardcore dancehall and it is not strange when Rik Rok comes in with:
"I'm so proud to be alive
Such a joy to hear her name
If she ever needs to cry
I'll be here to ease her pain ..."
Using an even, but not monotonous, tone, Rik Rok sets the stage for the chorus ('she's like laughter in the rain .../a gift from up above/I swear from this day on/she'll always have my love'), filled out with lush harmonies.
So, OK, the lyrics get a bit cheesy ('Mona Lisa seems to fade/she's unable to compare/with the smile she'll unveil'), but never really jarring.
Prince Mydas's Just Imagine goes down the 'conscious' path and is a straight out reggae track, again on the laid-back side. He sings of a fantasy land where there is no more war and crime ('I woke up this morning, turned on the TV/heard the headline news/there were no reports of war and crime/and children being abused'), which naturally does not exist ('then the DJ on the radio told me/it's just a dream ... it shouldn't be'). Still, it is a nice to 'just imagine, everybody loving somebody ...' again with good harmonies.
Mydas's goes into a higher register to get off a good line in 'can't you see it's wrong, talking peace with a bomb', but at 1:38 of a 4:11 song and already into repeats I was wondering how the second half of Just Imagine was going to keep me interested. It did, as a chorale of average singers, giving a good raw effect, joined Mydas and gradually took over from him to bring Just Imagine to a satisfying end.
Laughter In The Rain and Just Imagine are not stunners, but they make good, easy listening.
- Mel Cooke
