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Horace Andy
Livin' It Up
(Taxi)
First Appeared in The Music Box, August 2007, Volume 14, #8
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
Horace Andy has one of the most beautiful and versatile voices in all of pop
music. It is smooth and seductive one minute, and it is gravelly and emphatic
the next. Andy charted minor reggae hits for decades before lending his voice to
the ambitious Blue Lines, Protection, and Mezzanine
projects by British trip-hop sensation Massive Attack during the ’90s. Sly and
Robbie are perhaps the most well-respected rhythm section in dance music today.
Thirty-year veterans of Jamaica’s hardcore reggae scene, they not only have
scored hundreds of hits, but they also have sat in on thousands of sessions as
musicians, producers, and band leaders for pivotal Jamaican artists such as
Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru. Like Andy, they have famously crossed over into
music’s mainstream by backing artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, and
Sinead O’Connor.
When rumors surfaced that Andy had gone into the studio to record a new album
with Sly and Robbie, roots reggae fans everywhere couldn’t wait to see what they
would produce. Unfortunately, Livin’ It Up — the fruit of their
collaborative labor — demonstrates that the whole is not always the sum of its
parts. Still, Andy is in fine voice. His 30 years in the business have not
affected his ability to reach the celestial high notes that have become his
trademark, and he sings with heart, soul, and commitment on every one of the
disc’s 14 tracks. Sly and Robbie weigh in with some of the most inventive bass
and drum runs imaginable — proving yet again that the well of rhythms from which
they draw will never go dry. In terms of sheer musical inventiveness, the duo is
in top form, and they have produced a set of tunes that swing, groove, and
challenge the listener.
The problem with Livin’ It Up seems to lie solely with the songs
themselves. Their lyrical alchemy is missing, and this prevents Andy from
turning water into wine or from spinning straw into gold. Even though the music
weaves magical spells around the melodies, and the rhythms pulse with a force
that threatens to split the earth wide open, the lyrics are filled with clichés
that trap the singer and give him nowhere to go. All of the themes explored on
Livin’ It Up are overly familiar to reggae fans, and Andy’s exhortations
concerning treacherous women, wicked men, and the deliverance promised by Holy
Mount Zion have little poetry or interesting imagery to support them. Every
genre — whether it is country, hip hop, or blues — develops certain core
concepts and parameters over the years, and it takes a great artist to extend or
create new metaphors to make an aging style sound relevant and viable.
Unfortunately, all of the effort that went into creating this disc was spent on
the singing and playing. Finding great songs to perform was — at best — an
afterthought.
Livin’ It Up is certainly a reggae master’s summit, and Sly and Robbie
have been touring with Andy this summer in support of the endeavor. Hopefully,
the time that they spend together on the road will give them a chance to
experiment with their new songs. Perhaps if they are better honed, the tunes
will carry a stronger lyrical and emotional punch, thus providing a better
showcase for the talent of the people who obviously worked so hard to create
them. 
Livin' It Up is NOT available from Amazon.
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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