United States of Africa

For over 15 years, Luciano (aka Jepther McClymont) has been the most consistent roots singer in Jamaica, releasing a steady stream of singles and albums – sometimes as many as three a year. After hitting an early peak with Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell's Xterminator label and signing with Island, Luciano has continued to produce music of generally high quality, mainly for VP, though the sheer quantity of his output has inevitably led to a certain predictability, both lyrically and musically.

For his latest outing, Luciano has teamed up with leading European producer Frenchie, who learned his trade in London, and has since gone on to record many of Jamaica's top artists for his Maximum Sound label. The result, however, is far from a radical departure. Two tracks, ‘Moving On’ and ‘Hosanna’, recycle original vintage rhythms (the Paragons’ rock-steady ‘Only A Smile’ and Johnny Clarke's version of Burning Spear's ‘Creation Rebel’ respectively), while ‘A No Like We No Like Them’ revisits Ini Kamoze's ‘World A Music’ and ‘Invasion’ makes use of the Xterminator recut of Ernest Wilson's ‘I Know Myself’. Despite the presence of the likes of Sly and Robbie, the original rhythms fail to stand out in comparison.

On the lyrics side, ‘In This Recession’ and ‘Another Terrorist Attack’ make a nod to topical issues, while ‘Nubian Queen’ and ‘King Of Kings’ are unsurprisingly concerned with love and Haile Selassie respectively, while ‘Only Jah Can Save Us Now’ is a spiritual ballad. It's all nice enough, but we've been here before.