What makes for a good, memorable supergroup? Is it the musical prowess? The profile of the producer? The songwriting talent? While these are all important elements, what sets apart the best of the supergroup ilk is the element of collaboration. From Blind Faith to The Traveling Wilburys, the key to success has always proven to be a sacrifice of egos to create a full, balanced and unique sound only possible with the level of talent involved.
And talent is certainly involved in SuperHeavy, an international cross-genre accumulation of incredible musical talent that lends itself nicely to the aforementioned balance. Vocal skills (Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, soul belter Joss Stone), production wizardry (ex-Eurythmic Dave Stewart, Slumdog Millionare scorer A.R. Rahman), and songwriting expertise (Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley) all come together to make an album unengaging lyrically but surprisingly versatile as an experiment in cross-genre breeding.
From a group from so many ethnic backgrounds and larger-than-life personalities, little on the group’s debut “SuperHeavy” addresses the current state of the world. Rather, the group seems content to blitz through as many styles as quickly and slickly as possible. With Stone and Jagger doing most of the heavy vocal lifting and Marley tossing in occasional semi-raps about poverty and the need for unity, the group makes a surprisingly accessible meeting of world music and pop. Lush Bollywood chill outs “One Day One Night,” straightforward reggae “Miracle Worker” and electronic Caribbean pop “Beautiful People” all go down smooth to make catchy, if slightly showy, introductions to world music. With a nice balance of vocal and production contribution, it’s nice to see the reports of amicable sessions translating to the music.
Of course, some personalities come across stronger than others, particularly Jagger. Perhaps it’s because his voice is so familiar, but he is in fine vocal form here. The one true rocker, “I Can’t Take It No More,” could easily fit into a late-period Stones album, and the lovely ballad highlight “Never Gonna Change” shows rock’s greatest front man is capable of restraint. Conversely, Marley seems less crucial to the pop dynamic. Although his aggressive melding of rap and reggae has proved revelatory elsewhere, here it seems to interrupt the flow, such as his oddly placed verse on the otherwise lovely Jagger-Stone showcase “I Don’t Mind.”
Then again, SuperHeavy was never meant to be perfect from the outset. It’s far from balanced and stylistically all over the map, but with so many talents on display, the consistency of tone makes this a welcome introduction to world music, as well as these wonderful artists, in an engaging pop setting.
