Conscious Reggae Music from Ultimate Shines
TEN years between albums is quite a stretch in contemporary music. In Jamaica, it’s like a lifetime especially if the artiste does not produce hit songs.
Singer Ultimate Shines broke his album drought on October 27 with the launch of Conscious Reggae Music in St Andrew. Produced by Saunjay Kerr for J Island Records, the 10-track set is worth the wait.
Ultimate Shines wrote all the songs on Conscious Reggae Music, which differs from most locally produced albums in that it is driven by original music and live instruments. The dreadlocked vocalist says that is deliberate.
“Reggae music is creativity, yuh don’t have to go back to the ’60s and ’70s to make hits. Yuh can throw in a Studio One ‘riddim’ now and again but the world is waiting for originality,” he reasoned.
In his early 40s, Ultimate Shines, given name Mark Anthony James, has been on the entertainment beat since the late 1980s. He started out on sound systems in his native west Kingston and George’s Plain, Westmoreland, where his family is from.
Initially, he recorded as Blacka Shines for a number of producers including singer Junior Reid. One of his successful songs, It’s A Shame, was done for Reid during the 1990s.
His association with Reid’s JR label did not yield a breakthrough hit. That finally came in 2001 with Call Me Jah, done on the popular, revived Zion Gate beat.
His debut album, Teach Dem, was released two years later but fared badly, which he blames on inadequate promotion. For Conscious Reggae Music, Ultimate Shines says things were different.
Kerr assembled a side of experienced and upcoming musicians including guitarist Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and keyboardist Tony ‘Asher’ Brissett, formerly of the High Times Players band, bassist Donald Bennett, and drummer Anthony Watson.
Their sound complements Ultimate Shines’ husky vocals on songs like Love Can Save The World, On The Ball, Angel, and Take Me To The Country, a song he first recorded over a decade ago.
Most of the songs are message-based. According to Ultimate Shines, the inspiration to write comes from his biggest influence.
“Bob (Marley) a mi teacher. Mi listen Bob, study Bob, waan write like Bob,” he said. “Mi waan sing songs dat will last forever.”
