THE two years spent by singer Singing Melody to record his latest album has certainly paid off.

The artist — best known as one member of the quartet LUST — launched his sixth studio album, They Call Me Mr Melody, last Friday at the weekly live music jam session Plug ‘N Play at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel in front of an extremely receptive audience.

Singing Melody voicing one of his hits. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

The project, released by reggae music powerhouse VP Records, sees Singing Melody stepping away from his penchant for cover versions and taking a huge bite into original material contributed by a pool of writers including Chevaughn Clayton, the lead singer for high-riding band C-Sharp.

The tracks represent an ecclectic mix of smooth ballads (lovers’ rock), a touch of dancehall, inspirational and even harks back to the root of the music with a collaboration with veteran reggae act U-Roy. Production credits include Tony Kelly, Donovan Germain, Lynford ‘Fatta’ Marshall, Sly and Robbie and Skatta Burrell. In addition to the duet with ‘Daddy’ U-Roy, his LUST family — Lukie D, Thrilla U and Tony Curtis; Stacious and Lymie Murray also make an appearance on various tracks.

For last Friday’s launch, Singing Melody delivered the majority of the tracks for his audience while dropping in previous releases Want You Back and Say What for good measure.

Among the tracks which stand out are the lead single Collide — a lovers’ rock track in the vein that the artist is most known. Time Wasted was contributed by Chevaughn Clayton; The smooth ballad Never Get Over You; Must Be The Girl featuring Stacious — which is dedicated to Melody’s wife and business partner Ruby Robinson-Hardware and the inspirational Call On His Name also had an impact at Friday’s launch.

The overall impact of the project is yet to be seen, as Friday event was being held days ahead of the international release, and in a digital age when the sale of physical CDs are down internationally, however, this does not diminish to quality of the production of They Call Me Mr Melody which is a good listen.

— Richard Johnson