A Moment In Time (V.P. Records)
Jamaican soul man Beres Hammond has long since earned the right to take it easy. He’s toured the world many times over, built his own state-of-the-art studio (twice), and launched his own Harmony House label. His double disc career retrospective Can’t Stop A Man (V.P.) has been in stores for five years now. Apprentice artists like Collie Budz have scored hits sampling his early work. Three decades deep into a distinguished career, most singer songwriters would be on cruise control. And yet, with his latest album A Moment In Time (V.P.), Hammond is at the height of his powers, sounding sharper than ever. Although he is charmingly down-to-earth when discussing his songwriting talents, the album’s title offers a clue to what makes the maestro’s songs great: what elementary school writing teachers call “small moments.” Each of his compositions is palpably grounded in real life, nailed down with details that turn his songs into sensual experiences. One listen and you feel like you’ve lived it.
Take the lead single “Feel Good,” a joyous celebration of simple pleasures to be found dancing in a loved ones arms: “You feel like velvet rubbing over my skin / And then your hair dances under my chin.” Delivered in that warm and well-worn voice of his, the effect on female listeners is positively narcotic. (At the top of “Still Will Be Heaven” he utters what may be the most redundant line in his whole catalog—“This one is for the ladies.”)
Hammond is the undisputed champion of love songs, right up there with Teddy Pendergrass and Ron Isley, but on new cuts like “Picking Up The Pieces,” he’s arguably more powerful when delivering what reggae fans tend to call “reality tunes.” Whatever the man wants to sing, take a moment, open your heart and listen.
Hammond’s latest came out on 11/11/08
Track listing for A Moment in Time
1. I Feel Good
2. No Goodbye
3. Picking Up the Pieces
4. Still Will Be Heaven
5. Can't Say I Never Tried
6. Friends?
7. Give It All You've Got
8. I'll Live Again
9. Talking Africa
10. Dark Clouds
11. I Surrender
12. A Place for You
13. Bring It On
14. Body & Soul
15. Cry No More
16. A Moment in Time
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