Glorify the Lord

There has always been a very broad spectrum of sincerity among reggae's Rastafarian artists. For many, Rastafari is a whole-life commitment; for others, wearing dreadlocks and moaning about sufferation in Babylon is just one more way of cashing in. And of course, there are many artists whose commitment falls somewhere between those extremes. There's never been any question where Fred Locks stands on that continuum, though: he's about as devout as they come. The downside of that kind of sincerity, however, is that it tends to limit what one is willing to sing about, and everything he's willing to sing about on Glorify the Lord has already been sung about many, many, many times before. That would be OK if the songs were more memorable in their tunes and backing tracks, but the artist relies too much on dry, featureless melodies and two-chord progressions. Producer Steve "Blacker Dread" Martin provides him with excellent original rhythms and the occasional update of a vintage one, and combined with Locks' naturally attractive voice they end up working quite well most of the time — he does a creditable job covering the Junior Byles classic "Curly Locks," acquits himself nicely on "Can't Hide from Jah," and even puts "A Nice Feeling" across pretty convincingly despite its generic lyrics and so-so tune. He does suffer from some pitch problems on "Watch Your Livity" and, to a lesser extent, on "Keep Up the Good Works" when he tries to soar up to the high notes. But overall this is a good, workmanlike reggae album.