Destiny

Though he started his career in the 1970s as a singer and then a drummer with a variety of middle-tier reggae bands, Glen Washington emerged as a successful solo artist in the late '90s and has since established a reputation for himself as a master of lovers rock. His voice has roughened a bit over the intervening three decades since he started, and on Destiny his energy level isn't always at its highest. But this is the kind of music that doesn't tend to suffer from a singer with a grainy voice and a more languid delivery, and with an A-list team of sidemen (Dean Fraser, Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, etc.) and a nice mix of modern and vintage reggae rhythms to work with, Washington delivers a solid if not ultimately earthshaking set of roots and romantic reggae. He seems to be most invigorated by the material that draws on classic sources: the "Three Blind Mice" rhythm on which "Pour Your Sugar" is based, the chugging one-drop groove of "Destiny," and, especially, the old Bunny Lee arrangement of the R&B classic "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," which is easily this album's highlight. On the more conscious side, Washington has harsh words for rude boys ("Hooligans got to go right now") and effectively brings the roots and culture on the sufferer's anthem "One Fine Day." It's only on the rather banal "Sweet Love," on which he sounds frankly worn out, that he fails completely to impress.