Shaggy ADD

Review

Album Review: Morgan Heritage - Here Come The Kings

06/11/2013

by Valentin Zill

Five years can be an awfully long period of time. After the release of their last album Mission In Progress in 2008, many fans began to fear that Morgan Heritage wouldn‘t continue their mission the way they hoped for. The individual members of the Royal Family of Reggae had embarked on solo projects, some of them with considerable success - most notably, Gramps Morgan with his well-received albums Two Sides of My Heart (2009) and Reggae Music Lives (2012). But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And five years without an album in reggae music somehow equal twenty years in rock.

In August 2012, Morgan Heritage announced their return with a four-track EP called, well, The Return. Ten months later, they present their return in full album length. Here Come The Kings is the immodest title of their tenth studio album. It lists the five versatile siblings as producers, together with some representatives of the youngest generation of Jamaica‘s distinguished producers. Don Corleon is on board, as are Shane C. Brown (Juke Boxx Productions), Jason “J-Vibe” Farmer, Christopher Miller, Linton “TJ” White (TJ Records), Andre Bailey, and Lamar “Riff Raff” Brown. The album comes with twelve tracks, of which three are already known unfortunately to those who had treated themselves to a copy of The Return EP.

What the Kings - and the Queen, as Una Morgan‘s still part of the crew - come with is their trademark Rockaz Style, this time iced with a bit more pop to keep up with current trends. Neither the sound nor the lyrics will surprise those who are familiar with Morgan Heritage‘s work. Fans will breathe a sigh of relief and indulge in Here Come The Kings. It is of more than decent quality - with a few slightly boring exceptions -, unless you expect it to really live up to its boastful title. The title track is one of those who almost do, though. Morgan Heritage demand a return towards Jah (Man Has Forgotten, Looking For The Roots), cry for change and a better life for sufferers (Ends Nah Meet), and sing sweet love songs (Perfect Love Song), the single released for Valentine‘s Day 2013; the wonderful cover of Michael Jackson‘s and Paul McCartney‘s The Girl Is Mine known from The Return; the album‘s only combination Love Stoned - with the notorious Shaggy outshining the Morgans). The Royal Family‘s mission is still in progress with their tenth album.

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