'Changing Faces': A Review of "Come Into My Life" by Adele Harley

WONDERFULLY, we find ourselves more and more these days encountering new artists who don’t necessarily seem to exist in the realm of making single hits and then vanishing, but ones who seem to have themselves attached to the craft and art form of making Reggae music in the long term. This is very important - Singularly because obviously it provides us with a new generation of artists (more on that in a minute) - But also on the larger scale it shows that the genre is continuing to grow because, at least presumably, somewhere in this new group will be the new stars as well. That being said, however, it hasn’t seem that the entire Reggae community has been very open to change and while that certainly isn’t surprising (given that our music is often viewed under the ‘older = better’ mentality), it is still somewhat disappointing and when we see that construct begin to fade, in certain aspects, the prospects are absolutely delicious. Once again, in this instance, we find ourselves going back to the UK, one of our most visible of musical destinations these days. In light of new outstanding talents such as Gappy Ranks and Mr. Williamz and new labels such as Necessary Mayhem, even from the outside we can tell that the region is currently undergoing a heavy amount of change and that is great considering that the international faces of Reggae music in the UK have been the international faces of it for decades at this point. On top of that is the actual sound of the music itself. Much like the Virgin Islands are often thought of as being the haven of Roots Reggae music in the Jamaican style, circa 1975, the UK is similarly looked upon as being the same type of home-away-from-home in regards to a very SMOOTH type of Lover’s Rock music. With artists such as Lloyd Brown, Peter Hunnigale, Peter Spence and others making that type of music and doing so, at least seemingly, very successfully, they have become the face of that vibe and when you compare that to the Gappy Ranks and Mr. Williamz of the world, with an often harsh and old school type of Dancehall (in the purest sense of the word) style, it definitely seems very different on the whole. We can look at that simply as a changing of the time, and as I said, that is excellent. However, what might be even more interesting is a new breed of artist who can stay within that same set style, but leap it ahead with their own very nice and enticing methods. That would be very interesting indeed.

Meet Adele Harley. I’m going to go ahead and claim ignorance in the fact that I don’t know precisely how long Ms. Harley has been around (and I don’t if she’s married either, so she may very well be ‘Mrs.’ Harley), but what I do know is that - Very quietly and suddenly, over the course of the past two or three years or so she’s seemed to have existed as this somewhat mysterious and a tad bit reticent, but very impressive and popular UK singer. Her music, much unlike that of the aforementioned big young names of UK Reggae, fits VERY comfortably into the norm (and although I may seem like it wasn’t my personal favourite, I do so enjoy that kind of standard UK Lover’s Rock Reggae) and, while we do love to see the nature of the vibes changing, definitely breathing life into the already established scene is just as crucial. To date, Adele Harley has made her greatest impacts voicing with the very (and increasingly) reputable and respectable UK duo of Mafia & Fluxy who (obviously in between their works for French label, Irie Ites, and sometimes at the exact same time) have done very well with her, having her appear on several of their productions and it should go without saying that being afforded the opportunity of developing with them has certainly gone to make her the best possible artist she could be. So, for that same pair of powerful musicians and producers, Adele Harley now delivers her debut full length set, ”Come Into My Life”. I was actually pretty surprised to see that this album was her debut. I was FULLY convinced that the singer had an album back in 2008 for some reason, but my inaccurate assumptions notwithstanding, I’m sure there’re already MANY fans who’ve been enjoying this release and many more to come as it proves ultimately to be one of the FRESHER Lover’s Rock releases that I’ve heard in quite some time. It’s also pretty interesting (although not surprising, I suppose) that Mafia & Fluxy put the album out on their own. One would almost immediately think that that an album from Adele Harley would be a natural guarantee for the once incredibly promising, now seemingly vanished Cousins Records from Donville Davis (I guess they’re still in business. Lloyd Brown’s November release will most certainly reveal fully). Leading up to the album, Harley has appeared on a number of big compilations with her music, most recently she even appeared on ”R&B Hits: Reggae Style Vol. 4” from VP Records which is definitely a big deal and is something which has surely raised her status internationally as well as that compilation has always proven to be rather quietly successful. Not knowing a ton about Harley, listening to the album really was a very nice introduction to her on the large scale. She has a voice which is one which you wouldn’t immediately associate with Reggae music (particularly given her accent, of course), but she uses it, at her absolute best, to nearly wondrous effect, to the point where you may start to think why more singers like her, with these just COOL and SOOTHING tones, typically reserved for maybe a light type of R&B or, more often, Jazz. Also, you shouldn’t at all need me to tell you that Adele Harley, visually, isn’t immediately what one would think of as a Reggae singer, but our music is the greatest in the world, so you shouldn’t be surprised who walks through our door. You also shouldn’t be surprised by ”Come Into My Life”, as it proves to be a very strong and interesting debut album throughout. Let’s examine!

Although I have tried to represent the singer as being very refreshing and interesting, and she most certainly is, to some degree you do know what to expect on a UK Lover’s Rock album. There’re old school riddims and there’re a few remakes. Still, to the credit of artist and producers, it should be said that the VAST majority of the album is new material written by the headline. Said “headline”, Adele Harley, gets her brand new debut album, ”Come Into My Life” for Mafia & Fluxy, started with a sweet old school vibed tune ‘Reason Not To Stay’. The tune finds Harley with a secret. She hasn’t been a very nice person and her conscience has gotten to her and the tune is essentially her ‘coming clean’ to the special person in her life and if saying “I’m Sorry” sounded this nice every time, I imagine more than just a few of us would have a hard time saying. Excellent start. The vibes change almost diametrically on the next tune, the sterlingly modern ‘Only For One Day’. The riddim on this tune sounds like something out of Don Corleon’s vault of outstanding Roots/Lover’s Rock riddims and, maybe because it’s where my ears have been as of late - But the tune sounds kind of Zouk-ish to me as well. The song gets bigger and bigger sounding throughout and is even stronger than the opener to my opinion and clearly one of the album’s finest moments as well. And to complete the opening lot, Harley once again mines an old school vibes for ‘Walking On Air’ (which sounds nearly ‘doowop-ish’). She also mines a blast from the not too distant past because the tune is the first of two combinations on ”Come Into My Life” - This one featuring none other than Glamma Kid! I don’t know if Glamma has been exactly flaming on the UK scene as of late, but I haven’t heard anything from him in some time. This tune isn’t a favourite of mine, but it’s not at all bad and I might not be surprised to see it doing a heavy damage at some point in the UK.

For various reasons, be it the tune, the riddim or some other piece, ”Come Into My Life” features new and interesting takes on vibes with which I was previously familiar. This also includes two of its finest and ’visually’ most enticing moments, ‘Loves Taken Over’ and the closing ‘No One’. The former is an EXCELLENT cover of tune popularized by American Soul/R&B singer (and bonafide CUTIE), Chante Moore and is my favourite of the two. The latter, on the other hand, is also very good and is, obviously, a remake of the already somewhat Reggae-fied and very popular Alicia Keys tune from a few years back. Certainly also worthy of mention in this lot is ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’, which is another cover song (of a Bonnie Raitt tune that sounds somewhat familiar, but too much so to my ears). This one is decent, it was the tune on the aforementioned “R&B Hits: Reggae Style Vol. 4”, but it doesn’t have much of an ’edge’ to it, in my opinion, unlike the other two. So many times you hear artists taking on tunes which just don’t match their vibes or skill sets very well at all, but in Adele Harley’s case, that isn’t AT ALL a concern.

Still, of course I’m a Reggae head, so the album’s absolute finest moment for me is reserved for such a set. And my choice just happens to be the tune I knew of most prior to the album, the sensational ‘Love Has Faded’. The tune previously appeared on Mafia & Fluxy’s cut of Culture’s Down In Jamaica Riddim for Irie Ites and I don’t know if I’d just never REALLY paid attention to it (big big tunes on that riddim, including Lutan Fyah’s MASSIVE ‘Bad Traffic’), but certainly I’d heard it several times before and it is GORGEOUS! I typically don’t find such songs to be THE standout, because it’s kind of negative (as you should be able to tell by the title), but this thing is just so well done that I couldn’t get around it. The same could well be said about ‘Flying Away’, which comes through over the legendary Satta Massagana Riddim and was a pretty big surprise when I first heard it. This one pushes close for my affections to ‘Love Has Faded’ and should you want to call it the album’s best - That’s fine with me. And on that same note, in the latter stages of ”Come Into My Life” my ears well jumped and smacked me in my brain when I heard the tune ‘Reach Out’, which blends so FINELY over the Everyday Is A Holiday Riddim. The tune may just be the best written of the entire album and it sounds exquisite as well. There’s also a similar tune, the bubbly ‘Been So Long’ [moment #8,098,435 when I, most frustratingly, can’t think of that riddim’s name], which is sure to delight Reggae fans as well - Yours truly included.

The balance of the album also features some very nice and interesting moments as well. Such a moment would be the title track, which also is the second combination because it features Leroy Mafia [bka ‘Mafia’ of Mafia & Fluxy]. It is a beautiful song and apparently it’s been a pretty nice hit for Harley and no wonder at all why it was chosen as the album’s title (and speaking beyond that, calling a debut album ”Come Into My Life” is just . . . Intelligent) and we do love when Mafia puts on his singer‘s hat. There’s also a nice tune in ‘Memory’, which you need avoid like the plague if you’ve fucked up a relationship anytime recently (it was more than a decade ago for me and I was a child and it STILL nearly got to me). ‘Live Good’ is just a SWEET tune. There is the most intoxicatingly lovely flute spiraling in the background of the otherwise ‘large’ sounding tune and while it never QUITE develops as much as you might hope, it’s still a very nice song. ‘One More Chance’ finds Harley deliberating with herself whether or not to go back to a former significant other (maybe even that same guy she dealt with on the ‘Memory’ tune). From a sonic point of view, this is one of the best SOUNDING tunes to be found here and I also think it’s one of the better arranged as well. It is the type of song where you get the feeling that there is simply nothing they could’ve done to improve it in any way at all. And winding things down on this seventeen track set we get ‘I’ll Be Waiting’, which is another stellar effort - One of the album’s best. ‘Love Me Just One More Time’ has a title which is entirely too long, but because the subsequent tune is very strong, we’ll ignore that little matter. And finally, ‘The Way That You Do’ is ‘quietly jovial’ and at this point in the album I found myself thinking maybe Harley might do some more ostensibly HAPPY songs because there is no way, really, that hardcore Lover‘s Rock fans are not going to like this song. Just a thought.

Overall, when I began working on angles to write this review, having listened to the album already, I was kind of having a difficult time placing Adele Harley in somewhere. What I mean is that, almost always, when I listen to new artists or artists on debut albums, I tend to kind of work out what is my ‘best case scenario’ in terms of how they might end up in their careers - Kind of filling a need. However, after really analyzing it I think I kind of like her how she is. I don’t know the extent to which the grand scene is changing in UK Reggae, but if you think that they will EVER make Reggae music there and not have some type of affinity for Lover’s Rock music, then you’re surely mistaken. It just so happens that the music is EXTREMELY accessible and you can really do almost ANYTHING with it. SO the prospects of hearing Adele Harley stick around and make music with some of these young and up and coming artists is VERY appealing. As it stands, however, her debut album, ”Come Into My Life”, is one supremely interesting release. I’ve spoken on and on about what’s going on in the UK in terms of the sound, but in Adele Harley’s case, she’s managed to breathe some much needed new breath into the Lover’s Rock genre and she figures to have the legs (musically speaking, of course) to continue to do just that for a long time.

Rated: 3.75/5

Mafia & Fluxy

2010

CD & Digital

Adele Harley @ Myspace