The Vault Reviews: Third Rock by Prince Malachi

Come around. When it comes to music, I don't even really know what 'retiring' or anything involved in 'retirement' means. If you think about it, being a musician is something you can do.... pretty much your entire life. People will gladly lineup to hear an infant sing or play some instrument and they'll watch a century old person pluck a guitar or sing a tune (while sitting down) they've known for their entire life. So the question of what exactly is entailed in the end of a music career (outside of death or some other type of health event, obviously) is somewhat of a mystery to me. Really, the only person I can even think of having any sort of a retirement was a few years back when the legendary Burning Spear retired from the music industry, but you look up today and there exists 'Mommy', which is the new single from the Burning Spear. It's a tricky thing. With that being said, however, somewhere hopefully far from calling it a day on their career is a lineup of artists who, although still active, I just really wish we heard from more often. These are individuals who have proven themselves and demonstrated some high level of talent, but don't seem to do it often enough - they very much fall on the side of quality over quantity. Also, if I think about it enough, some of these individuals might even rank in the lower reaches of my favourite artists going. I definitely enjoy their music, but I need to hear them more often. One of the first such names to come to my mind would be General Degree. Now well into his fifties (which is ANCIENT for a Dancehall artist), even when he was in his prime Degree was underrated and overlooked in many respects and perhaps that had something to do with the fact that he was never the most active of stars - but to find his equal, strictly in terms of talents, you had to look ONLY at the biggest names in the genre. He'd run laps around anyone else as truly one of the most naturally gifted people the Dancehall has ever seen. Coincidentally, I'm also thinking of a pair of vocalists from out of St. Vincent in, the Volcano Trumpet, Qshan Deya and Ossie Dellimore. The former's career will likely be noted in a major way for his inactivity (dropped an album everyone loved, "Journey", in 2001, its followup, "Love Govern Us All" would arrive twelve years later, nine years later (2021) he  gave us an EP, but we are still waiting on the third album), while Dellimore, on the other hand, displayed his talent via one of the greatest songs ever created 'Time Has Come' (and I believe there're two versions of it, if you can find what I presume to be the oldest, less polished version of it, it is DEVASTATINGLY beautiful) and has been very difficult to find musically, consistently, since then (and I think that tune originates back in the late 1990's). I'm also thinking of the likes of Prince Theo (who has renamed himself Theo Nyeemiya), Nereus Joseph (who has a Modern Classic to his credit on these pages) and an unfortunately sizable group of others who have made an impact on me in some way or another that I wish 'came around' more often. 

What makes them frustrating are those moments such as 'Time Has Come', "Real Rebels Can't Die" (Joseph's Modern Classic) and a career of excellent output in the case of Degree. They've shown themselves far more than just capable to surely more people than just myself and have enjoyed a relatively high level of success but, for whatever reason, we can't get a more steady amount of work from them (and you'll forgive me for maybe being too demanding, but if you're a Reggae fan, you know what their peers are doing in terms of prolificacy, even those who are aged). Another name very firmly implanted into that list, and near its head, would be the outstanding Prince Malachi from out of the UK (and also forgot to mention Chukki Starr, another enormously gifted artist from out of England). The heavy voiced London born singer is often compared to the likes of Luciano (more on him later), Bushman and Natty King and not only in terms of his sound, his talents are on those very high levels as well. Also, like Luciano, he spent a number of his developmental years under the eye of the legendary Philip 'Fattis' Burrell and his equally esteemed Xterminator Productions (we are nearing a very short decade since Burrell ascended) (it does not seem that long), for whom he recorded three or four of his early albums (technically it's three but actually it's four as "Love Jah" and "Prophet, Priest & King" were the same) (and, apparently, "Prophet, Priest & King" was released twice, once via Jet Star and once directly from Xterminator. I did not know that prior to digging through my own collection, looking for a later Malachi release and finding the Xterminator version. I had no idea I owned this one) (so three recorded, four released. Unfortunately, unlike Luciano and some of his fellow Xterminator alumni, Malachi's career did not go the route of the [over]active and, instead, even to this day record shelves are regrettably THIN on his output. This is confounded by the fact that virtually every time you hear something from the singer - it is of a really high quality. He had an album that is all but gone now by the name of "One Perfect Love" from 2007 which was an amazing Roots set and probably a Modern Classic of its own. Prior to that was the well received "Runaway Slave" ["Runaway, runaway, runaway, runaway, runaway! They say that I a runaway slave!"], three years earlier from Stingray Records which might be his most popular release to date. That one was also excellent and, wonderfully, is not particularly difficult to find at all (and listening back through it now, it sounds soooooo!). Following "One Perfect Love", it seemed as if Prince Malachi had found a strong groove for himself, having had a pair of winning albums in just three years, but apparently we'd gotten too damn comfortable as it would be an unacceptably long EIGHT YEARS before the Prince would return. 

2004

I can recall "Third Rock" being mentioned as forthcoming for either quite awhile before its release or maybe intensely just ahead of it. I remember being happy that so much attention was being paid to it and I wasn't the only one sitting around thinking that it had been a way too long since Prince Malachi had an album. And when it finally did reach, the reaction was solid, as you would expect. If you've never quite tuned in Malachi's music, what you're missing isn't something which will shock you in any way at all. Even when he's at his best, his music isn't what I would call 'shattering' (I'm thinking about it now and, having just mentioned him, comparatively, he's somewhat similar to General Degree in this aspect). His talent is a nurturing one. It's soothing. You can listen to Prince Malachi music for an hour straight and enjoy what you're hearing, but it will feel like only fifteen minutes has passed. He gets into this vibe and everything blends together to a lovely degree and it becomes rather easy to lose track of time when listening to his music. As I mentioned, previously Prince Malachi had worked with both Xterminator and Stingray on albums ("One Perfect Love" came via Blackamix), and he has also done singles for the likes of Beres Hammond, Peckings, Maximum Sound and even Oneness Records. However, "Third Rock" would find him taking matters into his own hands and serving as producer himself and releasing the album with Ten Mile Media (Zojak Worldwide, digitally) through his own label, Prince Malachi Music. It's difficult to keep up with someone like Malachi, so I had no idea that such a thing was even possible but, given his stature and his experience, I wasn't shocked that he had taken that step and I was very interested in what the results may be (..... even though I pretty much knew what to expect) (you always know for him, it's just a matter of HOW good). And I should also say that since this album, he's released even more material through his label (including a big tune called 'Whirlwind [Love Garvey]' a few years back). What did end up happening on "Third Rock" was yet another sample of why you wish he'd had more music released over the years. When you listen to pieces such as these you really begin to wonder what may've been for Prince Malachi. He's had a great career and in something like music that's difficult to have, in general, and he's definitely made it and enjoyed it - but I think it could have been even more. The fact that THIS is the first review of his work you'll find on these pages (and its timing is surely my fault, but even if had arrived earlier, it still would have been the first and only) says something and actually listening to the BEAUTY that was "Third Rock" reinforces it as Prince Malachi, once again, SHINED from beginning to end. Got nothing better to do??? I'd love to tell you about it.

I've always been of the opinion that Prince Malachi's music is best appreciated by more 'hardened' listeners of Roots Reggae music. Although with his voice, he can bring a smile to anyone's face who listens to him, but he tends to focus heavily on themes which're inherent to the genre and do so in a way which is fairly straight forward (he almost reminds you of Mikey General in that regard) (General also from London, coincidentally). However, I have to say that while not much had changed there for this release, both new and old fans alike will find plenty to love about "Third Rock". It has a very open element to its vibes, while not drifting far away from the norm if at all. If you're looking for an example of that your search could well begin and end on the first selection and previous single, the clever 'Great Welcome'. I do not know what I had in mind when I saw the title originally but what it actually was certainly was a surprise. The opener expresses a kind of a 'thanks for nothing' type of sentiment as Malachi speaks on the diaspora of people of African descent, specifically those headed to the United Kingdom. Despite its title, what he's dealing with is many of the struggles that they faced such as a tremendous amount of racism and out and out hatred in many cases. A nice touch is the fact that 'Great Welcome' sounds DELIGHTFUL! It is a JOY to listen to on the surface which kind of adds to the irony of the matter as the singer smiles and says "thank you"... for treating me like shit. But don't worry, I made it alright in the end for myself. 'Strength and Hope' is kind of a remake/redo of an older song from Malachi from Reality Sound and, just like the original, it is excellent. Here, we're seeking a supreme inspiration from His Majesty and we are getting it in a MAMMOTH way. 'Strength and Hope' is easily one of the finest tracks on this album and I do not think Malachi has released an album on which it would not enjoy a similar standing. I have a guess as to who it is but I'm not sure, so a big credit goes to the saxophone player who dazzled on this one. After grabbing that inspiration, maybe we'd use it to become closer to one another and stop 'Building Walls'.

"Now mentally, the division goes on

Said another day, it only brings some more confusion

BUT MORE BARRIERS IS NOT THE SOLUTION!

We need a whole lotta love-

Communication!

So stop building your walls

You got to stop building your walls

When will we ever find some piece?!

While we argue and war our love for each other falls

Can't you see the clock ticking?"

The chorus here is GOLDEN. It is dually infectious as it is hard-hitting and presented in a way where it becomes not even a matter of unity and bringing people together. This doesn't even get that far. This is an issue of common sense! Stop looking for reasons to drive people away from one another. You know that shit isn't right! Stop playing! "Third Rock" (which I keep typing as "Third World") (biggup Third World) features a pair of big named collaborations and the first to arrive is 'Fallacies' which unites Prince Malachi with long time friend the incomparable Messenjah, Luciano. As I mentioned, Luciano is someone with whom Malachi is often compared musically and they share at least a partial source via Xterminator, but I believe this is the very first tune the two have shared. As you would expect with such a union, the song is MIGHTY! There is nothing at all which happens during 'Fallacies' which is unanticipated - the song is about how easy it is to lose focus on what is truly important in life. It has a spiritual foundation (between the two you know if it could not have been any other way) and what sticks out is the BIG vibe that it brings. I think Prince Malachi and Luciano were fully aware of the moment of such a big combination and they more than took advantage of it. Hopefully they'll get the opportunity to do it again someday. And because I just said it and I know you're wondering, 'Gideon Rough' (which is preceded by the 'Justice Interlude') officially contains the work on the great Dean Fraser on the saxophone. As its title would suggest, the song is a broad and general commentary on everyday life made GORGEOUS due to both artists, vocally and instrumentally. It may be the single best listen on "Third Rock", which is saying a great deal, and one of its finest tracks, in general. I did want to mention that, between the first four sets on the album, we get over NINETEEN minutes of music. The shortest of them ('Strength and Hope') is four and a half minutes long and it goes up  to 'Fallacies' which is nearly five and quarter. It is so satisfying when someone appreciates what they have and make the most of the moment which is precisely what happened on "Third Rock".

You'll welcome it as well. To my opinion, the album reaches its apex on during its title track, which was CANDY for my overactive mind. 

"In the beginning, earth was dark and void but still there was life

Whole planet spinning, third rock from the sun, that's where we reside

Granted dominion over all things, creating barriers and borders

Even the animals and birds that have wings fear for your new world order

So each time we rise, people open your eyes

As Jah separate day from night, come we try to make wrongs right

Remember-

In the beginning, no there was no hate, everything create with love

And while atoms were splitting, the journey of mankind - it had just begun

And from way deep in Africa You and I came

The first to behold the glory

Long before Abel and Cain and some guy and dem story

SO WHAT YOU SEE TODAY, IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE THIS WAY!"

What is the reasoning behind this tune? Let's talk about it for a minute. On one hand I'm thinking that Prince Malachi is kind of scolding us for mistreating and misusing the world as the gift that we were given long ago. He says, "granted dominion over all things, creating barriers and borders. Even the animals and birds that have wings fear for your new world order", and it stands up (especially in mentioning the birds and their wings: They have wings, THEY CAN FLY AWAY IF THEY WANT, and still they're scared of you!) as if he's berating us and we deserve it as we have largely soiled this great responsibility that we've had in the world. That's one view of 'Third Rock' that I've had (and I think it's the likeliest). The other is that Malachi is attempting to put us in our place a bit by saying that there're much bigger fish in this ocean. "And while atoms were splitting, the journey of mankind - it had begun" could be him saying that things were at work long before we were here (they'll still be going when we're long gone). If you follow along with it, he actually puts us into the story: "Whole planet spinning, third rock from the sun, that's where we reside". It had an identity and a function before us. It did not need us then and it does not need us now! As I said, it is RIPE for potential point of views and, six years after its release, I'm still curious in exploring them. Also check the somewhat autobiographical 'Open Book' as one of the biggest efforts on board. 

"My life - I've felt joy and pain 

There are ones that I would love to see again

But Jah Jah, He has taken them away-

Away to a better place

My life - I've seen injustice and tragedy

Things are not the way that they're supposed to be

But still we keep on praying daily for the lot of time we've waste"

It's more on the expansive side, and thus more relatable, with Malachi's ultimate theme being that we all go through various things, good and bad, which shape us into who we are. I'm also contractually required to tell about the riddim on 'Open Book'. That thing was crafted by angels somewhere, it is STUNNING! Should you want to call it your favourite from "Third Rock", that'd be fine by me. 'Don't Turn Your Back' might also be somewhere in that discussion and I'm going to tell you something about this one because you've already been making a mistake with it for six years now: 'Don't Turn Your Back' was exceptional. It was very, very good and you didn't give it the attention it deserved. What stood out was the unique perspective from which it was written. You've heard, literally, hundreds of tracks about helping the poor and less fortunate, but this one comes from the point-of-view of that individual personally ["It's been a long, long time that we've been down here, living in our shackles and chains. And physically they abolished, they say. Mentally babylon ah use up dem brains"]. It's little things like that which can make a song POP for someone and make an impact, when you can adopt a different viewpoint or just throw in something which we haven't heard an infinite number of times (not that I'm complaining about the norm. Clearly, I love it as well). Want more? The Prince also sets out 'Wait Too Long', which you didn't pay a proper respect to when you first heard it either. It is a drop which is more than four and a half minutes in length, but comes and goes in, seemingly (and fittingly), about fifteen seconds.

"I ain't gonna wait too long

A just twelve likkle hours 'fore Jah sun goes down 

Don't wait too long

As I ah rise up early, i know that I will have to do Jah work today

I meditating on His glory and all of the things that He has done for me

I see that there's no time to waste

BETTER TO BE EARLY, MI SEH THAN TO BE LATE

For in this ya rat race, brother don't you lose your faith

I ain't gonna wait too long

A just twelve likkle hours 'fore Jah sun goes down 

Don't wait too long

The Devil never been as strong as He is today

I see Him trying to lead all the righteous astray

He's always putting obstacles in my people's way

But no matter what He do

We keep on going through

No matter what He do

I & I keep going through"

Again, a case could rather easily be made for this anti-procrastination and anti-laziness anthem being the single best moment on this album. It is that good when you combine the message with yet another lovely composition behind it. The remaining tune here that I could see drawing top consideration is 'Better Days' (and its drums) which pushes out a whole heap of inspiration to the masses. This one may just feature the strongest vocal performance from Prince Malachi on this release and one of the better that I can recall hearing from him, period. And it does succeed merely on the strength of his wonderful voice, but what he uses it for here it to bring people together and shine a little light on us during some darker moments in life. The album ends with the somewhat Jazzy 'Ups and Downs' which isn't a bad piece at all but doesn't rank among my favourites really. I did enjoy the message, however, which is (self-explanatory) about the... ups and downs of everyday life (I probably should have said "ebbs and flows"). It's another which is on the broader side and relatable and Prince Malachi does manage to change things up just a bit on a tune like this: 

"You know we all are brothers, sisters of one race

AND EACH AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL NEEDS THEIR SPACE"

Respect everyone (well, most people) and respect their personal space and their beliefs and their moods and just everything that makes us unique. And finally there was a pair of love songs on "Third Rock", 'If I Don't Have You' and 'No Other'. Never in a hundred years would you listen to the downright EXPLOSIVE opening of the former and predict that a love song would develop from that. You'd think you were about to hear some GIANT, Luciano-esque, heavy Roots anthem. 'If I Don't Have You' is stronger than the catchy 'No Other' which might take a minute, but continuously grows on you to the point where if I keep listening to it while writing the closing for this review, I may have to come back and edit this as to which is the best love song on the album (so I'm going to turn it off now, because I have stuff to do today).

Overall, fortunately, for someone who comes around so infrequently, when Prince Malachi does make an appearance, he almost always makes the most of it and he didn't make an exception with "Third Rock". "One Perfect Love" is his finest piece of work. Outside of that, however, while I may favour "Runaway Slave" or you may have fallen for one of the Xterminator releases, I don't think that you can make a point that any of them are CLEARLY better than this one. And even aside from comparisons (although they are very fun to make), it was a really well done project from beginning to end and, as I said, I was so happy to see not only the reception to "Third Rock", but the early attention it was receiving ahead of its release date. Something else I want to mention - if this is your first or one of your first times hearing the music of Prince Malachi, I'm kind of jealous of you. You don't have a great deal of music to discover now (well you do, technically, but not as much as you might hope), but so much of what is there is at such a similar level that I can all but guarantee you that you're going to LOVE something else as well if "Third Rock" grabs you in any way. If it doesn't you may have a problem as, once again, though he continues to spend entirely too much time in the shadows, when the sun does shine on Prince Malachi, what is shows us is something which we sure would like to see more often.

Rated: 4.3/5

Prince Malachi Music/Ten Mile Media/Zojak Worldwide

2015

CD + Digital