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BLACK MAGIC
(Artemis)
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Mired in relative obscurity over the past decade, Jimmy Cliff is looking to modernize his career and regain the ’70s heights he reached as a film star and reggae icon. Black Magic boasts collaborations with Annie Lennox, Sting, and Wyclef Jean, but they do little — "Love Comes" has Lennox adding not much more than back-up vocals. Most of the instrumentation is synthesized, and the fake drums and bass clash with Cliff’s own radiant voice. Combine that with the simple and repetitive character of Cliff’s music and too many songs stretching past the five-minute mark and you have an album best suited to treating insomnia. "The World Is Yours (Positive Mind)" and "The City" plod along while milking tired music past its limits; "Fantastic Plastic People" and "Good Life" are the bright spots, and though they don’t redeem the album, they remind us that Cliff still has something to offer.
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