SuperHeavy

A new supergroup-ish collaboration whose heart is really in the right place. A desire to make eclectic pop music has all of the ingredients. And from the view of the sonic landscape, what was desired was completely achieved. Next to that, all the participants could have spent another week re-working the songwriting angle.

Heading up the group is, of course, Mick Jagger. Which also brings me to another beef with the record. The vocals are WAY overmixed. This is true of all three vocalists, but is especially apparent at Mick's mic. This is mostly because Damien's vocals are meant to be basically solo reggae breakdowns. And Joss is a great vocalist, whereas Mick is not. All vocals are generally bleeding out what Stewart and Rahman are putting together, but it's more obvious with Jagger, whose voice the listener is more familiar with. I'm avoiding using the word "annoyed" because you won't be. At times, Jagger is quite impressive- spilling out mile-a-minute raps as he does in "Energy" and "Hey Captain". Another time, on the ballad "One Day One Night" it seems that Jagger is playing some alcoholic Tom Waits-type character. The result is definitely weird, but I enjoyed it.

Outside of the vocals is where the band is going to make most of its press. A.R. Rahman is an Indian film composer, which is the bedrock for most of these songs. Dave Stewart then adds some traditional pop and rock elements and puts it over a danceable beat. This is most evident in the title track for the group, which works well as a statement of purpose. Other tracks fair similarly well and will probably go over great at your next mixer.

Lyrically though, I was unimpressed. Most tracks are stuck in the rich-guy-wants-good lyrics that ask for world peace and implore the listener to do their best. It's all a little to general and cliché for me to grab on to emotionally. A couple of exceptions mix the best of every one's performance to create some standouts. The aforementioned "One Day One Night", in all of its oddity, really does leave me with more a feeling of wonderment than of annoyance. And easily the energetically strongest track, called obviously enough, "Energy". It's huge dance vibe will take over whatever room its in.

All in all, the group is surely just a one-off. And that generally comes out without thinking about the details. What they turned out was a good one-night stand moment, but isn't going to be the basis for a lasting relationship. (3 of 5 stars)