TIMAYA AND THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED.

TIMAYA has a new album out. It's titled 'UPGRADE'.Before the full album came out a couple of weeks back, I had been familiar with one song which seemed to be a hit on the party circuits and bus-park blaring cd vendors. Each time, I heard that song, I would silently ask myself, 'who is this Jamaican artist singing audaciously about bum-bums?'. The song 'Bum-Bum' is a new experiment of techno-raga-dancehall and it's quite a departure from the usual style of Timaya. I was shocked when I learnt that Timaya did that song. For once, a little bit of grudging respect for his musical prowess began to grow in me. Before now, Timaya was to me, lyrically deficient. He had found a winning formula with his self-praise style of singing, always finding fault with one 'bad belle' person or singing about his worn-weary exploits and nouveau wealth. His first three albums had over 70% of such lyrical drivel ( my opinion) but they seemed to have found a ready fan base as the sales of each encouraged him to continue with 'his winning formula'. After all, you don't change a winning team mid-way into the season. But I believe his last album before this one, 'PLANTAIN BOY', must have opened his eyes that the audience had just about had enough of the annoying braggadocio in his songs. Sales of the album, though good, were not enough to retain him in the commercial pecking order of the music sector. As the popular saying goes, 'you are as good as your last work' when you are a creative person. Thus, instead of the music doing the work of ingraining Timaya into our conciousness, his personal fights and foibles did more of the work. I believe that became the turning point in his career. I think somehow, the fellow went into his inner recesses and came out with this near-superb new album. I call it near-superb because from the little I have heard and after sampling opinions from music experts and producers, we all seem to be in agreement that the new work is TIGHT. It is a pure dancehall pleasure. A radical departure from his past works. It's also instructive to note that Timaya changed producers in this album. This time, he used a new guy called YOUNG D. Someone correct me if I am wrong there. Using a one-Producer format worked this time for Timaya. The beats are very hot and Timaya wisely and largely stayed off his Self-praise lyricism. Though a professional mind can easily deduce that most of the songs had lyrics which were largely composed on the spur of the moment in the studio, that does not in any way hinder the surges of pleasure the listener gets from the album. Timaya's experiment has turned out to be a focal point in defining club music in the techno-pop era we all find ourselves in. The massive sales of the album off the shelves these past couple of weeks ( according to market reports) prove that his new road trip might be less bumpy than his past highways.