''Messenger'' is an album by the Jamaican musician Luciano, released in 1996. It reached the top 10 on ''Billboards

Top Reggae Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart. Luciano supported the album with a North American tour.

Production

The album was produced by Philip "Fatis" Burrell.

Dean Fraser Dean Ivanhoe Fraser (sometimes appearing as Dean Frazer) (born 4 August 1957) Allmusic.com biography by Sandra Brennan/ref> is a Jamaican saxophonist who has contributed to hundreds of reggae recordings since the mid-1970s. He was awarded the Mu ...

and

Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a band called ...

contributed to ''Messenger''. Many of the songs are about the greatness of

Jah Jah or Yah ( he, , ''Yāh'') is a short form of (YHWH), the four letters that form the tetragrammaton, the personal name of God: Yahweh, which the ancient Israelites used. The conventional Christian English pronunciation of ''Jah'' is , even th ...

; others convey uplifting messages. Luciano considered the album to be a slight pushback against the

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

style of reggae.

Critical reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' deemed ''Messenger'' "an album replete with haunting songs, intelligently arranged, particularly 'Life', 'Guess What's Happening' and the title track." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' thought that "Burrell's production this time offers a too strangely synthetic space for Luciano's voice to inhabit." The ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'' opined that "a lot about ''Messenger'' is nondescript or cliched," writing that "since the rhythms are solid, but generally unobtrusive ... the singer and his messages are left to seize the day." ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' called the album "slick, solidly constructed and immaculately produced, clearly intended to cross over to mainstream listeners." '' The Philadelphia Tribune'' labeled it "another melodic and lyrically potent musical mix that focuses on culturally conscious reggae and draws on uciano'sdeeply religious Rastafarian roots and social commitments."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that "''Messenger'' trips the light fantastic, gliding across genres, sliding across styles, shifting elegantly amidst the record's many moods, creating a mature album that remains one of Luciano's best." ''

Nashville Scene ''Nashville Scene'' is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with ...

'' listed ''Messenger'' among the top 10 "unclassifiable" albums of 1997.

Track listing

References

{{reflist Luciano (singer) albums 1996 albums Island Records albums