Search - Mystic Revealers :: Space & Time

Led by singer-songwriter Billy "Mystic" Wilmot, Jamaica's Mystic Revealers have kept alive the roots-reggae style of their hero Bob Marley. Formed in the early '80s, soon after their inspiration's death, the Mystic Revealers have stayed true to the loping island rhythms, soul harmonies, and apocalyptic Rastafarian pronouncements of '70s reggae. Leader Wilmot has kept the formula fresh by coming up with catchy, pleasurable melodies and by singing those hooks in an infectiously joyful manner. The sextet's third U.S. release, Space & Time, is irresistibly tuneful and contagiously upbeat. Wilmot writes commonplace homilies and sets them in motion to a bouncy beat and a sing-along melody. There's nothing innovative or profound about his approach, but the songs get over on the first principle of pop--pure pleasure. It helps a great deal that Wilmot has a sweet, ingratiating tenor, and a relaxed delivery that never pushes his attitudes on the listener but instead makes them so charming that the listener comes to him. The Mystic Revealers are a self-contained instrumental band, but they get help from such Jamaican session legends as Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, and Robby Lynn as well as from Jamaican-born jazz pianist Monty Alexander. Whether it's the religious message of "Baptism" and "Judgement Day," the romantic pleading of "I Believe in Love" and "January to December," the universal brotherhood theme of "I and I" or the title track, "Space & Time" is old-fashioned but undeniably entertaining. --Geoffrey Himes