Miracle Worker Review

The first single from SuperHeavy’s upcoming debut album is out today, available to download on iTunes UK. “Miracle Worker,” is the title and these are some first thoughts written during my initial listen. Not a review, literally just a second by second, line by line response. The choice to release a reggae single in July is smart. Seriously. I am drenched in sweat from just going out to buy the New York Post and came back to have a listen and the heated, sultry vibe is right. Mick is always a good reggae guy. There’s a long passage in my book about the Stones’ relationship with the late, great Peter Tosh. While you can read their cover of Eric Donaldson’s “Cherry Oh Baby,” as camp or the reggae-tinged originals like “Luxury” or Mick’s shout out to those working under the hot sun out in Jamaica on the disco track “Hot Stuff,” as ironic but there’s also a bit in the book about the long relationship with Londoners of their generation and the strong bond they had with Rude Boy fashion and attitude and the Jamaican ska, rock stead and later reggae music. Even “Start Me Up” began as a reggae track, didn’t it? It’s a real love. One love. What? Anyway, point is, I am digging this more than I would had it come out in say February. A climate curve.

The track opens with a toast from Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley: “To all the lovers who might be thinking of break up or maybe even making up…” and the first singing voice you hear is Joss Stone’s which is also smart. She brings the pop soul, sets the tone. Marley toasts between the riffing. The players are clearly tops and the sound is big budget. Mick comes in and quite literally takes over. He seems to push everyone to the side with those lips and that tongue. He shouts his verses, with the dirty, nitty gritty Mick voice: “There’s nothing wrong with you that I can’t fix. I’ll come running with my little bag of tricks.” You would think that’s it for Joss, but they duet on the hook and sound right together. Speaking of that hook, I think it’s real. Some songs, especially the umpteenth singles by rock super-veterans, search for the hook as they go. This one if found quickly. It’s authentic, Smokey Robinson-esque. “Mick Jagger… Joss Stone,” Marley observes, bringing us to a tidy end.

I can see this track getting remixed dozens of times, but it’s short and sweet as is. “Imagine… I mean think about it,” Jr. Gong offers. And the more I think about it, the more I realize this is a seriously smart move for Mick Jagger as a solo artist. For one thing, SuperHeavy already seems to be about the mysteries of chemistry, something that threatens to explode but instead makes beautiful colors, and feels like that much more of a triumph because it seemed so ragged and unsteady… and so is the best Stones material.

http://www.mickjaggerbiography.com/miracle-worker-superheavy/