Reading the Bible to his audience before festival appearances and decrying his fellow roots reggae artists anytime they use a cuss word had put
Luciano on many reggae fans' list of "controversial" figures. It cost him some of his more "casual" fans, and didn't help that most of his albums during the 2009-2012 season had come courtesy of European or American producers, a method that's been known to ruffle the feathers of the reggae faithful. Of course,
Luciano is a old-school roots rebel who prefers life in the hills to anything that even hints of Babylon, but as the title here displays, just because he's old-school doesn't mean he's traditional, as
The Qabalah Man often suggests the Bible is the true path, with no "united colors" or "rainbow coalition" all-inclusive calls to arms to be found. Still, the anger and rebellion found on highlights like "Create Our History" with
Bob Andy and "So Long" with
Mark Wonder is the kind of spite-the-power stuff that appeals to anyone on the wrong side of big business, big government, and the Babylon system, so let lyrics like "Together as one, with faith in Jah/We'll never fail" flow by and something that speaks to all is right around the corner. Dripping in reverb and bluesy guitar licks, "Speak Your Mind" is a great freedom march open to all, while open-hearted crowd-pleasers like "Tribute to Dennis Brown" and "Dis Yah Reggae Music" aim for all hands in the air, and with JA producer
Anthony "Altafaan" Senior at the controls, they come with the proper boom system to earn it. Add to this the digital throwback number "Skull and Bone," which suggests it's the early '80s and ragga is storming the reggae charts, and this is a surprisingly well-rounded album coming from an artist who's being pushed into the corner by some of his audience.
The Qabalah Man might be perilously close to "preaching to the converted," but
Luciano trumps this by remaining utterly unique, always interesting, and highly inspired.