By Ruchita De

Superheavy is the debut album of a supergroup called Superheavy, which was formed earlier this year. At the present time, you may be asking yourself, what made this band great enough to merit the adjective “super” to come up twice? To be honest, I’ve been asking myself the same question.

Imagine a league of superheroes all banding together to save the world. I suppose that was Mick Jagger’s idea when he made Superheavy; the lead singer of the Rolling Stones got some of the most respected musicians to join his project. English soul singer Joss Stone, David Stone from Eurythmics, Bob Marley’s son Damian, and Slumdog Millionaire composer A. R. Rahman all joined Jagger in his endeavor. The artists contribute a combination of Indian pop, reggae, rock, and soul to the album, which one might think sounds like the euphoric music of the gods. I have listened to the album, and I think otherwise.

Overall, the instrumental composition is good. To someone who hasn’t had much exposure to world music, this album is a very easy way to get in touch with other cultures because the overall rhythm is rather catchy. While listening to it, I did find some parts where there was some melodic inconsistency, and the combination of sounds seemed to clash. The main problems lie in the lyrics and the vocals. In terms of lyrics, the album does not offer much innovation. The same “music makes the world go ‘round” message that has filtered through speakers for decades is not neglected in this album. My personal favorite portrayal of lyrical genius can be found in “Sathyameva Jayathe.” Joss Stone says, “It’s a choice for you to choose”, and A. R. Rahman says the word “truth” every five seconds. It may just be my obsession with pointing out redundancies, but I wasn’t very fond of the lyrical choices I heard.

Mick Jagger’s vocals are legendary, and are easily distinguishable from the rest of the voices mingled together on the tracks. However, there are times where his voice completely overpowers the rest. The same goes for Joss Stone and Damian Marley. Sometimes I forget that A. R. Rahman and Daniel Stewart are in the band at all, seeing as their existence in the quintet is only hinted at for most of the tracks. I think all of these artists are excellent; in their own elements, they can write and perform songs fantastically. Mick Jagger’s vocals are great for the classic rock genre that he helped shape in sixties, but are too bold for the type of music Superheavy is trying to create. Joss Stone sounds beautiful in her soulful atmosphere, but seems stifled by the men’s grating baritones. I feel I would like all of these artists a lot better in their own elements instead of hearing them in an environment where none of their true talents came through. If I were someone who knew nothing of their professional histories, I would wonder what possessed these people to create music together when it doesn’t seem to work. In concept, this group was a great idea, but unlike what Jagger dreamed, I don’t think that this particular league of superheroes will ever make it off the ground.