Youssou N'Dour: Dakar-Kingston

Youssou N'Dour released two outstanding albums this year, the live soundtrack from the film I Bring What I Love, and the exhilarating compilation of his early work, Once Upon a Time in Senegal. Now comes another that sadly provides a reminder that he finds it difficult to bring the same passion to his studio recordings. For this album, recorded in Jamaica and Senegal, he adds a reggae beat to his own material, rather than bring a Senegalese treatment to Jamaican classics. He's backed by Senegalese percussionists, but this is not the reggae-mbalax fusion one would hope for. The backing is unremarkable, and N'Dour cruises through the songs, from the new tribute Marley, to a reggae version of his ballads Africa Dream Again and Don't Walk Away. The result is pleasantly forgettable, mostly sung in English and aimed at the international market, with just the occasional hints that he's capable of far more.