Superheavy

Super groups are a stock-in-trade in the rock world but seldom live up to their billing. That’s the case with Superheavy. Producer and ex-Eurhythmic Dave Stewart built this East meets West band in 2009 around Rolling Stones’ frontman Mick Jagger and neo-soul sensation Joss Stone, who are supported by reggae singer Damian Marley (and his rhythm section) and the Indian musician and film composer A. R. Rahman. Blending rock, reggae, and Indian orchestral music is a bold move that might have sounded good on paper, but the project falls short of bringing its disparate influences together. Superheavy does have its highlights, though, most notably when the more overbearing arrangements ease off enough to show that sometimes less is more. Case in point: the strictly reggae stylings of “Miracle Worker,” the lover’s- rock vibe of “Rock Me Gently,” and especially the sultry soul-soaked Jagger- Stone duet “I Don’t Mind.” Yet that less- is-more approach falls flat on the Jagger rock vehicle “I Can’t Take It No More.” A deluxe edition of Superheavy offers five additional tracks—Ashley Beedle’s Warbox remix of “Miracle Worker” is well worth a download (and you’ll wonder why Stewart didn’t opt for more remixes). Still, Superheavy sinks beneath the weight of its own lofty expectations