Personnel: Capleton, Method Man (vocals); Wiz (piano, bass, programming); L Roc (keyboards, synthesizer, bass); Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Lloyd "Gitsy" Willis, Bungo Herman, Deadly Headly, Dean Fraser, Clive Hunt, Steely & Clevie, Danny, Wrongmove, Jazz Ward, Sky Juice.
Producers include: Stuart Brown, Roy Francis, Richard Bell, Colin "Bulby" York, Linford "Fatta" Marshall.
Engineers: Colin "Bulby" York, Linford "Fatta" Marshall.
Recorded at Mixing Lab and Main Street Studio, Kingston, Jamaica; Musiplex and Gibson Studios, Atlanta, Georgia.
A landmark for Capleton in more ways than one, PROPHECY is not only his major label debut, but also the first collection of his output since converting to Rastafari and subsequently turning away from a career established with sexually explicit tunes like "Bumbo Red." Mostly overseen by African Star's Stuart Bell, the production on PROPHECY achieves a surprisingly broad spectrum of textures for the dancehall genre, combining the warm sound of African drums with raw synthesizer, digital sub-bass and crisp snares worthy of the most progressive in electronic dance music.
The album boasts a similarly versatile range of tempos, from the over-the-top crowd-mover "Tour," through the odd and understated melodic line of "Glorious Morning", to the jungle-ish rhythm of "Leave Babylon". That versatility is pushed even further with the inclusion of three hiphop remixes by Lil John & Paul (it was the cross-over success of the "Tour" remix that originally attracted Def Jam's attentions). All of which is essentially window-dressing for the most important sound source on the album: Capleton's voicebox. Combining an admirable breath control mastered in the dancehall with a sense of urgency provoked by his spiritual re-birth, Capleton's vocal performances here are never less than captivating.
A landmark for Capleton in more ways than one, PROPHECY is not only his major label debut, but also the first collection of his output since converting to Rastafari and subsequently turning away from a career established with sexually explicit tunes like "Bumbo Red". Mostly overseen by African Star's Stuart Bell, the production on PROPHECY achieves a surprisingly broad spectrum of textures for the dancehall genre, combining the warm sound of African drums with raw synthesizer, digital sub-bass and crisp snares worthy of the most progressive in electronic dance music.
The album boasts a similarly versatile range of tempos, from the over-the-top crowd-mover "Tour", through the odd and understated melodic line of "Glorious Morning", to the jungle-ish rhythm of "Leave Babylon". That versatility is pushed even further with the inclusion of three hiphop remixes by Lil John & Paul (it was the cross-over success of the "Tour" remix that originally attracted Def Jam's attentions). All of which is essentially window-dressing for the most important sound source on the album: Capleton's voicebox. Combining an admirable breath control mastered in the dancehall with a sense of urgency provoked by his spiritual re-birth, Capleton's vocal performances here are never less than captivating.
