Working Wonders: Difference between revisions

1985 studio album by Judy Mowatt

Working Wonders is an album by the Jamaican musician Judy Mowatt, released in 1985.^[1][2] She supported it with a North American tour that included dates with Reggae Sunsplash.^[3][4] Working Wonders was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Reggae Recording”, making Womatt the first woman to receive a nomination in the category.^[5]

Mowatt wanted the album to incorporate musical styles beyond reggae, with a focus on calypso, pop, and Latin American sounds.^[6] The recording sessions were difficult due to malfunctioning equipment and studio fires.^[7] The album was delayed by a year, which led to Mowatt growing tired of the songs before the release date.^[7] She was asked by Shanachie Records to record certain songs, including “Lovemaking”, which Mowatt did not care for.^[8] The rhythm tracks were recorded by Jamaican musicians; the producer Skip Drinkwater used American musicians for overdubs and synthesized sounds.^[8] “Black Man, Brown Man” is a cover of the Taj Mahal song.^[9] “Let’s Dance” was written by Sangie Davis.^[9] “Hush Baby Mother” is about an unwed mother.^[6]

The Gazette opined that the album has got “strong mainstream appeal but remains ‘rootsy’ enough not to alienate bass and drum-crazed purists.”^[14] The Detroit Free Press called it Mowatt’s “most musically varied and satisfying album”.^[15] The Los Angeles Times said that Working Wonders was “an enjoyable but frustrating portrait of the gift artist compelled to tone down the very qualities that make her music unique.”^[16] Robert Christgau noted that “the positivity of reggae’s most autonomous woman isn’t rendered any more credible by her brightly idealistic delivery”.^[11]