Beres’s Never Ending hunt for glory

October 04, 2018 in Regional

Beres Hammond and VP Records are hoping for greater success with Never Ending, his latest album, which is due for release on October 12.

“We’re very excited to be releasing the Beres album. I believe it could be one of his best records yet,” Christopher Chin, CEO of VP Records, said in a media release.

Never Ending follows a successful tour of the United States by Hammond, who turned 63 in August. So far two singles from the set have been issued: I’m Alive and Land of Sunshine.

The album features 14 songs, mainly about love and social issues. Willie Lindo, Kirk Bennett, Handel Tucker, Errol “Flabba Holt” Carter, Leroy and David Heywood aka “Mafia & Fluxy”, Winston “Bo Pee” Bowen, Dean Fraser, and Robbie Lyn are some of the producers and musicians who worked on the project.

Never Ending is Hammond’s first album since the double-disc One Love, One Life, which was released in November 2012. That set debuted at number one on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart and, according to Nielsen Music, for which tracks sales in the United States sold 10,986 copies.

Hammond, who began his career in the early 1970s, recorded with the Zap Pow Band before going solo and working with guitarist/producer Lindo on ballads like One Step Ahead and I Miss You. In the 1990s he was signed to Elektra Records, which released his major label debut album In Control.

That album featured the hit single No Disturb Sign, which was popular on reggae charts in the US but failed to crack major Billboard charts. In Control, however, peaked at number seven on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart.

Hammond’s last major regional hit in the US was I Feel Good, which was released 10 years ago. Music is Life (released in 2002) and One Love, One Life were nominated for Best Reggae Album at the Grammy Awards. He lost to Damian “Junior Gong” Marley’s Halfway Tree and In Concert by Ziggy Marley respectively.