As every good music fan knows, sometimes even the best album can take a few listens before it starts to grow on you.

Often, the catchiest tracks are found and played on repeat, until the rest of the album is slowly integrated into the listening cycle, at which point- if the CD is good- the listener begins to fall in love with the entire body of work.

And sometimes you have the pleasure of love at first listen. This is the rare occasion in which you pop on a new album and are instantly captivated, effortlessly jamming out to the entire record while excitedly IMing your friends, “this is the best CD ever!”  (OK, maybe I’m the only one who does that last part.)

The latter can be said about the new album from The Alchemystics, “Spread Hope.”

The 17-track LP comes in at a little over an hour- that’s 70 minutes of pure reggae awesomeness.