Search - John Holt :: 1000 Volts of Holt

Mellow seventies reggae

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, John became a major reggae music star, beginning in 1964 when he replaced Leroy Stamp in the Paragons. As lead vocalist of that group, he helped the Paragons score a string of Jamaican number one hits. None of these made much impact internationally although one of them (The tide is high) eventually became a major international hit via a cover version by Blondie. The Paragons disbanded in 1970, whereupon John went solo. This compilation, dominated by cover versions, focuses exclusively on John's solo recordings.



John scored his only hit in Britain with his cover of Help me make it through the night, peaking at number six in 1974. Originally written and recorded by country singer Kris Kristofferson (better known as an actor), this song was originally an American pop hit for another country singer, Sammi Smith, and a British pop hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips, both of those hits occurring in 1972.



Other covers include Morning of my life (Bee Gees), Baby I'm a want you (Bread), Mr Bojangles (written by Jerry Jeff Walker and also covered by Neil Diamond among others), Alfie (an American hit for Dionne Warwick but a British hit for Cilla Black), I will (a Beatles track from their White album, later revived in the nineties by Alison Krauss), Touch me in the morning (Diana Ross), I'd love you to want me (Lobo), Killing me softly (Roberta Flack), Girl from Ipanema (Astrud Gilberto), Just the way you are (Billy Joel) and For the love of you (Isley brothers).



Maybe this preponderance of covers explains why John only had one UK hit, but another cover here was never a UK hit for anybody - You baby, a song co-written by Phil Spector and which Jackie Trent (among others) also recorded. I don't know if this was released as a single but it sounds to me like it could have been a hit at the time if it had been.



There may not be much (if any) original material here, but John's mellow reggae style is very appealing and his selection of covers is impeccable."