"John Holt sang with the Paragons, one of my all-time favorite Jamaican rock steady groups. Disc one in this collection is painfully cheesy to my ears (although the Jamaican versions of some of the songs are good), but disc two is GREAT! It is basically a "best of", and features some great old Paragons cuts too!
Every rock steady and reggae fan should have copies of "The Tide is High", "On the Beach", "Ali Baba", "A Love I Can Feel" and "Sister Big Stuff" in their collections! Great, soulful old-school rock steady and reggae. If you like this check out the CD "My Best Girl Wears My Crown", from the Paragons (if it's still available...) It has more great Paragons classics like "Happy Go Lucky Girl", "Island in the Sun" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy". I've got both in the "Rocksteady" section of my iPod and I listen to them all the time in the summer, on my long train rides to work. It definitely makes the time go faster!"
Reggae Balladeer
Pieter | Johannesburg | 06/27/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"On this collection of covers, the reggae balladeer John Holt wraps his silken voice around standards like Never Never Never, Baby I'm A Want You, Help Me Make It Through The Night, Mr Bojangles, Killing Me Softly With Her Song (an interpretation of the Roberta Flack classic) and Lobo's I'd Love You To Want Me.
If you like smooth reggae like Dennis Brown, you'll love the voice of John Holt. Disc Two contains a number of cuts recorded with the Paragons, amongst which On the Beach and The Tide Is High are My favorites. There's nothing rootsy or challenging here, just soulful reggae interpretations of some great songs. Pleasant and relaxing.