Search - Reggae Hits :: Vol. 35-Reggae Hits

BACK WEH L.O.C.!

Locks Lion | Blue Mountain Peak | 03/08/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"REGGAE HITS VOL. 35: Not much to add to Bramoi's review here, which is pretty much on-point. Overall, this is a pretty lame presentation characterised by some great cuts that have essentially been "over-collected", if you will. BUT, you have to ask yourself this: can you live without Nanko's top ranking lovers' classic LUCKY YOU, and Mikey Spice's superb HAPPY HOUR? The bonus DVD is another plus, and features Nanko's video, which is quite good, as well as Gyptian's massive SERIOUS TIMES, which is unfortunately quite comical, and very, very, very cheap-looking. Meanwhile, the clip for L.O.C.'s utterly awful RING DING DING is also utterly awful and best skipped. As for the rest of the material collected here, aside from the too-familiar standouts, there's not much to write home about. Ellie's SESAME STREET outstays its welcome very shortly after its arrival, and Voicemail's attempt at the standard MEMORIES BY THE SCORE is irredeemably bad - hey, if you're going to cover a reggae classic, you need to do something at least as good as the original, or perhaps attempt a different approach of some sort, and Voicemail fall well short on both counts. Falling into the "interesting but only intermitently listenable" category are Capleton's bizarre GIMMI LITTLE BIT, and the even weirder after-school jam, POVERTY, by QQ. Finally, there are decent efforts from Sean Paul, Lloyd Brown and George Nooks - but you wouldn't pick up REGGAE HITS just for these, by any means. All in all, this is a resonable collection when you consider that it's available at American domestic prices and is bundled with the DVD, but it's far from being an essential review of what was happening in 2005. Instead of this, check out Greensleeves' BIGGEST REGGAE ONE-DROP ANTHEMS 2005. It doesn't have Nanko or Mikey Spice, but then again, it doesn't have L.O.C. either, which must count as a huge recommendation."