Search - Various Artists :: Great Reggae

Bearing a plain but perfectly descriptive title, this compilation draws mostly from reggae's big-gun arsenal of international hits, starting off appropriately with the hyped-up Third World smash, "Try Jah Love." Wailing Souls weigh in with "Shark Attack," a worldwide hit that arrived after two decades of producing reggae arena boomshots. The U.K.'s "Pass the Dutchie" (Musical Youth's interpretation of the Mighty Diamonds' "Pass the Chalice"), Aswad's "Don't Turn Around," and girlz group Amazulu's "Montego Bay," plus Guiyanese Eddie Grant's "Living on the Front Line" and American Johnny Nash's "Stir It Up," prove that quality reggae can come from outside of Jamaica. Yet when it comes to a straight-no-chaser Jamdown reggae vibe, none of the above tracks measures up to Jimmy Cliff's "We Are All One," Peter Tosh's "Stepping Razor," or Desmond Dekker & The Aces' "Israelites." --Elena Oumano