Search - Various Artists :: Strictly the Best 38

BEHIND THE CURVE

Locks Lion | Blue Mountain Peak | 11/20/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"STRICTLY THE BEST 37 & 38: VP's long-running STRICTLY THE BEST series is back again, following the usual format, i.e. two volumes released simultaneously, one for the dancehall deejays and the other for the lovers singers, nos. 37 and 38 respectively. Here's the lowdown:



STRICTLY 37 brings mixed blessings. On the one hand, you've got the murderous EMPIRE ARMY from Vybz Kartel, Munga's huge TAKE MY PLACE and a brace from badman-of-the-moment Mavado with TOUCH THE ROAD and the slow burning BROWN BOTTLE. If it were worth paying out on these four alone, STRICTLY 37 would be in good shape. On the other hand however, most of the remaining selections fall into one of three categories: 1) cold-blooded killers from Busy Signal, Beenie and Munga, all of which were already licensed and released on Greensleeves' superior BIGGEST RAGGA DANCEHALL ANTHEMS annual last month; 2) a handful of selections from VP artist albums, namely Lady Saw's WALK OUT and Assassin's GULLY SIT'N, which you've probably heard already; and 3) nonsense like Collie Buddz' lame MAMACITA, or the even lamer CHINA WINE from Geisha and friends. Throw in marginal contributions from Sean Paul (with his just-okay PICK IT UP) and Kat Deluna with Elephant Man (on the fairly forgettable WHINE UP), and STRICTLY 37 doesn't add up to a whole lot. The equation isn't improved by Tarrus Riley's beautiful PROTECT YUH NECK, which is completely misplaced and should surely have appeared on STRICTLY 38, the roots and lovers edition of the series. It gets drowned out here, sandwiched between Busy's deep, dark THESE ARE THE DAYS and Assassin's WE LOVE THE GIRLS - some of the poorest sequencing I've ever come across - and besides, yes, you guessed it, Greensleeves already licensed it for last month's excellent BIGGEST ONE DROP ANTHEMS!



STRICTLY 38 fares somewhat better, though it's still borrowing from Greensleeves (from the ONE DROP ANTHEMS collection) with Tami Chynn's sugar-sweet OVER & OVER and Etana's solid ROOTS, and still features a few too many VP album tracks like Da'Ville's very romantic THIS TIME I PROMISE, Ras Shiloh's NEED YOUR LOVE, and Tarrus Riley's big number one, SHE'S ROYAL -- all quality selections, but all available elsewhere. On the plus side, there are two takes on Vendetta's LOVE POTION rhythm, first from Beres Hammond - still one of the greatest singers recording in Jamaica, or anywhere! - with his excellent NOT FOR SALE, and then the beautiful, beautiful voice of Alaine with SINCERELY. Another Vendetta rhythm, FAR AWAY, gets the right treatment from the dependable Morgan Heritage with their nice MAKE IT OFFICIAL. Other highlights include Queen Ifrika's brilliant BELOW THE WAIST on the recent Penthouse relick of the STOP THE FIGHTING rhythm, and Jah Cure's TO YOUR ARMS OF LOVE on Arif Cooper's tear-jerker GUARDIAN ANGEL (though I would actually have swapped out OVER & OVER for Alaine's RISE or even Kartel's MISSING YOU on the same rhythm, if I had my way). Finally, there's Bitty McLean's Taxi-produced LET THEM TALK, which pretty much steals the show - as is often the case when the jaw-droppingly gifted Mr. McLean burns the old-time lovers vibes.



From my point of view, I can't give more than three combined stars for this year's entries in the STRICTLY series, but if for some reason you can't get hold of the Greensleeves collections, and if you haven't picked up any of the big artist albums that VP has issued in 2007, then you'll probably find STRICTLY THE BEST 37 and especially 38 to be reasonably worthwhile. For me though, the long-running STRICTLY series is in serious danger of falling behind the curve.

"

Man & Woman Time. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 11/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There are very few things certain in the ever developing and ever changing world dancehall and reggae music. Of them, there are no-brainers such as; Beenie Man and Bounty Killer will always be enemies no matter how many times they make up; no matter how many times we may count him out Ninjaman will ALWAYS find some way, some how to remain pertinent and important; Sizzla will release at least three albums every year for the rest of time, Junior Gong will win a Grammy every three or four years and Vybz Kartel will NEVER clean up his act (can you imagine a 45 year old Kartel?). Another fairly dependable occurrence is that every year reggae labels all over the world (and literally ALL of them on the larger scale outside of the Caribbean) will compete in a bidding war with each for the strongest and most popular tunes of the year to compile, not only for potential albums for particular artists, but to feed their own never ending scale of compilations as well. While the delay on the time between a tune exploding locally before it busts internationally continues to shrink (it really used to be at least a month, but with the advent of tools like the internet, it has shrunken literally to a period a week or two, which is a virtually non-existent space of time for the truly big tunes) and some songs even reaching their peak internationally BEFORE they do here in Jamaica at times, the pipelines between producers and labels remain open constantly. Without a doubt the single most successful of these labels over the past decade or so (and probably all-time as well) has been VP Records, the undisputed international 'big league' of reggae music. With their current line up (which includes reggae superstars such as Capleton, Wayne Wonder, Bounty Killer and now megastar Shaggy) and their roster of artists over the years (the label has released albums for the likes of Beenie Man, Lady Saw (whose contract just ended), Luciano, Sizzla, Spragga Benz, Sean Paul and countless others historically), an artist has truly arrived when negotiations with the New York based VP begins. They have also managed to remain current and up to date, with their roster as of right now including such budding superstars as Assassin, I-Wayne, Mavado (all of whom have new albums out), Warrior King and Gyptian, and they remain the definitive favourite as well to sign the next crop of artists coming from Jamaica as well (which includes the painfully wicked Aidonia). VP Records has gotten so big in reggae music that they too, have their own crop of things which are certain to them as well.



VP releases the biggest and most popular reggae compilation of the year every year in early summer with their Reggae Gold, it is accompanied always as well by the biggest and most popular soca compilation in the world, Soca Gold. Both are annually amongst the largest selling Caribbean music albums in the world and both are considered honors for the artists whose tunes compile them (so much so that as of a few years back, VP actually began shooting videos and even doing tours EXCLUSIVELY, for their `Gold' compilations). The second most certain thing for the label is without a doubt their very popular (much more popular amongst hardcore reggae heads) Strictly the Best series. Usually the series comes as one of the most complex and expansive of any of the year and with its main competitor, The Anthems series from Greensleeves, having recently changed its format, Strictly the Best, on material alone, now rivals any official compilation on the market. The series has quietly become so popular, particularly in being as old as it is now (the first Strictly the best actually appeared in 1991, almost two years to the day before the first Reggae Gold), that should you be so inclined to pick up a release from an official VP artist or even producers who may have ties with the label, you might notice that their publishing wing is even called STB Publishing (actually StB Publishing was merged into the publishing arm of super-power Sony in very early 2007, yet another strong move by the label). Strictly the Best can make a claim to be `The Best' on the strength that normally, it comes in pairs. Two albums comprise the series every year and 2007 is no different (there was a change up around three or four years ago and a quick change back just two years later); one side features the hottest hardcore dancehall tracks and the others focuses almost exclusively on lover's rock and with a few dabs of roots and culture. The slower more mature tones of the lover's version (which is always the even numbered release in the series) are almost always the better of the two releases (again, this year is no different) I have always thought that the release should even be more geared towards the lover's which would give the label an opportunity to further its seemingly forgotten but outstanding Universal Message series by making it an annual compilation with the hottest roots track, but when you as great of a track record as the series does, there isn't much room for complaining, as this year the album does almost exclusively just that. This year features a very solid blend of newer pieces, some more established selections and other nice songs from VP's vast catalogue of artists from this year and from next year's batch of releases as well. The result of such wonderful track selection and planning is an album which will undoubtedly appeal to newer and more indoctrinated fans alike. This year's Strictly the Best lover's piece is top notch from beginning to end and actually outdoes last year's installment which I was very high on as well. Complete with its trademark ridiculously beautiful cover work, StB 38 is a very welcome addition to the collection of any fan of modern lover's rock reggae. Not only that, but between you and I, if you are a man, this is definitely a disc to be enjoyed with your woman!



By far the most important thing in building compilations is the COMPILING portion of the project. That is especially the case on a lover's rock style album where it generally helps if the album has more of a flowing vibes to it. VP does a very nice job of that with StB 38. Getting things started at the first track is fittingly Tarrus Riley's current MONSTER She's Royal. The song went on to become Riley's first official JA #1 track and there is perhaps no better current track to start off such an album with. The Dean Fraser produced gem of a tune has just about EVERYTHING you would look for in a lover's hit and it found (and continues to find) audiences in every corner of the world. It also holds the distinction of being a VP exclusive as Riley himself is a VP artist (check his powerful VP debut of 2006, Parables), making it clearly one of the finest tracks here as well as one of the most important. For the newer heads it works because they definitely didn't pick up the album, while the reggae heads (and shame on you if you are a reggae head and don't have Parables in your collection) already recognize the tune's true strength (it is particularly lethal on the dance floor). Holding the unenviable role of immediately following She's Royal is perhaps the only singer in the game (or any style of artist for that matter) who could do so without any drop in quality with just about any song from his catalogue, Jah Cure, with the divine To Your Arms of Love. The song, over Arif Cooper's MASSIVE Guardian Angel riddim (which was so nice VP could have literally stamped Strictly the Best 38 over the Riddim Driven album which they released for the riddim in October), has slowly but surely grown on me over the past few years and currently it is amongst the thirty or so tunes I keep on CONSTANT rotation. Very lovely song which shows nearly every aspect of the Cure's halting voice, and even challenges the singer a bit at times. Definitely another nice tune to throw in and one which is much better enjoyed by the couples. Batting cleanup at for the solid beginning of StB #38 is Da'Ville (another VP artists with a release out now, On My Mind) with his This Time I Promise. The self produced track is actually not his best (pretty far from it), but still such a nice tune to include on the album, and it works wonderfully well keeping the set vibes and flow of the beginning of the album going.



In a rare occurrence, something you won't find on many lover's compilations (particularly of the modern variety) the females represent very strong on StB#38. Leading off for the ladies is the awesome Queen Ifrika with her wonderful Below the Waist. If you asked me purely honestly, what is my favorite song on this album, I would have to say To Your Arms of Love by Jah Cure, but I STILL have no problem in declaring my the overall best entry on StB#38 to be Below the Waist. The tune, over Penthouse's Stop the Fighting riddim (yet another VP exclusive), encompasses EVERYTHING the slower version of StB is about, it is the complete dancehall lover's equivalent to what you'll hear on StB#37. It also has the old school vibes to it (the riddim is the remake of a Dennis Brown original) and it rips the complete dancehall nice, when it reaches the cool down portion of your dance, you'll be reaching for Below the Waist, and it definitely gets you started on what comes after the dance (actually now that I think of it VP ALSO handled distribution for Ifrika`s debut album Fyah Muma this year as well). Next up is Tami Chynn with her rendition of the Guardian Angel riddim, Over and Over Again. Chynn's actual strength, in my opinion is doing songs of the slower, lover's variety and it is in them where I feel she'll ultimately excel, so it comes as no surprise that Over and Over Again, was actually one of the better pieces on the GA riddim as well. No, its not in the stratosphere with the Jah Cure, Alaine (more on her in a minute) or TOK with the riddim's title track, but it isn't exactly very far from those tunes either. Etana chimes in with her self produced vibe Roots, which is making the rounds on the compilation circuit. Roots grows more and more on me everyday (especially on the strength of the video which is amongst the strongest I've seen recently) and although it is definitely headed towards being a well saturated song, it hasn't reached there yet and is a nice inclusion here. Lastly, pulling in for the ladies is my absolute favourite female vocalists of today, the angelic Alaine who taps in on her producer, Don Corleone's magic Love Potion riddim with her Sincerely, which you need to sincerely hear, as it is sincerely one of the best songs on the album and one of the real selling points here as you won't find it on any other official cd as of this very moment and respect to whoever decided to include it on StB#38 (although it was a no-brainer, the song is nearly perfect).



Pulling the vibe back for the men are some seriously strong artists. First and foremost is definitely the legend himself, Beres Hammond checking in with his on Not For Sale on Corleone's Love Potion riddim (the producer has gone a looooong way; working with both Vybz Kartel and Beres Hammond). Not For Sale is HUGE and will be treated accordingly surely next year when VP rolls out the next Hammond LP. Then there's song writer extraordinaire Duane Stephenson making waves now as a vocalists. He comes through with yet another tune on this album which is PURE lover's rock and goes excellent with the vibes on the album, Cottage in Negril, which is coincidentally a remake of Tyrone Taylor's classic tune and now a Dean Fraser production (and of course both Hammond and Stephenson are. . . Yep! VP exclusives). The song is as nice as ever and trust me, you'll love it on the dance floor of course! Lastly, VP dusts off their tried and tested go to man Bitty McLean with his typically OUTSTANDING Let Them Talk for Sly & Robbie. McLean over the past half decade or so has appeared on so many VP compilations you would think he too is a VP artist (he instead releases his music through historically strong UK label Peckings instead who apparently has some kind of working vibe with VP). Should you ever see the name Bitty McLean on any compilation, know that his tune, whichever it may be, is amongst that particular album's strongest overall, period. StB#38 is no different, Let Them Talk is nothing short of brilliant and not even the strongest tune you'll hear from McLean (and big fans of this album should definitely pick up McLean's latest piece Made In Jamaica on Peckings).



Overall, I was very pleased with what VP did with Strictly the Best 38. Almost always, the even numbered version of the duo is my favourite, so perhaps I am a bit partial, however, I would all but guarantee that any fan of modern roots and lover's will definitely enjoy this album (and I didn't even mention Jah Melody's very nice Give Thanks for Bobby Digital, another VP artist). Besides all the flare and hype which go into putting out an StB album, this one really lives up to that name. Definitely recommended for the long nights with the special someone at some special time."