Customer Reviews

Strictly the Best 36

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Its Strictly the Best time again! Each and every year I find myself most looking forward to seeing the StB compilation, moreso than perhaps any compilation VP Records Produces outside of Soca Gold. The mixture of tunes is always a tad bit deeper than what you'll find on the more marketable and mainstream Reggae Gold from the summer and they typically rely less on pushing their own artists and more on pushing good reggae music (thus the name). But easily, the best feature of StB (outside of the always MARVELOUS packaging) is that it comes in 2's. Nearly every year (since I've followed it) you'll get one higher powered dancehall comp. and one smoother roots and lover's rock version.

2006 is no different and again, not surprisingly, the softer more mellow of the two takes the prize of being the better album. Besides comparing it to its sister album, StB#36 is just GOOD! Its a very very solid album on its own merits, boasting some of the finer roots and lover's artists on the scene today, and boosted by one of the strongest years for roots in recent history.

So strong is it that I won't even complain (that much) of VP pushing their own artists EXTREMELY hard this year.

Another interesting aspect of #36 is the mix between established and unestablished talents on the project, track ten, Old Skool Love remix even features an artist, in Divine Brown who isn't a strictly reggae artist, but with a reggae remix of her very fine tune. And continuing on that vibe, StB#36 is packed well powerful in female representation of the young female artists. The young first lady of th Element, Etana comes WICKED on her shatteringly beautiful Wrong Address; Cherine Anderson from One Love fame steps nicely with her Good Love and pulling a double duty with Chuck Fender on the nice Coming Over Tonite. Topping them all however, is of course the divine and ANGELLIC Alaine on her wonderful Deeper, which also happens to be my choice for best song on the album (now what really would have been nice if VP could have gotten the Lovesounds combination with Beres Hammond, but hopefully they're keeping that for his next album. . . or her first?)

VP once again turns to the proven but underappreciated Bitty Mclean for one of the finest pieces on the album, the brilliant Real Thing finds Mclean typically capturing a forgotten era of lovers rock magnificence. Also check the nice nice On My Mind which was a fairly big hit down here not too long ago, just a nice vibes song. And VP talents Wayne Wonder, Richie Spice and Gyptian all represent well on their respective songs, with Richie Spice's divine Brown Skin coming out the finest of the 3.

Really the only song here that I have a problem with is the now nearly 3 year old (and WELL promoted Life Seeds by I-Wayne), but that is cancelled out by the MAMMOTH Stay With You by Tarrus Riley from his new album Parables. Stay With You may be the best love song I've heard this year period! That song is completely gorgeous, with a well powerful message, and if you see a review from me for his new album in the next few days, rest assured it was the main factor influencing my decision to purchase it.

Overall, I'm giving StB#36 a well earned stamp of recommendation, I would even call it better than last year's #34, as it has more top class material. Always happy to see the young talent represented, particularly the young female talent, and it is just a joy to listen to.

Sorry guys, but this album was not what I expected. Since when did Strictly the Best turn into Strictly the Best Love Songs? Where's the harder stuff like in StB vol. 35? There are very few up-tempo songs on this compilation and unfortunately it's quite boring and slow. Hey, if love songs are your thing, you'll enjoy it. I've played it 3 times and won't put it in again. If you want a more slammin' compilation, get Reggae Gold 2007.

I listen to this CD every morning on the way to work , I love it . This was a good buy. Highly reccommended.

Strong Cuts if you Love Rockers Reggae This would be a wonderful addition to yor collection. These songs Rock or as de Yardie Bwoys say Jam Dong.

These tunes are hitting !

STRICTLY THE BEST VOL. 35/36: Here are the latest entries in VP's long-running STRICTLY THE BEST series. As per usual, the first (VOL. 35) is a selection of dancehall sizzlers, featuring a nice mix of established and upcoming artists, and the second (VOL. 36) is a collection of lovers rockers, clearly intended to be shared with a special someone in a little candlelight - but ends up looking a little lopsided since VOL. 35 is in some ways stronger than VOL. 36. (Right, I'm at odds with Bramoi for once here, but I think it'll all come out in the wash!)

Highlights from the first set include Mr. Peppa's wicked GANGSTA GUERILLA, HOW HIGH from the soon-to break very big Movado, Assassin's instantly infectious GOOD OVER EVIL, the very rude, very good UKKU from Idonia, and Alaine's scorching hot WINE. The veterans get a good look-in as well, with Capleton (his massive HITS PON TOP A HITS), Bounty Killer (HUNTING), Sean Paul (the excellent ALL OUT) and Mr. Vegas (the clean-er version of HOT WUK) all coming pretty much correct. The cherries on top of this cake are Mr. Perfect's big bouncing bomb, NO BADDA ME, Chuck Fender's powerful, not to mention controversial, GASH DEM, and Sizzla, closing out in reflective mood with the nice SAIL ON. Basically, this is a neat and tidy selection, worth a very solid four-stars.

There are two major problems with VOL. 36: 1) Too many of the songs included already showed up on Greensleeves' superior BIGGEST REGGAE ONE-DROP ANTHEMS 2006, and 2) Voicemail's awful cover of MEMORIES BY THE SCORE - the less said, the better. To be fair though, this is really a decent selection, and does include several exclusives - i.e. not included on other collections - the best of which is Morgan Heritage's silky smooth LOVE YOU RIGHT, very closely followed by Roger Robin's sweet old school lovers number FOR LIFE. I also liked Divine Brown's OLD SKOOL LOVE, and Chuck Fender's rather unlikely combination with singer Cherine on COMING OVER. And while they've already been collected elsewhere, contributions from Jah Cure, Richie Spice, Bitty McLean, Gyptian and a convincingly romantic Mr. Vegas are all first class.

Overall, while these are both good collections, especially VOL. 35, I think they're going to struggle in competition with Greensleeves' BIGGEST ONE DROP and DANCEHALL ANTHEMS series (check Bramoi's definitive reviews for more info.). Think about it for a minute: Greensleeves is offering more than twice as many tracks at essentially half the price, while VP is asking us to shell out twice as much for a lot less. That's a pretty poor return in comparison. It would be nice if VP could have just combined VOLS. 35 and 36 into a double-disc, single-price set - but taken on their own merits, I would still recommend either. Here's the maths: four stars for VOL. 35 plus three for VOL. 36, minus two for failing to keep up with the competition, plus one for nice packaging, equals, oh, I don't know, three and a half stars on balance, which I'll have to round up to four. Sight?