Customer Reviews

Three Degrees - Greatest Hits

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Sad. That's how AbFab's Saffy would describe this album. While the songs are the same as the original hits by the famous trio, these are not the original recordings. I recently learned that this group came into existence the year after I was born. Unfortunately, I'm holding up better than their voices. Someone with a Portugese production company has put these tired girls back in the studio to re-record the songs. And the instrumental parts aren't much better than these voices singing songs in keys significantly lower, somewhat flatter, and with much less breath control than the originals. It is depressing to say the least. Even Giorgio Moroder's arrangements have been massacred. Save your money and buy the original recordings even if you have to buy several albums to get them all...and by the way, some of what is on this, you wouldn't have known was theirs anyway. Let's let these divas retire with some dignity. The years of touring and whatever else goes with show biz is coming through not so loud and not so clear in their voices.

It's pretty good if you are a real Three Degrees fan. Some of the songs I never heard before but, they're not bad songs. They kind of grow on you. It's a good CD for a rainey day, or if your just kicked back listing to music.

3 cd's, different stories because here are songs from combinations of the ladies fayette, sheila, valerie, helen & cynthia. if you want a variety of sounds; buy this great collection. what do we have here: earlier roulette greats (original recordings !) and ofcourse philly classics, new recordings with a studio band. my favorite song here is the classic 'do right woman, do right man'. once sung by aretha franklin but you really have to listen to this version with leadvocals from valerie holiday, powerfull and beautiful. only the 3° can do that ! after listening to all these gems, you know why these ladies will always have a place in music history !

i,m totally disgusted with this purchase ... don't like being ripped off this is not the 3 degrees ' i don't know who i'm listenin 2
thanks 4 nothin Greatest Hits

Chances are pretty high that if you have just recently picked up listening to reggae and specifically dancehall music within the last year or so, you probably don't have a good overstanding of what dancehall REALLY is. Although the genre could DEFINITELY be described as quite trendy as has been historically, the current trend: One in which every single top notch artist at one time or another seems bent on outdoing the other in making the MOST ridiculously violent record that they can; is one which given many a new fan the wrong idea altogether. Dancehall music, at its core, is one which is first and foremost meant for having fun. Its meant for going to your local dance, taking your woman (or meeting one there) and just enjoying yourself in the vibes. Yet, I would imagine it quite difficult trying to find such a vibes when sifting through the gun toting Mavados, Vybz Kartels, Bounty Killers and Aidonias of the world (even coming from the Ninjamans and Mad Cobras of the world, this current group has taken it beyond that DEFINITELY). All hope, thankfully, is not lost as there are a few artists keeping the FUN intensities nice and high and should you require such a jolt from what is, in my opinion (probably outside of soca these days for me) the most fun musical genre that there is. The main one is the one who has seemingly ALWAYS been there, dancehall ACE, Beenie Man. Its interesting that the main thing which (at least in my opinion) has separated Beenie Man from his (OVER) constant sparring partner, Bounty Killer, has been his ability to not only focus on throwing verbal jabs at the Killer, but ALSO throwing vibes in so many different forms of the dancehall. You will RARELY, if ever, reach a state in dancehall with Beenie Man as an active participant where he doesn't have a big tune running the dancehalls at that current moment, his catalogue is literally overflowing with such tunes which exist simply for `entertainment purposes'. There's also current dancehall poster boy, Sean Paul who also seems to just GET IT at his best moments. Sean Paul, although taking quite a bit of criticisms (and even some of them justified, although very few) over the years has all but ignored dragging himself into the gun business and making tunes which the keep rocking the ENTIRE WORLD. Definitely credit due there, whether you like it or not. Lastly, of course, is Elephant Man. Ele is a bit different as he seems to almost go overboard at times, but does so INTENTIONALLY. His tunes comes basically as soca music lifted and transposed into a dancehall vibes and, at its best, has the same foot hurting and ankle breaking effect. Those artists and a few others here and there (like Macka Diamond, Lady Saw and the recently retired Mr. Vegas) all are able to add frills and different scopes to their music, but never really lose focus on the FUN aspect of dancehall music.

For my own personal tastes, THE artist who MOST seems to overstand that and convey it through their vibes has ALWAYS been General Degree. There's a very good chance that you may not even know who he is if you are a casual fan of dancehall and reggae as he has definitely been one for the hardcore dancehall heads throughout his career, and, despite his VERY accessible style of music, he hasn't had the opportunities for crossing over into the mainstream as many of his peers (mainly, in my opinion, due to the fact that his activity level was quite low in a few of those years). But ask anyone who knows (including yours truly) and they will tell you about the WICKED level of consistency displayed by the veteran Mandeville native over the course of SPACIOUS career. Not only will you have quite a difficult time finding pieces of his career where he dabbled in the more violent or war side of the vibes (and I can't think of any off hand), although his music is sometimes for the mature ears, you'll hardly ever find either, a situation where he recorded a tune which crossed the line into a slack nature like so many of his peers (can you imagine if you told someone like Vybz Kartel that he couldn't do anymore tunes about the gun or sex? He would have to retire on the spot). He is just an underrated CLEVER lyricist to be able to do something like such and you probably wouldn't hear the name Degree come into a conversation about dancehall's greatest lyricists, he just may be amongst that crowd. Also, to my opinion, Degree, like a few others such as Beenie Man, King Yellow Man, Spragga Benz at his peak and Super Cat at his peak as well, just seems to personify what the dancehall lifestyle really is. If `dancehall' was just some guy somewhere, he'd probably be Beenie Man, if he wasn't, then he'd definitely be General Degree, that simple. In the late 1990's Degree (who seems to constantly change between using and not using the `General' of his name) was in the process of further solidifying and then maintaining his name after coming to prominence on the strength of early hits such as Pianist, Brinks and of course the now LEGENDARY Granny and he was releasing albums consistently as well, such as this hard to find underrated GEM from VP, Degree. This album was just almost criminally overlooked as it well came within the timeframe during which Degree would have been at his most potent (in 1997, which means after the P `n' S album in 1994, but before the Bush Baby album in 1998, both of which were very popular pieces from the artist). Probably the reason for that is the nature of the Degree album in itself. As opposed to Bush Baby and P `n' S (and later, the STUFFED Yeah Man album) it has (as the cover might suggest) a much more SLEEK and laid back vibes throughout. I'm not saying that the album gets rootsy or anything like that, but it seems as if Degree had taken a mind to make an album which was fun for the dance floor specifically instead of doing something exclusively for the comedic stance which he did from the Granny days or something which was HYPE for the dance floor, which is what became of the Bush Baby and Yeah Man albums. For me, I'm a dancehall head, I love it either way and the Degree album from the General is a very fun trip back in time to a dancehall with a great deal more of a sense of humour and a (positive) flash.

Degree originally came to prominence within the Main Street camp of producer Danny Browne. He, like many of his label mates at the time (like Red Rat, Mr. Vegas, Goofy and Buccaneer) came up with the more FUN type of dancehall vibes, thus a big credit goes to Browne there and for producing a bit of the Degree album as well. Getting things started on said album is probably one of the most unusual tunes on the album as well as one of the most popular, Spark Plug. Consider your very first trip through the tune as little more than a 'throwaway' as you probably won't realize how much you like the tune on the first spin. Spark Plug has an almost sappy feel to it (the melody sounding like something someone came up with and ran into the studio with it far too quickly). But, should/when you get through that, Spark Plug is downright BRILLIANT and ADDICTIVE. That same melody which had your face screwing will quickly turn into a full on head rocking type of vibes. Definitely a nice way to open things and one of the album's finest. Next up things slow down just a bit with What A Ting. Again, this is a tune which requires more than one spin through (although what you'll get out of this one won't be as strong as Spark Plug), but what lies beneath is a solid girls tune, definitely not Degree's finest or even the album's for that matter, but just an average and serviceable track. Completing the opening of the Degree album is Hold Me which is a similarly vibed tune to its immediate predecessor What A Ting, but a definite step up of sorts. This tune, still, isn't exactly one of the album's finest (it picks up after the opening, trust me) and I question placing it directly after a tune which sounds a lot like it, but it is just a nice and cool vibes for the album and I can't really complain there. Altogether a pretty pedestrian start for a General Degree album after the opener, but things are looking up.

To my ears, they don't look up higher than what proves to be the album's finest track all in all, the WICKEDLY ADDICTIVE Woh Woh. The vibes on the album change IMMEDIATELY after the slower two tracks which send out the opening and they reach critical mass on Woh Woh as I can't imagine a more successful way to change the goings than with the nerve-catching Living Dangerously riddim from Jah Screw. Outside of the title track for the riddim (from Barrington Levy & Bounty Killer) Degree definitely scored with the biggest tune on the piece and it scores as this album's biggest as well. BIG BIG TUNE. Woh Woh is definitely aided by the tunes which surround it as it comes in a line of four VERY strong tracks. That string begins with what is definitely another of the real highlights of the album and the first of three official combinations, Touch You Again alongside former dancehall diva (turned gospel singer) Chevelle Franklyn. The two make a very nice duo (Franklyn did that with just about everyone) and she is actually another of the artists who spent a bit of time through Main Street if I recall correctly, the vibes are well high and just creative and fun, everything you would expect from such a pairing. Love the vibes on that one. Following Woh Woh is the tune Burn which has just a bit harder type of vibes but is BLESSED with a nice baseline throughout which just keeps the attentions and keeps the bodies swaying definitely. And that aforementioned line of nice tunes ends (although Carbon Copy is good as well) with the BIG Limited Edition which may be the single most popular tune from this album as it was featured as a single (had a video and all) back then. Coming through on Steely & Clevie's hip-hop inspired but THUMPING Copycat riddim (which had a few different mixes, also check Bushman's No Sunshine for a next nice one), the tune tells the ladies out there not to be too late in realizing when they come across a good one as they are indeed of limited edition. The other two of the aforementioned three tunes feature Degree alongside Lady Saw and Hawkeye on Who Badda and Crosses, respectively. The wicked Richie Stephens produced Who Badda is the stronger of the two full on as it comes on the strength of the BIG vibed Girls Galore riddim AND, besides that, it would have come at a time when Saw was just ruling with similarly vibed combinations with her male counterparts such as Merciless, Spragga Benz, Red Rat and, of course, Beenie Man. They were all very good in my opinion and Who Badda is definitely no different (consider yourself DEEP if you, like me, are currently singing Woman Sneaking in your head!). And for his part, Hawkeye does a nice job as well with the strong Crosses. Hawkeye may very well be my LEAST favourite modern dancehall DJ period (if not him then Bling Dawg, Chino or Alozade take the crown), but I have to give credit where its due and it's well due on the KNOCKING Crosses which introduces just a TOUCH of conscious elements to the album, but still, as is his style, one for the dance floor at the same time. I HAVE TO go back and mention the BRILLIANCE that is Woman Rule. The tune speaks of all the guys who big talk about a woman not being the boss of them (they are the boss of us all). It kind of reminds me (or the other way around) of young Erup's HUGE tune Gal A Run Dem Head, but probably even more clever. As Degree unforgettably says if it isn't a woman ruling that guy, then it might just be `someone' else. Cleverly cleverly done over the long forgotten but still BIG Farakhan riddim. Have to mention Cartoon, just because. The riddim their (Main Street's Rich riddim) is one of the best on the Degree album and it's VINTAGE Main Street vibes; just something established for no other reason than to give the artist something to have a good time over it and to my recollection, there went many, if any at all better times to be had on the Rich riddim that Degree's Cartoon (Character). And, as if we needed it (and we didn't), is even more indication of Degree's brilliance as he ends his self titled album with one of the most popular efforts here, Robin Hood. I'm sure you can imagine what the tune is and only matching the creativity of Degree's lyrical approach is the riddim, Vertical's Rock Robin) which sounds like something out of a. . . 1950's detective television show. It would take a genuine dancehall MASTER to score on that one and Degree shows his class and does just that, sending the album out on one its highest notes altogether.

Overall, I always point to Degree as somewhat of a dancehall `litmus test'. Meaning that he makes the type of dancehall music which is SO easily accessible by fans of other genres like hip-hop, r&b and pop, so if you can't find SOMETHING here that you like then you REALLY don't like dancehall music at all (and I send you my condolences). So definitely I'm recommending the Degree album from General Degree to new fans of dancehall (even now, almost twelve years later still). AND, if you are a dancehall head then you should already be on this one and know it, given that it contains several of his better known tracks. Degree isn't Degree's best album to date and like I said, its one that seems to consistently float beneath the radar amongst most, but should you really find it up and dig into it, what you'll find is the same thing I found. One of the most underrated and unfortunately forgotten albums in modern dancehall history, period.