Strictly The Best Vol. 36 CD

The 36th entry in the consistently profitable Strictly the Best series breaks away from the line's usual dancehall focus and instead offers a solid hour of modern lovers rock -- most of it quite good, some of it excellent, but one or two entries mystifyingly awful. The best offerings come from Morgan Heritage (whose "Love You Right" is the kind of sweet, solid pop reggae that this band was born to play), from up-and-coming singer Cherine (whose "Good Love" somehow manages to sound more innocent than it is) and Roger Robin (whose "For Life" is a surprisingly sweet avowal of fidelity and permanence -- sentiments not often encountered in modern reggae, and practically never in the dancehall). Chuck Fender and Cherine team up for a nice combination track on "Coming Over," and Jah Cure does a decent job on "What Will It Take," though the whininess of the song's title is eclipsed by the even greater whininess of his vocal. The album's two real let-down tracks come courtesy of Mr. Vegas, whose "Do You Know" is just far enough out of tune to make the track a chore to sit through, and I Wayne, whose "Life Seeds" is just plain horrible -- an unlistenable voice-and-guitar ballad that has neither a good melody nor any compelling rhythm nor even pleasant vocals to recommend it. The album ends on a mixed note: Della Manley sings beautifully on the rather folky "I Know," but Mutabaruka is completely wasted on this track: instead of toasting with his usual political incisiveness, he grunts brief, repetitive and content-free phrases between her stanzas. A mixed bag, but very good overall. ~ Rick Anderson