Desmond Dekker, Barrington Levy, or Shaggy?

Choose one

  • Barrington Levy

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • Desmond Dekker

    Votes: 6 60.0%

  • Shaggy

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Total voters
    10
thefsb

thefsb

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Nov 1, 2020
Messages
126
Location
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Let's say a friend announces they got their niece/nephew a nice restored 1980s TT/amp/boxes kit for an upcoming birthday. You also know the kid and decide to give a birthday present too, a Best Of LP of your favorite Jamaican singer, which one of these three.

Naturally you hope to have a chance to explain to the poor kid why this is such an important album and why it is worth his/her attention. What will you say? Bonus points for sharing a nice album cover in your reply.
 
Well, I voted for Shaggy because, well, I was hoping some of his plasma glow of sexy charisma might reflect well in me, but then I switched conceits and got the hypothetical kid Black and Dekker by Desmond Dekker hoping that some of his aura of social conscience might work for me too and suit the occasion better.

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This is tough. The best way I can answer this it to say:

1) I don't own any Shaggy albums

2) I own Desmond - Pretty Africa, Action!, You Can Get It If You Really Want It

3) I only own Barrington - Too Experienced ... The Best Of

Based on that.. if you must get a comp, I'd go Barrington.
 
If you're looking for good reggae albums in general, I made this list awhile back:

The Aggrolites - S/T
Alpha Blondy - Cocody Rock!!!
Barrington Levy - Too Experienced ... The Best Of Barrington Levy
Black Uhuru - Red
Bunny Wailer - Blackheart Man
Burning Spear - Harder Than The Best
Collie Buddz - Collie Buddz
Damian Marley - Welcome To Jamrock
Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Action!
DJ Vadim - Dubcatcher
Don Carlos - Wipe The Wicked Clean
Eek-A-Mouse - The Very Best Of Eek-A-Mouse
Freddie McGregor - The Anthology
The Green - S/T
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse
Half Pint - Classics
The Heptones - Party Time
Horace Andy - Ain't No Sunshine
Inner Circle - Bad To The Bone
Iration - Iration
J Boog - Hear Me Roar
Junior Murvin - Police & Thieves
Ka'au Crater Boys - Best Of
Lee Scratch Perry + Subatomic Sound System - Super Ape Returns To Conquer
Long Beach Dub Allstars - Right Back
Macka B - Sign Of The Times
Madlib - 420 Chalice All-Stars
Max Romeo & The Upsetters - War Ina Babylon
The Maytals - The Sensational Maytals
Peter Tosh - Legalize It
Rebelution - Bright Side Of Life
Sashamon - One Day Maybe
SKITN - SKITN (hey, my band!)
Slightly Stoopid - Closer To The Sun
Steel Pulse - Earth Crisis
Three Plus - Honey Baby
Thievery Corporation - The Temple Of I & I
Third World - 96° In The Shade
Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life
Toots And The Maytals - Sweet And Dandy
U-Roy - Crucial Cuts
UB40 – Labour Of Love
Yellowman - Zungguzungguguzungguzeng
 
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I liked the idea of these three kinda representing different generations of Jamaican pop stars that made a big impact on the international market. Each is an enormously charismatic singer, so much that the music alone conjures a huge vivid individual personality for the listener. For example, try listening to Oh Carolina without any visuals, as I did. But each exploited video at different stages of its technical development.

Both Shaggy and Barrington have voices ideal for duets. Listening to a really good best of album or mix tape risks giving the impression of a brilliantly talented one-trick pony if it's just the one voice. Which reminds me of It Wasn't Me, which was in heavy rotation on commercial radio in Hungary that summer, when I was visiting. It became indelibly associated with my memories of that trip. And I didn't even know it was a Shaggy song until years later. LOL
 
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