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Review written by Benoit Georges on Monday, July 18th 2005 - 8 438 views In recent years, compilations retracing the work of producer Bunny Lee have flourished, helping to set genuine pieces of Jamaican history in stone. This 'Bunny Lee Rocksteady Years' focuses more particularly on the rocksteady sound, a style that would last only two years (1966-1968) but would leave a lasting mark on the island's music. In an already highly competitive world, dominated by the giants of ska, Clement Dodd of Studio One and Duke Reid of Treasure Isle, Bunny Lee, an independent producer, managed to impose his trademark and his rocksteady. Despite duplicates already released on other compilations, this disc is one more tribute to the talent of Bunny Lee and of the singers and musicians who surrounded him. Popularised by Hopeton Lewis's Take it easy, rocksteady is characterised by a slowing of the tempo compared with ska and by melodic, steady basslines that proved to be very danceable. A style that also transformed the vocal approach, incorporating American R&B influences and allowing more complex vocal harmonies. This album brings together several major hits by the best artists of the Bunny Lee stable at the time. Trios, of course, with The Sensations and The Uniques (Slim Smith and Jimmy Riley), solo singers who are no less impressive such as Owen Gray (already a veteran!), Glen Adams (better known as keyboardist of The Upsetters), Ken Parker, Pat Kelly (a member of The Techniques), the young Errol Dunkley, and female singers such as Dawn Penn and Alva Lewis. Among the essentials, one will remember the performances of Slim Smith, one of the most beautiful voices of the era, alone or with The Uniques, as with My conversation and its evergreen riddim or the sublime Let me go girl. Other unmissable classics appear here: Hey there lonely girl and I can’t help it (a cover of Curtis Mayfield's Gipsy woman) by Glen Adams, Long day short night by Dawn Penn, barely 16 years old, and Long time me no see you girl and Born to love you by The Sensations. We also find Alton Ellis for Loving mood, an adaptation of the famous Dancing mood, and Lester Sterling, saxophonist and original member of the Skatalites, for an instrumental version that closes the album. The rest is no less good. It is certainly no challenge to find 25 rocksteady gems among the hundred or so tracks of exceptional quality produced by Bunny Lee. An outsider facing the giants Studio One and Treasure Isle, Bunny Lee earned at the end of this period the nickname "Striker", for his ability to produce hits. He would keep up this reputation superbly through the "early reggae" years that followed the rocksteady wave. Golden tracks, a polished presentation with a detailed booklet; this may not be the most complete compilation devoted to Bunny Lee, but it is certainly a guarantee of quality.

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