Does it need any more recommendation from me? Not really, I guess, but anyway… The tracks here were recorded, as the title says, between 1981 and 1985 and are lover’s rock, early dancehall, and rub-a-dub, with most issued on the Mr. Tipsy label and never reissued since. The title number offers the listener the then new Sly & Robbie sound with the electronic drums prominent, and it is followed by the dub. Next up, Please Don’t Leave Me has a full horn section, then its previously unreleased dub version Don’t Leave Me This Way.
Travelling Man has a throwback sound, with strong hints of Sam Cooke in the vocal, Soul Sister is a cover of The Gaylads/ B.B. Seaton tune, and then an excellent updated cover of Freddie McKay’s Picture On The Wall – all very nice! Delroy initially recorded Troubled Man for Studio One, and this updating certainly stands up well; he then tears into Lloyd Price’s 1959 hit, Where Were You On Our Wedding Day?, with gusto, and its dub closes out this extremely listenable release.