Also included are reworkings of Tanita Tikaram’s Twist In My Sobriety from 1988, Small Town Boy (the first single from this set) with the original vocal recorded by Jimmy Somerville with Bronski Beat in 1984, The B-52’s celebratory 1989 hit Love Shack. And American new wave band Blondie’s hit Heart Of Glass hit from 1979. Sophie B. Hawkins 1995 ballad As I Lay Me Down (When The Sun Comes Out Again) gets a very fine lover’s rock influenced treatment that works so, so well.
The final two numbers of the set are slightly different in that both are voiced by contemporary Jamaican artists. Gary Pine turns in a beautiful rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time and Ky-Enie King closes out this rather fine and enjoyable set with another lover’s styled tune in The Outfield’s Your Love originally from the mid-80s; his performance certainly has more than a tinge of Bob Marley in the vocal.
Musicians involved include bass player Devon Bradshaw, guitarist Ian Coleman, and drummer Donovan Miller – all three with some very impressive Reggae credentials. Also present are ‘Stepper’ Briard’ and Didier Bolay, who are the French contingent horn section of Sly & Robbie’s Taxi Gang. This idea could have come across maybe as a little cheesy and somewhat lightweight, but fear not, with musicians of this calibre, all the performances are well worth a listen and certainly well within the reggae tradition.