The Biggest Ragga Dancehall Anthems 99 (Greensleeves, 1999)

To say that this album is ambitious would be an understatement.  Fitting 40 of the most popular dancehall tracks from one year on one album is quite a feat, and this set pulls it off...mostly.  There's lots of great stuff here, but if you listen to a moderate amount of dancehall, you will have much of it already.  Songs like Beenie Man's "Who Am I" and "100 Dollar Bag," Mr. Vegas' "Heads High" (wasn't that '98?) and "Hot Gal Today," Buccaneer's "Bruk Out," Ward 21's "Haters" and "Judgement Day," Red Rat's "Dwayne," Bounty Killer's "Psycho Med," Zebra's "Right Type a Love," and Sizzla & Luciano's "In This Time" are well-known enough that they have little impact when heard on this compilation.  And the ones you don't know so well aren't necessarily so great.  Additionally, Greensleeves' selection of artists is predictably restricted.  All of their Greensleeves Sampler and Ragga! Ragga! Ragga! sets seem to contain the same performers over and over again -- the same ones included on The Biggest Ragga Dancehall Anthems 99.  You almost have to give this album a pretty good rating by the sheer number of good songs here, but you might be better off buying some of the individual albums from which many of these tracks are taken, like Mr. Vegas' Heads High, Buccaneer's Da Opera, Bushman's Total Commitment, and Sizzla's Black Woman & Child and Royal Son of Ethiopia, since they have other quality, lesser-known material not included here.