The Best of Big Mountain (Giant, 1998)

If this is truly "the best of" the California band Big Mountain, then I wouldn't wish their worst on my worst enemy.  Having heard their crossover smash remake of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way," I was prepared for a fluffy, slickly produced mainstream reggae album somewhat like UB40's more poppy stuff, but this flotsam-and-jetsam collection is to UB40 what UB40 is to Bob Marley.  It is flat, unoriginal, saccharine, and practically un-listenable.  The best tracks are the two tame remakes "Baby, I Love Your Way" and Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," but when Big Mountain tries to ride the "remake train" to further success, they crash and burn with Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" and the hippy romp "Get Together."  At least as bad is "All Kinds of People," which is co-written by Cheryl Crow(!) and, as such, features a sickeningly inordinate proliferation of rock guitars.  Big Mountain's music has so little edge, it actually has negative edge.  Aptly named lead singer James McWhinney is indeed whiney and wimpy-voiced, so much so that he makes Billy Mystic sound like Prince Far I.   It's actually humorous when the group tries to sound hard, as in "Soul Teacher," where they utter "strictly roots and culture" over a hip-hop/dance drumbeat.  Wow.  One thing that perplexes me about Big Mountain is the fact that two former members of the great Soul Syndicate, Tony Chin and Carlton "Santa" Davis, are part of this "B.M." of a band.