Heartbeat Reggae Roundup (Heartbeat, 1991)

You know you're in trouble when one of the most musical tunes on the compilation you're listening to comes from Culture.  Such is the case with this surprisingly bad sampler from Heartbeat Records.  I realize that the label wasn't too old when this album was released, but certainly they can come up with better stuff than this.  I can excrete stuff out of my orifices more original than Yami Bolo's "Dancehall Music" or Gregory Isaacs' "Dealing."  As I stated, Culture's "Peace and Love in the Dancehall" is much more musically distinct than these two -- it actually has a melodic, catchy chorus!  There are actually other tracks that are fairly enjoyable as well: Black Uhuru's "Rent Man," the bluesy guitar of Burning Spear's "The Image (Of Marcus Mosiah Garvey)," and the best song on the album, Roots Radics' fun, old-fashioned "Private Enemy."  But such quality can't counter the abject mediocrity apparent elsewhere, which culminates in female DJ Breeze's excruciatingly piercing voice and annoying Sister Carol-esque half rap/half toast delivery.  Heartbeat must've known that they had a stinker on their hands, for they threw in Peter Tosh's "Them fe Get a Beating" as a bonus track not available on another Heartbeat album in a vein attempt to lift the level of the material.  Them fe get a beating all right.  A big beating.