I Shall Sing! Volume 2 (Trojan, 1993)

The I Shall Sing! series provides welcome exposure to female reggae singers, who number few and whose material gets little exposure beyond a select few (seemingly most of whom have been a member of the I-Threes).  Volume 2 covers 4 decades of music -- the 1960s through the 1990s -- with 14 of the 18 tracks coming from the middle two decades.   Although there is some rock steady and early reggae here, the resounding flavor on this album is lovers rock.  Syrupy sweet, catchy melodies and light, airy voices that work in that innocent, old-fashioned love song way, dominate.  I don't like all lovers rock, but this is a very solid collection, with nearly every cut being decent.   The most enjoyable numbers to me are the '80s ones, performed by June Powell -- whose "I'll Be Everything to You" and "You Can Wake Up With Me" are "answers" to John Holt's "You Are Everything to You" and Boris Gardiner's "I Wanna Wake Up With You," respectively -- and Audrey Hall, although bigger names Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, and Phyllis Dillon provide some nice tunes as well.  Sharon Forrester's two tracks and the lone '90s song, Sidonie Jordan's "Something About You," round out I Shall Sing! Volume 2 well.