Let's Go to the Blues: Dancehall for Lovers (Trojan, 1998)

I could almost write the same review for Let's Go to the Blues that I wrote for its companion piece, Dancehall Stylee.  The same sort of early '80s, pre-digital, drum and bass-heavy sound is predominant, but with a slight lovers twist.   That is, these are love songs with messages of romantic love; this isn't lovers rock as it is generally thought of -- the slick, R&B-tinged sound that rose largely out of Britain.  The music on Let's Go to the Blues has a distinctly harder edge, balancing the sweet love song lyrics that you might be ashamed of if your friends heard you singing them.  As with Dancehall Stylee, this compilation is valuable in that it lets listeners hear pioneering artists that they might have otherwise overlooked, like Barry Brown, Anthony Johnson, Tristan Palmer (AKA Trinton Palma), Tony Tuff, and Michael Palmer.  Similarly little-known Hugh Griffiths and Neville Mitchell provide two of the best tracks on Let's Go to the Blues in "I'm Living Up" and "Get Out of Hand," respectively.  The more famous Barrington Levy also represents royally with the stellar "I Love I Love You," while Anthony Johnson's "Loving You," Tony Tuff's "Give Me Love," Tristan Palmer's "Don't Make Me Cry," and the title track are quite nice.  The same complaint that I had with Dancehall Stylee, however, applies to Blues -- that it has too many songs, thus allowing filler material to dilute the album (and this type of dancehall in particular can sound generic and repetitive if listening to too many mediocre examples in a row).  If you take half of each of these two albums (preferably the good halves) and put them together, you could have a truly wicked collection.