*GUEST REVIEW*
This is a bizarre record. I found it in a discount bin for a dollar, and it turned out to be of surprising quality. Prince Ally is a Toronto-based singer of Guyanese descent who apparently has 11 albums to his name, although he's a virtual unknown outside of his own community. In fact, Toronto real estate agents, travel companies, and auto shops, all of which also appear to be run by Guyanese-Canadians, have taken out ads on the inside and back covers of Reggae Come Down, presumably as a way to raise funds for the album's release. The music itself is pretty standard modern roots reggae -- a synth-heavy, bass driven collection of tunes featuring Ally's beautiful falsetto (think Cedric Myton from The Congos, although not as extreme) and a series of equally unknown sidekicks (I-Sax, Sandra Persaud, Paula La Bomba, Mark White and toaster Japanese, among others). The album's 18 tracks are nearly half cover tunes, which Ally seems to handle better than his own material. Reggae classic "Everything I Own" is performed exceptionally well, while Ally's take on "Ain't No Sunshine" is the album's highlight, featuring some blistering high notes and a great closing chat by Japanese (who is actually from Trinidad). The original tunes wear a little thin, especially since many of them are based around the same rhythm, "High Life," which kicks off the album as an instrumental by I-Sax. With the exception of Japanese, most of Ally's guests are just awful, especially La Bomba, who squeals/raps her way through some atrocious bilingual anti-drug lyrics on the misspelled "Prescribsion Drugs." Not all of the original tunes are disasters, though. "Ethiopian's Rock," the sole Rasta-themed track on a very secular record, is head and shoulders above the rest, complete with percussion breaks, I-Three-style female backups and an unstoppable, snaking groove. It's unfortunate Ally's other 10 albums are as obscure as Reggae Come Down, because he shows a lot of promise on a number of these tracks and would be worth another listen.

- Sam Thompson