Reggae for Jesus (Ejaness Reggae Comprehensive, 2001)

Although both are a heavily religious music, reggae maintains a much more "cool" image than Christian music ("Christian" generally implying Caucasian Christian, as opposed to "gospel").  I suppose the image of a dreadlocked Bob Marley sparking up a spliff has a bit more appeal to the youth (and to the not-so-youthful) than, say, Pat Boone.  Go figure.  Reggae has long been a music dominated by the Rastafarian viewpoint, so much so that one may tend to assume that any given reggae artist is a Rasta.  Certainly, that's not always the case -- some are Muslim (Jimmy Cliff being the most notable example), some are Christian, some are [insert favorite religion here], and some are hard to discern.  This is where Reggae for Jesus comes in.  Ostensibly, the title sounds like a Christian effort, but the presence of ardent Rasta Luciano and with titles like "Remember Jah Words" muddies that theory.  I don't claim to be an expert in Rastafarianism in the least, but I know that praising Jesus isn't necessarily exclusive to Christianity (although you don't hear a lot in reggae).  That said, my guess is that some of the artists on Reggae for Jesus are Christian and some are Rastafarian expressing a faith in Jesus.  Regardless of all of this, what really counts in my mind is the quality of the songs, and Reggae for Jesus delivers a consistent stable of quality material.  Featuring predominantly a lovers rock and light dancehall sound, this album presents an impressive line-up of established artists and a few newcomers performing in a humble, righteous manner that never becomes either preachy or corny.  Highlights include Richie Stephens' "Heavenly Father," Singing Melody & Tony Curtis's "Thank You Lord" (both songs riding the same rhythm, along with Spanner Banner's "Remember Jah Word"), Stevie Face's "Thank You," and Patrick Junior's "Jesus Is the Same," which utilizes the lovely lovers rhythm that Beres Hammond rode to success on "They Gonna Talk."  Five tracks share a more up-tempo dancehall riddim -- the best being Anthony Cruz's "Who?," Chevelle Franklin's "Jesus It's You," and Pinchers' "His Love" -- which is leading more towards a one-rhythm album than I generally prefer, but artist and producer alike pull it off nicely.