After five or six years of mediocre-at-best results from the late '90s through the early 21st century, the Reggae Gold series seems to have righted ship, with 2006 being the third straight stellar set that can justly call itself "gold." I can't say that there are many all-time classics here, but there's also very little need for fast-forwarding aside from the bland dancehall remix of R. Kelly's even blander "Slow Wine." Sean Paul's "Temperature" is the obvious headliner, since it hit the top of the pop charts in the US, while the rest caught barely of whiff of that success. Other standouts include the pounding bad boy-fest "Step Out" from Busy Signal, the electro-funk of Voicemail's "Dance," Wayne Wonder's emotional lovers track "I Still Believe" (riding the same Seasons riddim from Jah Cure's "Love Is"), and the potent dancehall jam "Bun Him," featuring a fun, whimpering flow from hot female DJ Macka Diamond's that harkens back to Papa San's classic "Maddy Maddy Cry." Although Ding Dong's "Badman Forward Badman Pull Up" might be the most repetitive song ever recorded and the vocals on L.O.C.'s "Ring Ding Ding" might be some of the most irritating ever recorded, both songs have their gimmicky, one-hit-wonder appeal. (How Ding Dong didn’t record "Ring Ding Ding," I’ll never know.) Capleton, Elephant Man, and T.O.K. meanwhile represent ably -- if unoriginally -- on their respective cuts (which all kinda sound like hits from three or four years ago). I don't know which came first, Assassin's Freddie McGregor duet "Youths Well Cold" or Richie Spice's "Youths Dem Cold," but I hope that someone in the Dennis Brown camp is getting paid for their appropriation -- catchy as it is -- of his "Some Like It Hot." Certainly, if you're big into the dancehall scene and keep up-to-date on the current hits, much of Reggae Gold 2006 will sound stale, but hey, that's the way it is every year with this series. At least this year they picked some of the best stale songs available.