Strictly the Best 22 (VP, 1998)

I realize that covers of songs have always been a part of reggae, but people, please use your head when you start thinking about which songs to remake.  I have trusted the Strictly the Best series for a long time, and so I simply bought this volume without looking at the track listing.  Even if I had, it probably wouldn't have struck me how heinous 3 of the songs here would be.  The first song on the album, Richie Stephens' cover of Tom Jones' (!) "It's Not Unusual," gave me an immediate clue.  Later on came these nuggets: Tony Curtis' version of George Michael's "Faith" and Ambelique's remake of Barry Manilow's "Copa Cabana."  What is this, lounge reggae???  As far as I'm concerned, Stephens, Curtis, and Ambelique have had whatever credibility they've built up destroyed.  All I can say is "ugh."  Thankfully, the other 13 songs on Volume 22 are not in that league of filth.  Without that dead weight, this compilation may actually be OK. . . but just OK.  My favorite song on it is actually a remake, but of a well-chosen song, Shinehead's heavy-beat, old-school reggae version of The Whispers' "Olivia."  Also solid is Sanchez's remake (what's new) of Kenny Latimore's "For You" and Singing Melody's cover of Take That's "Want You Back," as well as -- hey, what do you know -- original songs by Beres Hammond and Glen Washington.  As you can see, at least 8 of the 16 tracks here are remakes, which leads to a sense of staleness (if you know the originals).  In all, Strictly the Best 22 is easily the worst so far of this long-running series; I can't imagine it getting much worse.