Two Roads (Easy Star, 2000)

Triston Palma, AKA Triston Palmer, is a veteran dancehall singer who's been releasing albums since the early '80s, but unfortunately many of them -- and there aren't that many -- aren't readily available.  That's why Two Roads was such a welcome release.  Palma's vocal style here is reminiscent of Sugar Minott's old school, sing-jay-ish flow, and he puts it to pretty good use on the first half of this album, the highlights being the evocative "Revolution," "Never Be Ungrateful" -- which adopts the music from Dennis Brown's "Silhouettes" -- and particularly "Hatred in the Youths," a genuine modern classic.  The best thing about Two Roads is the overall sound, which effectively revives the early '80s (pre-digital) dancehall sound for its best tracks.  It's too bad that this sound can't carry the second half of the album, where tunes like the silly reggae/salsa combination "Ragga Salsa" and the syrupy "Blind Devotion" prevail.