Keep That Love Light Shining

Keep That Lovelight Shining is a wonderful double-disc collection of the work of Jamaican crooner Slim Smith. The set collects tracks from Smith's early days with the Techniques and Uniques through to recordings made just before his tragic death in 1973. The disc begins with the ska sounds of the Techniques, then quickly moves into the sweet rocksteady of the Uniques. The end of disc one and all of disc two are devoted to Smith's rocksteady and rootsy solo recordings. Smith possessed an otherworldly falsetto, and put it to good use on great tracks like covers of the Impressions' "I'm Lost," John D. Loudermilk's "If It Don't Work Out (Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye)," his own "Stand Up and Fight," and the Motown classic "Everybody Needs Love." His non-falsetto tones are sweet and smooth, too. There are no weak tracks to be found; besides, Smith could sing transcripts from traffic court and make them sound like heavenly harps and angels on high. There are other Slim Smith collections out there, but this is the definitive statement on the man and his voice. ~ Tim Sendra|