Having gotten his start as a ska singer in the 1960s and then ridden out the rock steady era with harmony groups the Uniques and the Eternals, Cornel Campbell really came into his own as a solo artist in the mid-1970s with such blockbuster hits as "The Gorgon" and "Natty Dread in a Greenwich Town" (each of which gave rise to several similarly-titled followups). But his work from the early 1980s should not be dismissed, as this excellent program of
Delroy Wright-produced tracks, all of them recorded at Channel One with the backing of the excellent High Times Band, makes clear. The focus is on romantic numbers, for which his smooth falsetto is ideally suited; on tracks like "Your Love" and "You're My Lady" he croons irresistibly atop muscular but nicely flowing one-drop grooves. But the "cultural" numbers here are just as effective -- "Oh Rastaman" and "Money" both issue stern warnings to Babylon in the same sweet, mellow voice he uses elsewhere to cajole the object of his romantic attentions. Highly recommended.