Valentine's Day, it is and remains a largely commercial event, and yet every year yours truly looks forward to that date mid-February. Our reason? The annual edition of Greensleeves' 'Songs For Reggae Lovers' is a true feast to the ears for amateurs of the better lovers rock. This year recent hits and vintage tunes are nicely arranged on two discs. In that first category the compilation opens with 'Every Little Thing', a delicious love tune from Maxi Priest's upcoming album scheduled for release in April, and, of course, The Voice winner Tessanne Chin cannot be lacking from the track list either, even though it's only with the Beres Hammond cover 'Step Aside'. Chino, son of Freddie McGregor, sounds surprisingly like his father in 'Leaving (Seal The Link)', but surprisingly our personal favorite on the first disc is 'Cool Down The Pace' by J Boog, a Californian of Samoan descent.
But of course we much prefer the vintage songs on the second disc. The compilation ends somewhat on a false note with 'Can't Be With You Tonight', a stinker of a song by Judy Boucher which can hardly be considered lovers rock. That being said, there are enough great songs in the track list to make you forget about that dreadful song in no time. Rocksteady classic 'Dancing Mood' by Delroy Wilson is the ideal opening track and yours truly rejoiced in finally finding absolute world hits like Freddie McGregor's 'Push Comes To Shove' and Wayne Wade's 'Lady' in this series. Happy Valentine's!