Beres Hammond – Soul Reggae (Harmony House) LP

Reissue of the debut album from the great Beres Hammond. Originally released in Jamaica in 1976 on the Aquarius affiliated Water Lily label.  As the title suggests Beres’s soulful vocals – fully intact and sounding just as fine as he did at the  height of his popularity in the eighties and nineties – are pitched across a selection of smooth Philly style soul rhythms provided by the likes of Mikey Boo Richards, Val Douglas, Harold Butler, Wire Lindo, Tyrone Downie, Robbie Lyn and Cedric Brooks, deftly produced by Willie Lindo at the Aquarius Sound Studios in Half Way Tree, Kingston, Jamaica.  Though it was popular on the island at the time, it failed to sell particularly well in the UK where audiences for soul and reggae were somewhat divided, what chance Beres when compared to Teddy Pendergrass?  Now of course it sounds like a lost soul gem. Don’t miss it again.