Description

1LP Vinyl – BSRLP864

Shining Star is a so-called showcase album, where the vocal versions are followed by the dub versions. For this LP, that means there are 5 songs on it with accompanying dub versions. Of course, that says nothing about the quality of the album, which is guaranteed by having the usual top musicians of the time play the riddim tracks. It is a delight how Earl sings fluently and effortlessly over the somewhat raucous riddims, which is certainly also a compliment to the producer. A frequently used practice at the time was to “recycle” riddims, and that obviously happens on this album as well. Some Give Astray, the opening track, faithfully follows the bass lines of Mean Girl, that classic Studio One song by Larry Marshall. The austere arrangement places Earl’s vocals strongly in the foreground, which is a plus. The Morwells’ brilliant 1979 song They Hold Us Down also uses the same backing track, by the way.