Yellowman: Mr. Yellowman - 1982

Yellowman was one of the ground-breaking albums from the time when reggae "went digital" and turned into dancehall/ragga. 1981 was, however, still very much the time of the punky reggae party and roots/dub was remaining popular, but rapped out lyrics over a programmed beat were becoming more and more the sound of Notting Hill Carnival. 

As opposed to some of the more digital and hip hop influenced sounds of nineties artists like Shaggy and Capleton, I find Yellowman's material far more listenable and accessible, the backing is less blatantly digital, containing lots of dubbiness in it and the vocals are softer and more melodic. Whereas some of Shaggy's stuff grates after a couple of tracks, this album is far more to my taste. There are killer basslines all over it. 

Highlights are Natty Say Upon The Rock, Lost Mi Love, Mr. Chin (which features the "biddly-bong" vocal thing that Musical Youth appropriated on their chart hit Pass The Dutchie the following year), Two To Six Super Mix, the dubby Jamaica A Little Miami and the humorous and catchy Sam Cooke-sampling Yellowman Getting Married. 

To be honest you could pick any of the album's ten tracks. The man could do romance too (albeit sexually-themed), as Morning Ride showed. When this album appeared in 1981, its influence on so much subsequent reggae was virtually instant. As Yellowman himself said "dem a mad over Yellowman". Soon all reggae would sound like this. 

Yellowman also released a “best of” compilation entitled Most Wanted, which included material from Mr. Yellowman plus much more, all delivered in that appealing, slow groove style, with that seductive bass to the fore (although it was music that was linked with the dance floor, it was definitely slow grind fare). Yellowman’s lyrics are shamelessly boastful throughout. You can’t help but smile at it, though. It’s all pretty harmless. 

  From the following year came this unpronounceably-titled album, which gave us more of the same -