Althea & Donna
Uptown Top Ranking

THE REVIEW

Sunny sounds, and 10 simple yet impactful tracks, for these two Jamaican girls (then just eighteen), who entered the reggae annals thanks to the hit from 1978 "Uptown Top Ranking". Together with the splendid "No More Fighting", this constitutes the highlight of an album that, while maintaining respectable reggae/pop levels, couldn't replicate the remarkable success of the leading single.

And just looking at them, these two plain Janes, one can't help but think of the classic losers currently making a comeback, see Arisa and Susan Boyle. Yet, quite the opposite can be said about their vocal abilities: almost whispered songs, never intrusive, that much like their musical proposition appear fresh ("They Wanna Just") and radiant ("Oh Dread", "Jah Music"), a feature surely appreciated by that circle of fans used to the usual dreadlocked guys. An album that can even offer sophisticated moments and considerable depth such as "Jah Rastafari" with its pleasant sax riff, and "Make A Truce", where the inevitable percussion stands out. The tedious "The West" and the anonymous "Sorry" go unnoticed; "If You Don't Love Jah" manages, however, to sound relevant even after 30 years.

The arrangements are sufficiently well-crafted, (10 musicians involved), with an excellent production by Joe Gibbs. The duo would cease to exist just two years later, and would soon fall under the category beloved by the English, One-hit wonder. Certainly not a pride for a project that undoubtedly could have said more.