A1. Garnett Silk – What Do You Say?
A2. Garnett Silk – What Do You Say? Dub Vocal Mix
B. Unknown – What Do You say Version
Greensleeves Records – GRED848

More info @ Discogs

Garnett Silk leads the way with a track that didn’t actually see the light of day until 2000. By the time What Do You Say? dropped, the reggae world had already been mourning his passing for six years. Produced by Doctor Marshall, this one carries a bit of mystery. It seems the original was likely a raw vocal-only recording—maybe a demo or a special dubplate—that stayed in the archives. Doctor Marshall took that vocal and “restored” it, building a fresh backdrop to bring the song into a new light.

Some artists leave a body of work that just keeps growing in stature long after they’re gone. Garnett Silk is one of those artists. Born Garnet Damion Smith on 2 April 1966 in Bromelia, Manchester, Jamaica, he lived only 28 years, but what he packed into that short life still resonates deeply across the reggae world.

He started young, deejaying on sound systems from around age twelve under the name Little Bimbo, moving through systems like Soul Remembrance, Conquering Lion, and Destiny Outernational. It was on that last one where he first linked up with Tony Rebel, a friendship that would shape his whole direction. Rebel, along with dub poet Yasus Afari, brought him to Rastafari, and that spiritual grounding became the foundation of everything he recorded.

The shift from deejay to singer came in 1989, on the advice of veteran Derrick Morgan. Once he started singing, people noticed. He moved through sessions with producers like King Tubby, Prince Jammy, and Donovan Germain before landing a deal with Steely & Clevie in 1990.

His debut album It’s Growing, produced by Bobby Digital, dropped in 1992 and became one of the best-selling records in Jamaica that year. It helped lead a conscious roots revival that was quietly but firmly reshaping dancehall from within. Then came Hello Mama Africa, produced by Richard Bell for Star Trail, which topped the reggae chart in the UK and took his name international. Singles with King Jammy like Fill Us Up With Your Mercy and Lord Watch Over Our Shoulders, and Jack Scorpio’s Zion in a Vision, a Jamaican number one, kept the momentum strong. A second album, Love Is the Answer, produced by Steely & Clevie, followed in 1994.

Then in December 1994, a house fire in Mandeville took his life. He died trying to save his mother. The music kept coming out. Nothing Can Divide Us, The Definitive Collection, dubplate sets on Kilimanjaro and Trojan. His son Garnet Silk Jr. carries the name forward. And that voice, warm and sure and rooted deep in faith, still sounds like it was made to last.

A. Beres Hammond – The Way It is
B. Jack Radics – Purify
Star Trail/Charm – CRT 163

More info @ Discogs

Moving over to the second disc, we get a true heavyweight in the form of Beres Hammond. He brings The Way It Is, a track produced by Richard Bell for his Star Trail imprint back in 1993. Most heads know Beres for those soulful lover’s tunes, but this one showed the world he could handle social commentary just as effortlessly.

Richard Bell was a key architect of the 90s sound, and this production is a perfect example of his crisp, driving style. The flipside keeps the energy high with Jack Radics delivering Purify over that same heavy riddim.

There are singers, and then there’s Beres Hammond. Born Hugh Beresford Hammond on 28 August 1955 in Annotto Bay, Saint Mary, Jamaica, he’s been one of the most consistent and beloved voices in reggae for over five decades. That voice, smoky and soulful and unmistakably his own, has drawn comparisons to Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.

He grew up the ninth of ten children, his ears shaped early by his father’s collection of American soul and jazz records sitting alongside the homegrown sounds of ska and rocksteady. Alton Ellis was a big influence. By the early 1970s he was entering talent contests, which led to his first recording, a version of Ellis’s Wanderer. In 1975 he joined Zap Pow, as lead singer, and their 1978 single The System became a hit. But he was building a solo career at the same time. His debut album Soul Reggae came out in 1976, and that same year One Step Ahead hit number one in Jamaica and stayed there for over three months.

Through the 1980s he kept recording and releasing, picking up heat with dancehall cuts like Groovy Little Thing and What One Dance Can Do, the latter spawning a whole wave of answer records. Then came 1990, and everything shifted up a gear. Linking with Donovan Germain at Penthouse Records, he cut Tempted to Touch over the Love I Can Feel riddim. It topped reggae charts internationally and became the best-selling Jamaican single of that year. A string of Penthouse hits followed, including Is This a Sign, Respect to You Baby, and duets with a young Buju Banton. The 1992 album A Love Affair locked in his reputation as the undisputed king of lovers rock.

But Hammond wasn’t content to just ride a wave. He built his own Harmony House studio, developed his own sound, and partnered with VP Records to release music on his own terms. That arrangement produced seven studio albums between the late 1990s and 2018, including Music Is Life (2001), A Moment in Time (2008) and Never Ending (2018).

In 2013 the Jamaican government awarded him the Order of Jamaica for his contribution to the music. He’s collaborated widely, from Wyclef Jean and Sean Paul to Popcaan, and in 2021 he hosted Love From A Distance Live, a globally streamed concert that pulled in over 120,000 viewers and featured Buju Banton alongside him. Five decades in, Beres Hammond still sounds like nobody else.

Jack Radics was born Balfour Bailey on 31 December 1957 in Kingston, Jamaica. His sound sits at the crossroads of reggae, soul, and pop, with a heavy debt to Motown and Stax baked into his vocal approach from early on.

By around 1975 he was in New York, working on the Sound System New World and cutting his first recording. The early 1980s took him to London, where he recorded a duet with Debbie Ryvers and dropped his first solo single, ‘Walk on By’, under the Jack Radics name in 1985. Back in Jamaica by 1988, he scored his first national hits with ‘Dream Merchant’ and ‘Conversation’, and his debut album ‘Jack’ followed in 1991.

The early 1990s were busy. He recorded with Sly & Robbie, Freddie McGregor, Big Youth, Bobby Digital, and Roof International, and collaborated with Shaggy, Tony Rebel, Super Cat, Yami Bolo, and others. In late 1993, he featured on ‘Twist and Shout’ with Chaka Demus & Pliers. The single went to number one on the UK Singles Chart, earned a spot in the Guinness Book of Records, and crossed over hard.

His 1994 album ‘Open Rebuke’ was nominated by Echoes magazine as the best reggae album of that year, which helped reestablish him on his own terms. Later work took him in interesting directions, working with several producers such as German producer Rüdiger Nieschmidt.

Away from his own recordings, Radics has built a solid reputation as a songwriter, with multiple hits credited to him and recorded by German reggae artist Gentleman. He’s performed at Montreux Jazz Festival and toured across the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He’s been based in Negril for some time now.