Dig Deep: Ken Boothe – Everything I Own – Trojan (1974)

Ken Boothe – Evil Woman
Ken Boothe – Sandy
Ken Boothe – Time Passage

Just some brief comments on this one (maybe I’ll return after the holiday for a bit more)…I don’t see a whole lot of original Trojan records these days, but I ran into this one fairly recently over at Atomic in Burbank. Ken Boothe is a classic vocalist from JA, my favorite tracks of his catalogue being “Say You” and his version of Syl Johnson’s “Is It Because I’m Black.” This record contains neither or those and nothing as exceptionally strong as those sides, but there’s a lot of solid work mixed in with some debatable choices (“The Impossible Dream”? The “Godfather Theme”? Seriously…?).

The non-debatable tracks are definitely worthy of the artist and his skills as a vocalist. “Evil Woman” has a great sound, as does the similar mid tempo (though complete opposite sentiment) “Sandy.” It’s the sound of the record that I find intersting, there aren’t any big name players on this record, none of the usual Reggae supporters, but the band does an ace job supporting Boothe, especially on “Time Passage” the upbeat groover that closes the album out with a righteous bit of jamaican reggae soul.

Cheers,

Michael