John Holt

With such a long and illustrious career John Holt has produced a large battery of material — but not all of it good. This reissue, however, is a tidy snapshot of a diverse era of John Holt’s genius. These Studio One recordings catch him on the eve of leaving the Paragons (three of their tracks make it onto this compilation) and setting off own his own. As such this is an important time in Holt’s career. On one hand he looks back to previous successes by redoing a Paragons Treasure Isle era smash hit "Happy Go Lucky Girl.” But he is also discovering the benefits of covering international chart topping artists (Neil Diamond’s "Soolaiman” and "Holly Holy,” George Harrison’s "My Sweet Lord”) — a trajectory that will take him into dangerous schmaltz territory in the middle of the decade. At the same time Holt is writing some of the songs that will define him as an artist for the next three decades: "I Can’t Get You Off My Mind,” "Fancy Make Up,” "Ok Fred,” "A Love I Can Feel” and "Strange Things” — all must-have cuts for any respectable reggae collection. As you can see this compilation offers a lot of different sides to Holt. Add to that the fact that many of these songs and/or stereo mixes were previously unavailable on CD and I Can’t Get You Off My Mind is a safe bet for a good John Holt investment.