Go On - Al Campbell (Black Arrow)

Lovers Rock revival, anyone? You dance hall queens out there. Tired of doing press ups on the dance floor wearing nothing but a thong? Maybe Al Campbell's latest tune can give you back that touch of romance and intimacy you secretly knew you were missing.

Lovers Rock was a seventies UK phenomenon, then and since often dismissed unjustly and lazily as 'girls' music'. Indeed, it was a reaction against the increasing masculine doominess and ponderousness of roots music at the time and a return to such basics as fun, romance and partying all night with the opposite sex.

Right now, there are lovers tunes coming out of the UK as good as anything from the heyday of the genre. Go On is the sort of record that back in the day had smooching dancers rubbing off the wallpaper in council flats all over London till the sun came up.

Al Campbell was a revelation to many who heard him on tour with the famed Stur Gav sound, showing that he can hang tough in a dancehall setting with the likes of Josey Wales and Charlie Chaplin. Many will know him too from such roots classics as Take A Ride for Studio One. Al Campbell is also a frequent visitor to London recording studios these days and Go On, recorded at Mafia & Fluxy Studio, further demonstrates his range and versatility. His languid smooth as silk vocal glides over an uptempo Mafia & Fluxy foot-on-the-gas rhythm, telling his woman to "Go on with your loving baby, go on with your teasing, girl. You know I like it like that."

Two other cuts to this, all from the Mafia & Fluxy camp, are I've Got To Follow My Heart from Ambelique and If It's Love That You're Looking For from Chosen Few, both well worth a purchase. But this is the best of the bunch.

Three lovers rock classics to hunt down:

The best accounts of Lovers Rock can be found in Barrow & Dalton's The Rough Guide to Reggae and in Lloyd Bradley's Bass Culture. Check the reviews page on this site for further discussion.