Red Gold Green and Blue RMX

Last year Trojan Jamaica released Red, Gold, Green and Blue, a selection of covers of sacred blues and soul works from the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley and Nina Simone. The artists selected for this challenge ranged from the obvious – Toots Hibbert is probably as much a soul legend as a reggae legend – to the obscure, with newcomer Phylea Carley’s sultry drawl brilliantly reinventing Muddy Waters’ ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’.

Fans of the album will enjoy this year’s remix by The Prodigy sound designer Rob Jevons, whose job is to further distance these tracks from their blues and soul originals. Sometimes it works, such as with Phylea Carley’s offering; trip-hop influences warp the original into what sounds like a Sister Nancy collaboration with Massive Attack. In other places, problems with 2019’s covers are worsened; Freddie McGregor’s impossible task of reinventing Robert Johnson’s ‘Come on in My Kitchen’ can’t be salvaged by a boot-stomp percussion effect. Black Uhuru’ Mykal Rose proves again to be a safe reggae veteran choice, with all three of his tracks having a personalised stamp of silky smooth vocals. There’s some good stuff on this compilation, but don’t stray too far from the skip button.