Strictly Best 22 / Various

Purists can decry dancehall style's reggae takeover all they want, but this annual singer's compilation--as always, accompanied by a Strictly the Best collection of the year's toughest deejay (reggae rapped) tunes--suggests that dancehall mic-rockers, not classic lover's rock and truth & rights crooners, are tapping a lion's share of today's reggae creativity. Strictly 21 showcases the current crop of deejays pulling off compelling experiments with rhythm and melody over tracks that explore the border turf between hip-hop and dancehall. In contrast, Strictly 22 finds the singer's arena virtually unchanged since reggae's seminal '70s era. Reggae's loping "one drop riddim" remains the same, with keyboard and horn riffs borrowing liberally from back in the day. Richie Stephens, a gutsy roots singer, turns in a respectable cover of Tom Jones's "It's Not Unusual," and Maxi Priest turns it out for his "do-over" of reggae vet John Holt's "Smiling Face." But where are those gems expressing the inexpressible that this music used to turn out by the gross? They packed a full and nuanced range of human experience into a single tune, while today's young singers--Morgan Heritage, Benji Myaz, and others--seem to be drawing inspiration more from whatever's worked before than from real life. Still, two original talents deliver bona fide reggae rapture: Beres Hammond, with his "Always Be There" love pledge, and Luciano's consolation for the disenchanted, "Ulterior Motive." --Elena Oumano