A Double Dose of Campbell

In 2001, Artists Only! released a pair of albums by the unrelated Al Campbell and Don Campbell. While neither Al's or Don's output may be known by more casual reggae fans, their sounds are strong and well-respected in the reggae industry.

As a teen, Al Campbell was a member of the Thrillers at Studio One in the 1960s. Over the years, he provided many background vocals for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and worked with Joe Gibbs and Phil Pratt in the 1970s. His big hit was "Gee Baby," recorded with Pratt. In the last decade, not a lot has been heard from Campbell, aside from a few releases and re-releases on RAS, but his work with some UK producers brought Al back into the limelight last year with his release for AO! titled Always In My Heart.

Al's voice is very mellow and laid back, never missing a note by even a little bit. He sounds most at home with traditional lover's rock style, like on "Officially" (which is actually track 2 on the screwed-up track listing on the back of the CD—see this page or the liner notes for the correct track listing) and the title track, but he manages to carry the roots sound comfortably, too, especially on "Try Jah Love" (which sounds slightly like Luciano's recordings from a couple of years ago) and "Brotherman." Al's rich voice works wonderfully over the McLeod's bass-heavy production style. Always In My Heart is a nice little piece of work from 2001 that has been overlooked.

Don Campbell's voice has a purer tone than Al's, but isn't as earthy. Nonetheless, this UK vocalist has a good reputation from his 1994 VP release The Album, even though he hasn't recorded very much in the years since. His 2001 AO! release Rise Up makes use of light production and some familiar modern lovers riddims, also courtesy of the McLeods and Stingray. Campbell's sound is often a little sugary for my tastes ("Youths of Today" and "She's the Only One") but he really shines on tracks like the rootsy "Rise Up" and the slow-grooving R&B-tinged "Good Luvin'." All-in-all, I enjoyed this album notably less than Al Campbell's, but it still has a number of worthwhile tunes and certainly has appeal to fans of modern lovers tunes.

It was interesting that Artists Only! released these two albums by artists with similar names in such a way that they looked related (the layout and design were clearly done by the same person on both albums and both albums shared the same producers), despite the fact they aren't. Nonetheless, the pair of albums are both well-produced and should appeal to fans of lovers rock and roots reggae. They're worth checking out, particularly Al Campbell's Always In My Heart.

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