AMG Review of Best of & the Rest of Desmond Dekker

Jo-Ann Greene
All Music Guide

Rounding up 16 songs all of which, one way or the other, pretty much live up to this compilation's title. There's the de rigueur inclusions of "Israelites," "You Can Get It If You Really Want," and "007 (Shanty Town)," the always popular selections "Pickney Gal," "It Mek," and "Archie Wah Wah," classic songs one and all. There's also the charming medley "The More You Live," with a guest appearance by Louis Armstrong impersonator Pat Satchmo, and "Licking Stick," one of Dekker's best performances. If this track listing seems familiar, that's because The Best of the Rest Of picks up virtually the entire second half of the Trojan label's Desmond Dekker and the Aces compilation, adds the two mega hits from the first half, and puts on "You Can Get It..." for good measure. Where the latter set kept adding Jamaican hits, a true best-of, The Best Of finishes off with six decidedly rest-of. "Mother Nature" is particularly forgettable, "Life of Opportunity" was a slick U.S.-flavored reggae number which now sounds particularly dated, "I Believe" is one of those futile attempts at crossover hit through the use of orchestration, and so on. Buy the Trojan if you can. This is a definite second choice, and is recommended for completists only.