***1/2 Junior Byles

CURLY LOCKS: BEST OF JUNIOR BYLES AND THE UPSETTERS 1970-1976

(Heartbeat)

At last, in this compilation, reggae man Junior Byles gets the attention he deserves. His was a silky and gritty tenor, steady no matter how weird the riffs strung out by his musicians and producers. And they were often very weird indeed; Lee Perry was Byles's producer. The most wigged-out distortionist ever to con "versions" out of a sound board, Perry was able, with Byles at the mike, to cut and tumble the music any way he chose. Which is why the versions of Byles's "Com Da Da," "Fever," Like the Pipe Peter," and "When Will Better Come" sound so disorientingly credible.

Neither did Byles's rudeboy songs ever fail the prophesizing melancholy that is reggae's special take on soul music. Yearning songs like "Long Way," "Curly Locks," "Demonstration," and "Cutting Razor" glide from loverboy puckering to political militancy and undercurrents of danger with hardly a tonal change. When Byles takes the mike, Perry's musicians step back, exposing the singer's venom and hurt and, yes, glorifying it. This CD is a must for fans of classic reggae.

-- Michael Freedberg