1000 Volts of Holt

Includes liner notes by Noel "Harry" Hawks.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Personnel: Doris Troy, Joanna Williams, Rosetta Highwater (background vocals).
Arranger: Brian Rogers.
Generally regarded as archetypal reggae of the early 70s, especially among European aficionados, in retrospect 1000 VOLTS OF HOLT's tracks play like reggae-fied covers of MOR pop hits. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Not many artists could interpolate the Beatles "Let It Be" into Lobo's "I'd Love You to Want Me" or reinvent "The Girl from Ipanema" with a one-drop the way Holt does. While the VOLTS OF HOLT collections are generally regarded as pop-reggae classics, the material that Sanctuary and Trojan have chosen to add to the CD reissue is really what tells the story. Both the "Jamaican Mixes" (a bit harder and leaner than the European ones) and especially the bonus best-of disc that led up to this collection are illuminating. That disc chronicles five very heady years of growth, from one voice among three in Holt's early sides with the Paragons (like the original "The Tide Is High" and the classic "Wear You to the Ball") through the sorts of reggae/soul covers ("Sister Big Stuff") that peaked with the VOLTS OF HOLT albums, documenting not just Holt's personal ascension, but the tumultuous changes in reggae as well.