Various Artists - Kingston Express presents The Foot Of The Mountain (Kingston Express)

In the meantime Simpson has put together a real studio band (featuring himself on guitar and bass, Horseman on drums, Matt Herbical on keyboards and melodica, a horn section consisting of Zion Train and Ital Horns' David Fullwood and Josh Wilkinson of Brummie band Kioko, and percussion by Overproof Sound drummer Paul Knight). For the vocal parts, Macka B, Earl Sixteen, Cheshire Cat and Horace Andy return, supplemented with new faces like Tom Spirals, Lorenzo, Longfingah and Amelia Harmony (who, with the slow-paced dubby 'Not Easy', provides the only female touch in the track list, but, together with Steve Ital, also provided the backing vocals for the various tracks on this compilation). 'The Foot Of The Mountain' doesn't really contain any misses, but apart from the aforementioned 'Not Easy' featuring Amelia Harmony, we would like to highlight opener 'Red Hot' featuring Longfingah, 'Block Them' (Macka B in excellent form with the perfect musical antidote for the general sensation of gloom that prevails at the moment), and veteran Horace Andy, who concludes with a new version of 'Strange Things' (originally written by Andy, but better known in the version by John Holt). Excellent compilation!