Back in stock: Klassiker/Ska

Review: Jamaican rocksteady grandstander Keeling Beckford enjoyed a near three-decade hiatus after the release of his second album Stay Tuned, which would have seemed to round out his LPs game for good (though his usual remit of 7"s would carry on strong). So it of course came as a surprise that he might release a brand new record as recently as 2019, on the very same New York reggae and early hip-hop label 12 Star, which Beckford helped found way back in 1978. The label was also graced by Horace Andy and Delroy Wilson over the years. Try Me now hears a reissue through his own Keeling Records sublabel: here, Beckford's stylistic rocksteady rollicks take the form of loving lullabies, where all the tracks seem dedicated to the smitten-sounding voice heard through the wire in the opening sequence. Angelic, intumescent, cloud nine rocksteady, from a real and enduring Kingston great.