Over the course of a 30-year career, Beres has poured his smoky-sweet
voice—an instrument of subtlety and power reminiscent of an Otis
Redding or a Teddy Pendergrass—over every kind of riddim track,
from the funked-up reggae jams of the ’70s fusion band Zap Pow
to the lush instrumentation of his 1976 album Soul Reggae to the spare
digital beat of his 1985 dancehall breakthrough “What One
Dance Can Do.” In 1990, his album A Love Affair for Donovan
Germaine’s Penthouse label raised his popularity to new heights.
Cuts like “Tempted To Touch” and “Who
Say” with Buju Banton are still as effective in the dancehall
today as they were as pre-releases. The ’90s proved to be Hammond’s
decade, during which he blazed a trail of modern classics for a variety
of producers, from the strugglers’ anthem “Putting Up
Resistance” (Tappa) to lovers’ laments like “Come
Back Home” (Star Trail) and “Double Trouble”
(Steely & Clevie).
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