With 'Love Is All I Bring' Trojan Records creates an impressive all-female diptych. The title is a bit misleading, because this compilation certainly doesn't only contain love tunes, but a selection of just under 50 (!) tracks that were recorded over the past decades, often in the margins, by women who played a pioneering role in the ska-, rocksteady-, lovers rock- and roots-scene.
Ex-The Bodysnatchers and The Special AKA vocalist Rhoda Dakar was closely involved in the project and wrote the liner notes, summarizing as follows: "Women's voices were heard on Trojan and the many labels licensed to it right from the start. Female artists are always there, but it's hard to maintain a career trajectory when you have children or elderly to care for. And, let's face it, the industry isn't exactly even-handed where frame and reward are concerned. It's hard to make your way in this business, as a woman. It's that bit harder if you're a women of color. So this compilation is as much a testament to these women's tenacity, as it is to their talent".
On the first disc mainly well-known hits from sounding names like Althea & Donna (the compilation takes its name from a fragment from the lyrics of their 'Uptown Top Ranking'), Susan Cadogan ('Hurt So Good'), Judy Mowatt ('I Shall Sing'), Sophia George (world hit 'Girlie Girlie'), Janet Kay (lovers rock classic 'Lovin You'), Phyllis Dyllon (über classic 'Perfidia') and many others, and on the second, more obscure work, featuring, among others, lovers rock gems by Paula Clarke ('Dynamic'), Beverley Bailey ('I Was In Love', a brilliant lovers rock version about the Satta riddim), Sonya Spence ('Come With Me'), but for instance also Sandra Robinson, who with 'Sensi For Sale' was probably the first woman to enter the digital era using the Sleng Teng riddim, or 'Downtown Thing', Althea Rose Forrest from duo Althea & Donna solo over the classic Please Be True riddim, and Faye Bennett who emulated male contemporaries like U-Roy and I-Roy with her deejay antics in 'Back Wey'.
Excellent tribute to the strength and talent of the many queens of Trojan Records!