Skylarking

Horace Andy has one of those voices you can’t unhear. Produced by Coxsone Dodd at the legendary Studio One, *Skylarking*—a roundup of Andy’s earliest singles packaged as a debut album—captured a particular strain of early \'70s reggae: lovers rock with a touch of roots, smooth and pop-friendly but with an eeriness creeping around the edges. It\'s a balance embodied in Andy’s high, haunting voice. “Skylarking” is an unquestionable classic, but tracks like “Night Owl” and “See a Man’s Face” are at least as good, braiding mellowness with a simmering intensity in a way few reggae artists captured then or since.

Skylarking is the debut studio album by Horace Andy, released on Studio One in 1972. In 2012, Skylarking was placed at number 16 on the "Top 50 Reggae Albums" list, which was compiled by Jamaican disc jockey Clinton Lindsay and his colleague Marlon Burrell in commemoration of Jamaica's 50th anniversary as an independent nation. In 2014, Mojo placed it at number 43 on its list of the "50 Greatest Reggae Albums". In 2016, GQ named it as one of the "10 Classic LPs from Reggae's Golden Era". The album's legacy lives on today as one of the best debuts of all time and Horace is still regarded as one of the island's signature vocalists and musicians.

While Skylarking is really the second Horace Andy album by this name, the 1997 release is actually a compilation of tracks from throughout his formidable career, put together for release on Melankolic (the label run by British trip-hop trio Massive Attack).