*** Junior Delgado

FEARLESS

(Big Cat)

Jamaican reggae "legends" may be a dime-bag a dozen, but Junior Delgado's got enough cred to rope in respected underground producers, who lift his remix album above most others in this often fruitless genre. Working with previously released Delgado tracks, guests such as the Jungle Brothers, Smith & Mighty, and the Specials' Jerry Dammers splice in beats, samples, and raps, leavening the reggae with electronic and organic doses. Each of the 13 tracks bounces off in a distinctive and almost always enlightening direction. Faithless's Maxi Jazz turns "She's Gonna Marry Me" into a pliable, meandering tune that isolates Delgado's unfathomably soulful voice, tosses in a fluid piano vamp, and pulls up the low end with a rubbery dub thump. In the politically charged "Sons of Slaves," British DJ Kid Loops skillfully underscores the singer's haunting growl with breakbeats that dramatize the vocal intonations. The big names come through as well: the Jungle Brothers infuse the gritty soul track "Buffalo Soldier" with elegant street harmonies and terse raps; and Dammers samples police sirens and dabbles in dub to evoke the necessary eerieness in "Armed Robbery."

-- Richard Martin