Youre Young Riddim – Linval Thompson

Linval Thompson’s 1982 “You’re Young” has that early-’80s reggae snap where the rhythm section does a lot of the talking, and here it’s cut down to just two voices: Thompson himself on the title tune and King Jammy riding the Roots Radics on “Buck Rogers In The Black Hole. ” That pairing gives the riddim a neat split personality, with Thompson’s smoother, more melodic vocal approach sitting against Jammy’s dubwise, sci-fi-leaning dancehall energy. The set comes from the same fertile period that produced Thompson’s Look How Me Sexy era, when he was moving easily between singer and producer duties, and the Radics’ heavy bottom end keeps everything grounded. But the lasting impression is Thompson on “You’re Young, ” a tune that carries the whole riddim with an easy, slightly sly authority.