Winston Hussey – Yuh Face Look Good

1985, Power House

To celebrate the return of Bim Kill Him here is a quick and easy blogpost about a lovely little alb. In 1985 the dance hall vibes ran hot and here is yet another stellar singing-style LP to add to the pile. Most enticing in this record is the cover. We can interpret that Winston Hussey reckons her face looks good. What’s he doing with his hands? What does that expression mean? He doesn’t look so chuffed about her face looking good. Perhaps it is because the lyric goes like this:

“Girl yuh face look good, but yuh body no ready!”

You must wonder if the girl in the photo knew about that before they pulled her over in front of the camera with her hair and outfit all done up. I would wager yes, because she doesn’t look too happy about the whole affair either. He suggests that girls with a nice face and no shape ought to eat more liver and green banana. Very simple – eat good food, and you will look better. As a very sexy man, I know about this quite well. The hit tune for the record, Yuh Body Look Good goes hard over the Mad Mad riddim. As a typical ’85 George Phang production this is quintessential rubadub riddims affair, the highest quality, and Winston Hussey is a singer who makes no misses. Each riddim is ridden in fine style with memorable melody. 

Backing up to Broadway Reggae Winston Hussey introduces himself as a cool singer who says ‘baby’ at the ends of lines and hits those blues notes. He sings  the praises of reggae going international and presents himself as an international kinda guy too, but even he still owes his ‘see!’ tax to Dennis Brown. Then the lyrical affairs through the rest of the set are exactly what you expect from this era – girls tunes, dance tunes, one oppression tune, and something a little spicy to get people excited. All in all this is one of those records that does not stand out in any collection, but is nevertheless excellent from start to finish, no skips, pure vibes.

My picks: Broadway Reggae, Which One A We You Want, Yuh Face Look Good, Bury The Sound Boy
Bim count: 0