Dennis Brown - Temperature Rising (1995)

By the time Temperature Rising came out in the mid-'90s, Dennis Brown had been navigating the shifting waters of Jamaican music for nearly three decades, from roots to lovers rock to dancehall, releasing as many as four albums a year without ever straining or losing relevance. Produced by Anthony Dehaney (who had also worked with Eek-A-Mouse and Gregory Isaacs), Temperature Rising leans on the light, romantic side of Brown’s style—lovers rock with a digital sheen. Despite his breakneck work schedule and ailing health (Brown died of a collapsed lung in July 1999, having already released three albums that year), Brown’s voice sounds remarkably good here: plaintive but confident (“Is It Me?”), simmering without ever reaching a boil (“On a Rainy Night”).