Ken Parker

★★★ Here Comes Ken Parker DOCTOR BIRD. CD/DL

Hot hits, cheesy covers and obscure misses from highly rated reggae crooner.

After a brief tenure in littleknown harmony group the Blues Blenders, preacher’s son Ken Parker began his solo career at Studio One, cutting a mix of gospel, soul covers and the odd original, but the breakthrough came at Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle studio, where Parker hit big with soul-influenced originals I Can’t Hide and True, True, True, followed later by hugely popular reggae adaptations of Charley Pride’s Kiss An Angel Good Morning and The Browns’ sentimental classic, The Three Bells. Here Comes

Ken Parker gathered those Treasure Isle hits for Parker’s first non-gospel LP, and this expanded edition comes with scattergun extras, including schmaltzy takes of Help Me Make It Through The Night and Groovin’ Out On Life, a couple of Parker slack tunes, plus a bonus disc of singles voiced by labelmate Hopeton Lewis, who was also a preacher’s son.