“LOVERS ROCK” RELAX NOV.2001.

I love reggae.

In terms of generation, I got into it just before the Lovers Rock feature in the magazine relax — call me a “Lovers Rock Generation 2.5.” My entry point was a combination of Rough Trade and Trojan compilations, Japanese-edition CDs released on Overheat, and the reggae/dub feel of British 1980s new wave. That’s the sound that drew me in. So my taste runs mellow and loose, not high-energy. Above all, my favorite thing about reggae is the origin story: it was born because Jamaica in 1966 was just too hot.

This time, I’ve built a playlist based on the track selection list from the “LOVERS ROCK” feature in the November 2001 issue of relax. Back then, records that got featured in relax would shoot up in price, but I still hunted them down and picked up whatever I could afford — though of course I never completed the collection. In those pre-streaming days, I used to daydream about all those acclaimed records I hadn’t yet heard.

Looking at the credits for the LOVERS ROCK DISK GUIDE in the magazine:

supervision by Takeshi Fujikawa
text by Thakeshi Fujikawa, Taksuro Yonemitsu, Natsuhiko Shimanouchi

You can see that the selections came from the people behind “Lovers Rock Nite” at the time.

Shortly after, a series of compilation CDs under the banner RELAXIN’ WITH LOVERS began to be released. Starting with DEB, they put out 8 titles compiling Lovers Rock tracks by label — STUDIO16, BUSHAYS, SANTIC, HAYKEYES, JAMA, ISLAND, TROJAN, ARIWA — plus 8 titles in the JAPANESE LOVES series.

I couldn’t keep up with all of them, and I think part of the reason was that label-by-label compilations, while appealing for their rare tracks on CD, lacked a certain flow when listened to straight through. Same goes for the JAPANESE series — I kept thinking it would have been even better with a mixed selection of Japanese and international tracks all together. That said, they’re packed with great songs and genuinely useful as reference records; I don’t think you’d regret owning them.

The magazine’s track list is an impressive total of 136 titles — singles and LPs combined. Of those, I was able to add 105 to a Spotify playlist, coming in at 7 hours and 30 minutes. For entries listed as LPs, I’ve taken the liberty of picking one representative or recommended track from the album. Where tracks weren’t on Spotify but could be found on YouTube or elsewhere, I’ve added them below. There were 3 titles I couldn’t find audio for anywhere.

The list is sorted A to Z by title, so shuffling is recommended for listening. This playlist works beautifully as quality background music for all kinds of everyday moments, regardless of season — at turns nostalgic, at turns freshly discovered. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Playlist “LOVERS ROCK” RELAX NOV.2001.”

※ A Spotify Premium subscription is required to listen in the original track order.
※ Some tracks are not available on streaming services and may be missing.

6, Six Street	Louisa Mark & The In Crowd	12"
A Little Way Different	Errol Dunkley	12"
Authorized	Cocoa Tea	LP
Baby My Love	Fill Callender & Jah Stitch	12"
Back A Yard	In Crowd	12"
Be Thankful	One Blood	12"
Before The Next Tear Drop	John Holt	LP
Betcha By Golly Wow	Errol Dunkley	7"
Black Pride	Brown Suger	7"
Blues Away	The Blackstones	12"
Breakfast In Bed	Sheila Hylton	12"
Breakout	Louisa Mark	LP
Can't Let You Go	Love & Unity	12"
Capricorn Woman	Janet Kay	12"
Caught You In A Lie	Louisa Mark	7"
Confession Hurts	Brown Suger	12"
Cool Down Amina	Keith Douglas	12"
Cool Down The Place	Gregory Isaacs	10"
Country Life	Sandra Cross	LP
Darling Baby	Cassandra	7"
Day Dreaming(Hey Baby)	Jocelyn Brown & The Robotiks	12"
Daydreaming	Alton Ellis	12"
Deborahe Glasgow	Deborahe Glasgow	LP
Dim The Light	Winston Reedy	12"
Doing It Her Way	Susan Cadogan	LP
Don't Let It Go To Your Head	Black Harmony	12"
Don't Turn Around	Aswad	12"
Dread A Who She Love	Macka B & Kofi	12"
Emotion	15 16 17	12"
Everything To Me	Boris Gardiner	LP
Everybody Plays The Fool	Chosen Few	LP
Feel It	Mellow Rose	7"
First Case	Investigators	LP
Fool For Your Love	Legato	12"
Girls Imagination	15 16 17	12"
Good Thing Going	Sugar Minott	LP
Goodbye My Love	Sadonians	12"
Groovy Situation	Derrick Harriott	7"
That Girl (groovy Situation)	Freddie McGregor	12"
Hopelessly In Love	Carroll Thompson	LP
How Can We Ease The Pain?	Maxi Priest Feat. Beres Hammond	12"
I Adomire You	Roland & Carolyn	7"
I Adore You	Love & Unity	12"
I Believe In You	J.C.Lodge	LP
I Belong To You	Love Joys	7"
I Can't Forget About You Baby	Marie Matty	12"
I Dig You	Alton Ellis	12"
I Should Be Your Lover	Al Campbell	12"
I Want To Be Free	Karen Dixon	12"
If Dreams Were Real	Sandra Reid	LP
If You Love Me Smile	15 16 17	7"
I'll Be Waiting	The Tamlins	LP
I'm In Love With A Dreadlocks	Brown Sugar	7"
I'm Still Waiting	Courtney Pine Feat. Carroll Thompson	12"
Imagine	T.T.Ross	7"
In Love	One Blood	LP
Insight	The Blackstones	LP
Is There A Place In Your Heart For Me	Paulette Walker and Friends	LP
Island Music	Fill Callender	12"
It's Too Late Baby	Jackie	12"
It's True	Donna Rhoden	12"
I've Never Been In Love	Gladstone Anderson	12"
Just Don't Want To Be Lonely	Freddie McGregor	12"
Just My Imagination	Al Campbell	12"
Key To The World	Ruddy Thomas	12"
La La La…	Kyoko Koizumi	12"
La La Means I Love You	Derrick Harriott	12"
Lady Of Magic	Bunny Maloney	12"
Let Me Ne Your Angel	Portia Morgan	12"
L'Étoile du bonheur	Clémentine	CDS
Let's Dub It Up	Dee Sharp	12"
Let's Get It On	Ken Boothe	LP
Let's Put It All Together	Jackie Mittoo	LP
Little Girl	Heptics	LP
Love Affair	Marie Pierre	LP
Love Explosion	Dry & Heavy	7"
Love Fire	Simply Red Feat. Lee Perry	12"
Love Has Found It's Way	Dennis Brown	12"
Love In Time	The Marvels	LP
Love Me Forever	Carlton And His Shoes & Ranking Joe	12"
Love My Life	Susan Cadogan	7"
Lovers Rock	Love Joys	LP
Lovers Rock Showcase Jamaica Style	Freddie McGregor	LP
Make It With You	Carroll Thompson & Sugar Minott	12"
Maxi	Maxi Priest	LP
Mood For Love	Carlton And His Shoes	12"
More Than I Can Say	June Lodge & Shortie The President	12"
Motion	Motion	12"
My Tune	Coolnotes	12"
Natty Dread A Weh She Want	Tappa Zukie & Horace Andy	12"
No Charge	T.T.Ross	7"
No Other Star	Lindy Layton	CDS
On My Mind	Bunny Maloney	LP
Our Tune	Marrie Pierre	12"
Paradise	Jean Adebambo	12"
Party Nite	Undivided Roots	12"
Pat Kelly & Friends	Pat Kelly & Friends	LP
Pick Up The Hits	V.A.	LP
Play It Cool	Alton Ellis	12"
Point Of View (Squeeze A Little Lovin')	Matumbi Feat. I Roy	12"
Ready To Learn	Janet Lee Davis	12"
Reggae High	The Dub Band	12"
Reunited	Lou & Kevin With The Bushrangers	12"
Ring My Bell	Blood Sisters	12"
Rock The Rhythm	Janet Kay	12"
Sharon	Sharon Forrester	LP
Show Case	Johnny Clarke	LP
Shy Girl	Donna Rhoden	12"
Sihouette	Janet Kay & Rico	12"
Since You Came Into My Life	Sugar Minott & J.C.Lodge	12"
Sitting In The Park	Freddie McGregor	12"
Someone Loves You Honey	June Lodge	LP
Story Of A Black Woman	Winsome	LP
The Album	Don Campbell	LP
The Dynamic	Junior English	LP
The Natural Life	Yazz	CD
The Other Side Of Love	Carroll Thompson	LP
The Roots Is There	The Mighty Diamonds	LP
Theme From A Summer Place	Tan Tan	12"
This IS Lovers Rock	Eargasm	12"
Those Were The Days Vol.1	Klearview Harmonix	LP
Time Is The Master	John Holt	LP
Too Late To Turn Back	Alton Ellis	12"
Tribute To Muhammad Ali	Toney Washington Backed by Matumbi	12"
Waiting In Vain	Lee Ritenour Feat. Maxi Priest	12"
We Can Work It Out	Janet Lee Davis & Peter Hunnigale	12"
When I Think Of You	Ruddy Thomas	12"
When I've Got You	Ruddy Thomas	LP
Who Do You Think I Am?	Milton Henry	LP
Wicked Ago Feel It	Sugar Minott	LP
Wide Awake	Barry Biggs	LP
Will You Still Want Me	Sylvia Tella	LP
Yemanja	Little Tempo meets Voices of Flowers	12"
You Bring The Sun Out	Janet Kay	12"
桜（Sakura）	bird	12"
渚のアンラッキーボーイズ（Nagisa　No　Unlucky　Boy）	Seiko Ito	7"

LOST MUSIC

Breakfast In Bed / Sheila Hylton

Can’t Let You Go / Love & Unity

Darling Baby / Cassandra

First Case / Investigators

That Girl (groovy Situation) / Freddie McGregor

I Adomire You / Roland & Carolyn

I Adore You / Love & Unity

I Can’t Forget About You Baby / Marie Matty

I Should Be Your Lover / Al Campbell

If Dreams Were Real / Sandra Reid

If You Love Me Smile / 15 16 17

Imagine / T.T.Ross

Insight / The Blackstones

It’s Too Late Baby / Jackie

Just My Imagination / Al Campbell

La La Means I Love You / Derrick Harriott

Let Me Ne Your Angel / Portia Morgan

Motion / Motion

No Charge / T.T.Ross

No Other Star / Lindy Layton

Our Tune / Marrie Pierre

Pat Kelly & Friends / Pat Kelly & Friends

Reggae High / The Dub Band

Reunited / Lou & Kevin With The Bushrangers

Show Case / Johnny Clarke

Shy Girl / Donna Rhoden

Theme From A Summer Place / Tan Tan

Those Were The Days Vol.1 / Klearview Harmonix

Tribute To Muhammad Ali / Toney Washington Backed by Matumbi

Waiting In Vain / Lee Ritenour Feat. Maxi Priest

Will You Still Want Me / Sylvia Tella

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