Marie Pierre: Love Affair, CD

• First expanded re-issue of a seminal lovers rock album.

• Unavailable on CD for 30 years.

• Includes numerous UK reggae chart hits.

By the latter half of the 1970s, lovers rock was in full swing, with the soulful romantically-themed reggae sub-genre attracting the attention of major record companies around the globe.

At the forefront of the UK-fashioned sound was the man widely accredited as its primary creator, Dennis ‘Blackbeard’ Bovell. A musician and songwriter of considerable talent, Dennis initially made his mark on the British music scene with acclaimed reggae group Matumbi, although by the mid-1970s he had also demonstrated his abilities both behind the record decks and at the studio mixing-board, with the consistently high quality of productions attracting the attention Trojan Records, which in 1977 engaged his services, along with those of a talented young up-and- coming singer who Dennis had discovered some months earlier: Marylin Chinn.

A year after signing the duo, Trojan released ‘Walk Away’, the first recording on which Chinn was credited as Marie Pierre. The single swiftly became a major seller in the UK, with its popularity confirming Dennis’s credentials as a gifted producer and establishing Marie as a leading light on the lovers rock scene. In 1979, the high regard in which both were held was re-affirmed with the release of the hugely popular Trojan long-player, ‘Love Affair’.

Now, over 45 years since the release of the album – considered by many to be the finest lovers rock collection to see issue - it finally receives the deluxe treatment, with the original track-listing bolstered by the remainder of the Bovell-Pierre Trojan recordings, along with their initial collaboration, ‘Cry’, and the equally rare ‘Our Tune’, released soon after their departure from the London- based record company.

TRACK LISTING

1  Choose Me (LP mix)

2  Can’t Go Through (With Life) (LP mix)

3  I Believe

4  Somebody Else's Man (LP mix)

5  Nothing Gained (From Loving You) (LP mix)

6  Humanity

7  Rowing (Row Your Boat)

8  My Best Friend

9  Walk Away

10  Over Reacting Bonus tracks

11  Cry (12" mix)

12  Choose Me (12" mix)

13  Can’t Go Through (With Life) (12" mix)

14  Somebody Else's Man (12" mix)

15  Nothing Gained (From Loving You) (12" mix)

16  Walk Away (12" mix)

17  Our Tune (12" mix)