Dennis Brown was mesmerized by the imperturbable cool exuded by American crooners like Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, and the precocious young Jamaican singer modeled his own vocal style after their relaxed and confident mannerisms. Brown’s earliest recordings for Studio One brought many notable successes, but it wasn’t until the mid-‘70s—when he partnered with the upstart Kingston producer Winston “Niney” Holness—that he truly came into his own as an artist. The full-length Deep Down appeared in early 1974, collecting the fruits of Niney and Brown’s earliest studio sessions. This album's taut, hard-edged rhythms are characteristic of Niney’s aggressive production aesthetic; they're a perfect counterweight to the unassuming grace of Brown’s deceptively relaxed vocal style. Among the most breathtaking tracks here are “Open the Gate” and “You’re No Good," both of which feature rugged, drum-heavy mixes, breathless tempos, and staccato horn charts that anticipate the similarly driving rhythm of Brown’s 1975 hit “Westbound Train.” Down