1994 Pato Banton Featuring Robin & Ali Campbell Of UB40: Baby Come Back

A cover version of the 1968 pop/reggae crossover hit by The Equals, Banton leaves the basic tune intact but injects a degree of pace and rhythm to bring out more of its reggae side. No harm there as far as it goes, but Banton has an ulterior motive in piggybacking on the song (and UB40) as a showcase for his toasting skills ("I must admit I was a clown to be messing around but that doesn't mean that you have to leave town") that he slots in between rounds of the chorus. It works well enough in a happy go lucky kind of way, but it leaves his 'Baby Come Back' a halfway house between innovation and regurgitation that fails to satisfy on any level deeper than that. Maybe it wasn't meant to, but in it's shameless pandering to cultural stereotyping ("and me CD collection of Bob Marley, yes with me bag of sensi") and naked pursuit of the coin of commercialism, it's also more than a bit cheap and tacky. Which isn't something you could ever accuse The Equals of.