The Need To Live

This is one of several retrospective collections planned in the wake of Bim Sherman's unexpected death from cancer in 2000. The Need to Live focuses on hard-to-find, alternative, and previously unreleased versions of singles and album tracks that Sherman recorded with producer Adrian Sherwood for the latter's On-U Sound label throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Though many of the song titles on this program will be familiar to fans of the singer and his label — "Can't Take It Easy," "Haunting Ground," and "Run Them Away" are among the perennial favorites — the arrangements featured here are surprising in many cases. "Be My Lighthouse" is a vocal cut on a rhythm originally recorded by Lee "Scratch" Perry with Dub Syndicate for his Time Boom X de Devil Dead album, while several other performances (notably the lovely "No Longer") are presented in acoustic settings without the benefit of drums, and this version of "Man Next Door" comes bolstered with sturdy, Tackhead-flavored accompaniment courtesy of Skip McDonald and Doug Wimbish. Sherman had much to recommend him as a singer, but his voice was not always reliable, a failing highlighted on a couple of this album's songs, most notably the gratingly out-of-tune "Memories." Overall, though, this album will fill in the cracks nicely for fans and offer a good introduction to newcomers.