Hands of Babylon

Sanchez perfected his sweet-tempered singing style while still a choirboy in Kingston’s Rehoboth Apostolic Church, and his music has always retained a strong gospel influence. Sanchez’s evident devotion to religious music and to the soul-influenced singing style of legendary rocksteady performers like Pat Kelly and Slim Smith won him a devoted following among older reggae fans who, by the time Sanchez began recording for Winston Riley’s Techniques label in the late ‘80s, were becoming alienated by the increasingly aggressive and dissonant sounds emerging from Kingston’s dancehalls and streetcorner sound systems. Hands of Babylon is a retitled reissue of Sanchez’s 1998 album Perilous Time, and it's widely considered a career high point. It features solid production work from Prince Jammy and a surprising set of covers that include not only fresh takes on reggae classics like Delroy Wilson’s “How Can I Love Someone?” and Phyllis Dillon’s “Picture on the Wall,” but also unexpectedly soulful interpretations of pop standards like “I Who Have Nothing” and contemporary R&B hits like K-Ci & JoJo’s “All My Life.”