This summer, Lloyd Parkes will return to singing in a big way with a 12-track album, eight of which are already finished. He points out that he has never really left it, although his live performances have been limited mostly to short stints at concerts where Lloyd Parkes and We The People Band plays.

Still, it is a far cry from his first major concert performance of Officially on a Christmas morning show at the Carib 5 in Cross Roads.

Parkes points out that the songs are "all original music". Among the songs that have been recorded already in sessions at Mixing Lab and Harmony House are Go Home Little Girl (which will be released as a single shortly) and Fix It Back.

Right time

Recent developments have influenced his decision to do the album. "I think it's just the right time. Maybe I was even inspired by the Broadcasting Commission's actions. I say this is the time for my music now. Sometimes when you write good music it does not get played," he said.

With a clearer path now being made on the airwaves, Parkes says "I am 100 per cent sure the people will like the stuff," describing it as "clean, positive, entertaining, with a lot of melodies".

Some of the musicians playing on the as-yet-untitled album are Sly Dunbar (drums), Robbie Lyn and Earl Fitzsimmons (keyboards), Willie Lindo and Bo Pee (guitar), Richard Parkes (drums) and, of course, Lloyd Parkes himself on bass.

He does not foresee any difficulties in being accepted as a singer again. "A lot of people who don't know the history, they will now and I am sure about the stuff I am doing," Parkes told The Sunday Gleaner.

- Mel Cooke