Reggae — CDs  

The crown prince of reggae meets the heir apparent to the dub throne on these two classic and hard to get late 70s dub LPs collected by the folks over at Blood & Fire on one nice reissue disc! Prince Jammy gets to work in the now famous Tubby's lab on some heavy duty Dennis Brown produced rhythms, honing the bouncing jams down to to their bare essentials, then spicing up the mix nicely with some tastefully executed dub sauce! 20 track sin all, with "Umoja", "Guidance", "Cry Of The Destitute", "Something Special", "Sons Of Dust", "Mercy For The Needy" and "Structure" off the Umoja Love & Unity set and "Cop's Spy", "Ting A Ling Style", "Thunder", "Dancing In The Streets", "Open The Gates In Rhodesia", "Robbery In The City", "Murder" and "Ragga Muffin Style" off 20 Century Debwise.

A legendary piece of reggae history that should be better remembered – a rare live set recorded at the Turntable Club – originally released on Trojan and hard-to-find since! It's incredible stuff – produced by Niney The Observer and featuring numbers by Dennis Brown, Alexander "Bottlehead" Portious, Delroy Wilson and Big Youth – all backed masterfully by the Soul Syndicate Band! Recorded on a single evening at the club, it was the first ever live session captured at the iconic nightspot – and it still sounds great! Includes "Cassandra", "Rock With Me Baby" and Give A Helping Hand" by Dennis Brown, "Everything I Own" and "Love Overdue" by Alexander Portious, "I'm A Happy Man", "It's A Shame" and more by Delroy Wilson, "Dread In A Babylon" by Big Youth and more. The stage intros for each act are left in the recording, given the whole thing an air of importance and geniune sense of it's place in Jamaican music history. Nice!

Regal King Jammy productions from the late 70s – featuring a stellar roster of vocalists and instrumention laid down by the cream of the group – numbers by Anthony Johnson, Dennis Brown, Sugar Minott, Junior Brown Wayne Smith, Puddy Roots, Junior Reid, Mighty Rudo and more! Soulful voices and steadily rumbling rhythms underneath. Timeless material! 14 tracks in all: "More Love In The City" by Anthony Johnson, "Life Can Be Easy" by King Everald, "No Darkness Tonight" by Junior Reid, "Come Along" by Wayne Smith, "Yah Wi Deh" by Anthony Johnson,"Learn Fi Drive" by Early B, "Just Cool" by Mighty Rudo and more.

A full length collabo from Nas & Damien "Jr Gong" Marley – who've worked together in the past on a track two – and overall it's a win that goes well beyond simple hip hop/dancehall fusion! The duo samples Mulatu, collaborate with K'Naan , Dennis Brown, Stephen Marley and others, and bring global dramatic sweep and and timeless funk to Distant Relatives that ends up working better as an eclectic whole than you may have suspected! Titles include "As We Enter", "Tribes At War" feat K'Naan, "Strong Will Continue", "Leaders" feat Stephen Marley, "Count Your Blessings", "Nah Mean", "Patience", "Africa Must Wake Up" feat K'Naan and more.

A sprawling set that commemorates the Reggae Golden Jubilee– one that's beautifully put together by VP – and featuring 100 pivotal tracks from the early 60s to the late 00s! Selector Mr. Seaga does a pretty terrific job on the tracklist – which focuses as much on tracks that proved to be among the most trailblazing as it does on big hits. It touches on the styles and subgenres from throughout reggae's history – from ska, to rocksteady, reggae, dub, deejay, dancehall and beyond – with bellwether material by Theophilus Beckford, Higgs & Wilson, Skatalites, U-Roy, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Yellowman, Third World, Dennis Brown, Maxi Priest, Sugar Minott, Beres Hammond, Sizzla, Shaggy and many, many more. "Dumplins" by Byron Lee & The Dragonaires, "They Got To Go" by Prince Buster, "Bring Home" by Justin Hines & The Dominoes, "Rough And Tough" by Stranger Cole, "Hypocrite" by The Heptones, "Occupation" by Don Drummond & The Skatalites, "Wear You To The Ball" by U-Roy & The Paragons, "The A Fi Get A Beatin'" by Peter Tosh, "Police And Thieves" by Junior Murvin, "Right Time" by Mighty Diamonds, "Uptown Ranking" by Althea & Donna, "Over Me" by Yellowman, "Pass The Dutchie" by Musical Youth, "Try Jah Love" by Third World, "Wild World" by Maxie Priest, "One Blood" by Junior Reid, "Murder She Wrote" by Chaka Demus & Pliers, "Putting Up Resistance", by Beres Hammond, "You Don't Love Me (No No No)" by Dawn Penn, "Untold Stories" by Buju Banton, "Black Woman And Child" by Sizzla, "Gimme The Light" by Sean Paul, "Pon De River, Pon De Bank" by Elephant Man, "Welcome To Jamrock" by Damian "Jr Gong" Marley, "The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff and more.

The first-ever dub album from Niney The Observer – based around rhythms he'd cooked up for Dennis Brown, Max Romeo, and Delroy Wilson – all transformed completely in the studio by King Tubby! The sounds here are often very abstract – light years away from the originals – and given these spacey, repetitive cycles that seem to trip out even more than conventional dub! A landmark little record, and one that sounds even darker all these many years later – with cuts that include "Casanova Dub", "Rebel Dance", "Jam Down", "Parade Dub", "Turntable Dub", "Corn Man", "Mister D Brown Skank", and "Youth Man".

Produced by Dennis Brown. 10 tracks in all, including: "The Creator" by Jah Thomas, "The Fisherman" by Ras Bug, "Fifty One Storm" by Big Joe, "Saturday Night" by Trinity, "Sugar & Spice" by Buckers, "Dreadlock Disciple" by Ras Bug, "Rent Man" by Jah Thomas, "Lightning Ball" by Ras Bug, "Murder" by DEB Music Players, and "Zo Tarry Yah" by Ras Bug.

Produced by Dennis Brown. 9 tracks in all, including: "Carpentry", "The Emperor", "Scrub It", "3rd Generation", "Lagtos", "4th Generation", "Satta", "Sounds Of Freedom", and "Shaka The Warrior".

A double disc set of mighty, mighty rockers and steppers rhythms, blessed by the vocals of the top artists of reggae's golden age, the mid 70s. 29 tracks in all, and though many of them are classic numbers, there's not as much overlap between this set and other collections out there, as is so often the case with Jamaican compilations these days. Includes Observer All Stars "African Language", and "Time Version", Dennis Brown & Ranking Buckers "Tenement Yard/Landlord (ext mix)", Leroy Smart "We Want To Go Home", Johnny Clarke "African Roots", Ronnie Davis "Jah Jah Jehoviah", King Tubby & The Aggrovators "Jah Jah Version", Leroy Smart & I Roy "Jah Is My Light/Wicked Eat Dirt (ext mix)", Johnny Clarke "Blood Dunza", Horace Andy & Sticks "Zion Gate (ext mix)", the Rockstones "Oh Jah Man", Johnny Clarke & U Roy "Every Knee Shall Bow (ext mix)", Cornell Campbell "Follow Instruction", Reggae George "Trodding Along", plus many, many more!

Blood & Fire dips into their excellent catalog of fine, fine reggae and pulls together an outstanding little compilation of some of the best tracks from the catalog! This nicely priced set focuses on vocal numbers, all voiced by top notch artists, showcasing the breadth of great music cut during the golden era of Jamaican music that makes up the body and soul of Blood & Fire's dynamite releases! 18 tracks in all, including "Fire Fe The Vatican" by Max Romeo, "Storm" by Gregory Isaacs, "Children Of Jah" by the Chantells, "Problems" by Horace Andy, "Rent Man" by Black Uhuru, "Chant Down Babylon" by Sylford Walker, 'Go Down In Silence" by Prince Alla, "Man Next Door" byDennis Brown, "Fight It To The Top" by Michael Prophet, "Every Knee Shal Bow" by Johnny Clarke, "At The Feast" by the Congos, "Yes Yes Yes" by Errol Holt, "Jah Jah The Conqueror" by Linval Thompson, "Give Jah Praise" by WIlli Williams, "Deliver Me From My Enemies" by Yabby You, "Judgement Time" by Junior Ross & The Spear, "Bandulu" by Cornell Campbell and "Remember Me" by Junior Byles & Rupert Reid.