Reggae — All Formats  

Romantic reggae from a master of blending lover's rock and other soulful strains of reggae with an even more profound touches of classic-styled soul! Red Light once again finds Beres working well with producer Willie Lindo – with lean, crisp vibe – but it's never too glossy! A really nice mix of genre-skirting slow jams with a reggae groove! Includes "Red Light", "It's Not Easy", "Don't Want To Lose You", "Put Your Arms Around Me", "Coming At You", "Stand By", "You Were There" and "Irie And Mellow".

Soulful reggae legend Beres Hammond – still going strong on 2012's double album One Love, One Life – which is a nice, timeless take on his tried-and-true mix of lover's rock and straighter soul – and well produced by Beres and Chris Chin! Honestly, pretty much everything we've heard from Beres in recent years has been pretty strong – smartly focusing on the more timeless elements of Jamaican music and global soul – and One Love, One Life is right up there with the best of it! Breezy rhythms, soulful songs and charming vocals by Hammond! 20 tracks on 2CDs: Can't Waste No Time", "No Candle Light", "Lonely Fellow", "My Life", "More Time", "The Song", "Crazy Dreams", "Still Searching", "Don't You Feel Like Dancing", "Not Made Of Steel", "Prime Time", "Family", "Can't Make Blood Out Of Stone", "Truth Will Live On" and more.

Classic mid 70s dub – purportedly with King Tubby handling the controls on one side, and Lee Perry on the other – and Winston Edwards and the Natty Locks laying down the unstoppable backing tracks! The King Tubby side is particularly heavy – with the bass and percussion rumbling so strong underneath some sweetly soulful bits of horn and guitar – straight-up excellent mid 70s dubs! The purported Upsetter side isn't as heavy in mood or tricked out – but it's still pretty great – and in a way that really allows the Natty Dread backdrops to stand up strongly in their own light. With "Blood Of Africa", "Wood Roots", "Luke Lane Rock", "People From The Grass Roots", "Crime Wave" and "No Justice For The Poor".

How this burningly bad set has remained under wraps for so long is beyond us, but thanks to the folks at Honest Jon's, it's been brought to the much needed light of day! An excellent set collecting work from throughout the career of Cedric Im Brooks, spanning a wide assortment of styles, but all with a deep spiritual approach that Brooks gathered from time spent in his youth in Philadelphia, where he fell under the influence of Sun Ra, almost joining the Arkestra before returning home to Jamaica. The set jumps from heavy, dark roots and Nyabhingi influenced reggae, including some nice dubbed out versions, to Jamaican jazz sides like his take on Horace Silver's classic "Song For My Father", to some tightly snapping disco influenced grooves and bouncing afrobeat rhythms that would make Fela proud! 19 tracks in all, including "Free Up Black Man", "Satta Massa Gana", "Jah Light It Right", "Lambs Bread Collie", "Salt Lane rock", "Rasta Lead On Version", "Sly Mongoose", "Africa", "Collie Version", "Rebirth" and "Sabebe".

Classic mid 70s dub – purportedly with King Tubby handling the controls on one side, and Lee Perry on the other – and Winston Edwards and the Natty Locks laying down the unstoppable backing tracks! The King Tubby side is particularly heavy – with the bass and percussion rumbling so strong underneath some sweetly soulful bits of horn and guitar – straight-up excellent mid 70s dubs! The purported Upsetter side isn't as heavy in mood or tricked out – but it's still pretty great – and in a way that really allows the Natty Dread backdrops to stand up strongly in their own light. With "Blood Of Africa", "Wood Roots", "Luke Lane Rock", "People From The Grass Roots", "Crime Wave" and "No Justice For The Poor".

Another blistering treasure trove of Canadian reggae! You heard us right, this batch of deep and heavy roots comes all the way from Toronto, and though it may be geographically isolated from the Caribbean, the vibes are deeply rooted foundation rock, not unlike some of the other astoundingly great material the folks at Light In The Attic have reissued. Jerry Brown's Summer Records imprint churned out no small number of tremendous reggae cuts, as this excellent compilation documents, working with West Indian ex-pats, visiting luminaries and local talent, too! The tracks run the gamut from bright and crisp to murky smoked out but it's all unbelievably great and will open your eyes to a whole new scene in the same way that the refreshing Jamaica Toronto set did! 15 tracks in all, including "Love Makes The World Go Round", "Warrior" and "Jah Jah Live Forever" by Johnny Osbourne, "Sufferer" and "Awakening" by Earth, Roots & Water, "Run Them A Run" by Willi Williams, "Reach My Destiny" by Noel Ellis, "Dreadlock Lady" by Jerry Brown, "Come Together" by Bobby Gaynair and Earth, Roots & Water, and "Mankind" by Adrian Homer Miller and Earth, Roots & Water. Plus as a bonus, there's a DVD layer on the CD, with 20 minutes of excellent archival footage of Jerry Brown and his artists in the studio and at the dance!

Another great Studio One collection from the folks at Soul Jazz, this time highlighting the DeeJays! While heavyweights like Big Youth & U Roy never voiced tracks for the groundbreaking label, there's no shortage of first class toasting on this selection, and it's Studio One, so you know the rhythms are hot! Dennis Alcapone, Dillinger and Prince Jazzbo all come hard with tracks like "Power Version" and "Natty Kung Fu", and there's a few sweet numbers by less well known names like Prince Francis & Jah Jesco, plus a nice slice of history with Count Machuki's "More Scorcha". 16 burning tracks in all.

An incredible set of low rolling, hypnotic dub genius from true reggae Revolutionaries – a batch of amazing tunes centered around the amazing drums of Sly Dunbar – cut in the mid-to-late 70s height of the Channel One groove! This might be the strongest collection of dubs that Pressure Sounds has ever compiled – benchmark work all the way – from the chugging, echoey guitar groove, to the heavy bass lines, to the sublime vocals. Amazing stuff mined from singles on the Channel One, Well Charge and Disco Mix labels. The set starts out with the incredible "Kunta Kinte Version One" – one of the most legendary dub plates ever, and other titles include "Hotter Fire Version", "Rootes Dub", "Pride & Ambition Version", "Dunkirk", "War Version", "Jah Creation Version", "Rude On Marchus Version", "Swell Headed", "Catonine Version", "Tivoli Skank", "Plantation Heights Version" and more.

A classic slice of Jamaican roots! No collection of Lee Perry's work is complete without this chapter, which has been hard to get in spite of being reissued in a number of different formats. This version features a slight twist on the original cover art, but is an expanded double LP set with a bonus disc of later self-produced material. On the original album, recorded at the Black Ark in 1976, Cedric Mytton teams up with Roy Johnson on harmony vocals, with Lee Perry steering the Ark with a heavyweight supporting crew, for a true milestone in Jamaican music, and a classic of universal proportions. The second LP features material from 4 different sessions, all great, with tracks from the 1979 LPs Cvongo Ashanti and Image of Africa, the 1981 LP Face The Music and a couple of tracks from 1999. 22 tracks in all, including "Fisherman", "Congoman", "Open Up The Gate", "Children Crying", "La La Bam-Bam", "Can't Come In", "Sodom & Gomorrow", "The Wrong Thing", "ArkOf Covenant", "Don't Blame On I", "Solid Foundation", "Days Chasing Days", "Youth Man", "Only Jah Know", "Music Maker", "Stay Alive (ext)", "Problems", "Face The Music", "Enemy & Spy (ext)" and "Aaron & Moses (ext)".