Reggae — All Formats  

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.

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".

12 tracks in all, including "Housecall", "Telephone Love Deh Pon Mi Mind", "The Jam", "Girls Whine", "Get Up Stand Up & Rock", "Pay Down Pon It", "Ting-A-Ling" and "Roots & Culture". Less slackness on this volume and more crossover material, some more hip hop oriented.

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".

Heavy dubs from a fairly unsung producer Phil Pratt – a set recorded at Channel One at the end of the 70s/start of the 80s –backed by the mighty rhythms of Sly & Robbie and other key figures in some of the greatest Jamaican music! This is some of the most adventurous dub we can think of from that time, yet it doesn't go too far off the experimental deep end – with acres of infectious echo and some tripped out atmosherics. Ron Brian is on guitar, Bobby Kalphat & Ansel Collins on keys, Tommy McCook & Herman Marquis on horns. Includes "Dial-M-For Murder", "Danger UBX", "Stinger", "Beware Of This Rass Dub", "Chase A Crooked Shadow", "Don't Watch My Size", "Walking Razor", "Wonder Woman Dub", "Bad Boy Dub" and "Jam Up".

A great self produced album from Jimmy Cliff – very soulful, but with a rootsy political edge you might not expect from a pop reggae star like Cliff. Recorded in Jamaica at Dynamic Sounds, with a great lineup that includes the Heptones on backing vocals, and issued in the US by Warner as part of a big push on Jimmy's work when the film The Harder They Come was released. Titles include "Black Queen", "Be True", "Oh Jamaica", "Commercialization", "The Price Of Peace", "Poor Slave", and "Rip Off".

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.

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".

Chuck Jaques hits a sweet groove here – a soulful rocksteady rhythm that really sends the whole tune home nicely – perfect for his heartfelt vocals in the lead! "Brush" is handled by Lynn Taitt on the flip – and the tune's got this badass blend of stepping guitar and tinkling piano in the bottom – a wonderful groove that's almost more popcorn soul instrumental than late 60s Jamaica!

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 dozen Aggrovators jams from the golden age of Jamaican music, all with Tubby's expert knob twirling taking them into the next dimension. We aren't entirely certain, we'd hazard a guess that these are all Bunny Lee productions, filled out nicely with fat bass, crisp hi hats and a heavy thumping kick, punctuated nicely by dubby reverb and echoplex. With "King Of The Arena Dub", "No Partial Dub", "Crazy Baldhead Dub", "A Living Dub", "Destroy Dub Style", "Book Of Numbers Dub" and "Natty Roots Man Dub".

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.

The Charlie Hunter quartet offers their take on Bob Marley's groundbreaking album Natty Dread – taking the original Jamaican grooves of the set, and performing them in a laidback jazz funk style! The lineup includes Charlie on 8-string guitar, plus alto sax, tenor sax, and drums – on titles that include "Rebel Music", "So Jah She", "Revolution", "Talkin Blue", "Lively Up Yourself", "No Woman No Cry", and "Natty Dread".