Reggae — All Formats  

A mad selection of soulful reggae from Jazzie B! Trojan taps the man behind some of the finest 80s soul to select a set that's guaranteed to ram the dance in the same way that Soul II Soul ruled dancefloors and radio with their bumping modern grooves. Jazzie B hits hits some familiar chords with some of his selections, but there's quite a few tracks even we didn't have on disc and the set plays wonderfully from start to finish, aptly living up to all the title promises! 18 number in all, including "Screw Face" and "Point Blank" by I Roy, "Slave Master" by Gregory Isaacs, "Jump Up" by Admiral Bailey, "Ready Done" by Nitty Gritty, "Natty Dread A Wah She Want" by Tapper Zukie & Horace Andy, "Shine Eye Girl" by Barrington Levy & Jah Thomas, "Getting Cozy (ext mix)" by the In Crowd, "Warrior" by Junior Delgado, "Ain't That Loving You" by ALton Ellis and "Point Of View" by Matumbi.

Another round of Studio One butter from the folks at Soul Jazz! By this point you're well informed about the status of Coxsone Dodd's Studio One operation as the cornerstone of so much Jamaican music, and Soul Jazz has approached the catalog from just about every angle, covering nearly all the bases before landing here on this dub set. The sly Island grooves are stripped down to their bare essentials, then given a tasteful bit of dubby gloss at the hands of Sylvan Morris, for a massive collection that'll rule your stereo like Studio One rocked the sound systems back in the day. 17 tracks in all, wrapped in a nice package that includes interviews with Morris and Dodd, and fully annotated as to which numbers the rhythms were originally cut as the backing for. Includes "Bionic Dub", "Sky Rhythm", 'Taurus Dub 2", "Hooligan", "Dub Rock", "Hi Fashion Dub", In Cold Blood Version" and "Feel The Dub".

The follow up to the crucial Marcus Garvey set, and the second collaboration between Burning Spear and producer Jack Ruby. While the earlier Studio One sides are truly great, the work of the group (still a harmony vocal trio) at this point took the next step to classic status. Essential stuff, including the mighty title track, plus "No More War", "People Get Ready", "Groovy" & "Black Soul".

A later effort from Robert Nesta Marley, though nowhere near past his prime. By this point in his career a lot of purists were criticizing Marley for crossing over too far, but there is no shortage of either conscious lyric and intent, nor heavy, rootsy rhythms here. The hit was "Roots, Rock, Reggae", but cuts like "Crazy Baldhead","Rat Race" and "Night Shift" hit just as hard. Also includes "Positive Vibration", 'Who The Cap Fit", "Cry To Me", "Johnny Was" and "Want More". This reissue includes and 11th bonus track, "Jah Live".

A mighty cool little package – one that features both the full Planet Earth album, and the Planet Mars Dub version of the record – presented in a great style that features the albums intertwined, so that each regular track followed by the dub version! The Mighty Diamonds' vocals are great on the main cuts – some of the most soulful of the scene at the time – and the dubs feature great instrumentation from the Icebreakers, recorded at Compass Point – with drums from Sly Dunbar and great horn arrangements from Tommy McCook. Titles include "Where Is Garvey", "Dub With Garvey", "Work Out", "Planet Mars", "Ital Rock", "Only Brothers", "Finger Out", "Carefree World", and "Grand Rock".

Dubs from the heady early 70s years at Randy's Studio 17 – unreleased versions of classic-era Bunny Lee productions – rarities from a prolific and creative period at the legendary Kingston studio! Prime era dubs and rhythms by the greatest players on some previously lost versions: Titles include "Natty Inna Babylon Dub", "Jah Jah's Dub Children", "Dub Direction", "High On A Thing Called Dub", "Can't Get Dub Out", "I Need Some Dub", "At The Turning Point Dub", "Gift Of Dub" and more. 14 on the CD.