A calypso set, but not the sort that you'd know from big crossover records of the late 50s – as the Mighty Sparrow works here with that jazzy blend of horns and rootsy rhythms that kept a strong edge in his music, and made his sounds as important on the pre-reggae scene in London as they were at home in Trinidad! There's a nicely rattling vibe to the record that really matches the sharpness of the vocals – an important current of politics, social commentary, and personal brag – all of which had a huge impact on later sounds and styles of music. The saxophone lines really keep things soulful – and titles include "The Village Ram", "Martin Luther King", "I'll Be Around", "You Don't Love Me", "Castro Eating Banana", and "Tour Of Jamaica". (Global Grooves, Reggae) LP, Vinyl record album

Killer funky organ – and 100% Dynamite! Jackie Mittoo is one of the all-time great organists – as essential to Jamaica as Booker T was to Memphis, or Jimmy McGriff was to New York. He's legendary these days as the player who completely transformed the Hammond sound with his unique Jamaican instrumental style during his early years with the Skatalites, and on his later solo recordings for Studio One. This set's probably the first time Mittoo's work has been properly packaged and remastered – and the folks at Soul Jazz have done an amazing job of selecting just the right tracks for such a project. The whole thing wails along with a stone rocksteady groove – with plenty of nice drum parts and funky rhythm bits underneath Jackie's soulful organ. If you dug the label's 100% Dynamite series, you'll really dig this one – and the whole thing's very much in the same vein. Tracks include "Drum Song", "Reggae Rock", "Hot Tamale", "Killer Diller", "Black Organ", "Stereo Freeze", "Wall Street", "Darker Shade Of Black", "Juice Box", and "Killer Diller". LP, Vinyl record album

The last train to skaville, and a record that should be the first in line when you're digging for rare instrumental ska – as the collection offers up a mix of the mighty Hammond skills of Jackie Mittoo and the searing rhythms of the Soul Brothers – who also serve up great solos on tenor, trumpet, and trombone! This isn't the sleepy ska of the revival years – and is instead the kind of hard-burning music that was strongly inspired by American instrumental soul in the late 60s, and really made waves on both the scenes in London and Kingston! All cuts are from the original run of gems from Studio One – and titles include "Voodoo Moon", "Ska Shuffle", "Dr Ring Ding", "Got My Boogaloo", "Home Made", "Hot & Cold", "One Stop", "James Bond", and "Mr Flint". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary Jamaican group finally get their time in the spotlight – as Sound Dimension backed up plenty of artists in the glory days of Studio One – singers who include Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Horace Andy, and dozens of others – while also getting the chance to cut some killer instrumental work on their own! The lineup is the stuff of legends – Ernest Ranglin on guitar, Jackie Mittoo on Hammond, Cedric Brooks on reeds, and Vin Gordon on trombone – plus other musicians who really help keep things soulful throughout, and make the music here a blinding set of instrumentals from the late ska years into early reggae rhythms! Titles include "Soul Shake", "The Thing", "Holy Moses", "Hail Don D", "Full Up", "Love Land", "Bitter Blood", "Baby Face", and "Man Pon Spot". LP, Vinyl record album

Pure dynamite throughout – a really killer batch of cuts that easily steps between 60s and 70s styles in Jamaican music – shaking things up with soulful late 60s numbers, funky 70s gems, and some dubbier tracks from a time when production styles really opened up! As with other volumes in this excellent series, the choice of cuts is wonderful – really well-chosen tracks that go past the hits, but also feature some numbers that have become underground classics over the years – but all at a level that's got a lot more bite than some of the oft-played reggae that's been keeping dorm rooms running for decades. There's a total of 14 tracks in all – and titles include "Rocker's Rock" by Augustus Pablo, "No No No" by KC White, "Ring The Alarm" by Tenor Saw, "One Two" by Sister Nancy, "Woman Of The Ghetto" by Kim Harriott, "Heatwave" by Johnny Organ, "King Tubby Dub" by Tommy McCook & The Agrovators, "Earthquake" by Jackie Mittoo, and "Ready Or Not" by Johnny Osborne. LP, Vinyl record album

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". LP, Vinyl record album

Aahh, sweet lover's rock, and all from Studio One no less! Whether you're looking to set the mood for a late night rub up, or just want to cool out to some mellow island vibes, this batch of easy rockin' lover's numbers cut under the supervision of Coxsone Dodd is just the ticket. You get sweet soulful numbers from Studio One stalwarts, plus a number of nice tracks by some lesser known stars in the Studio One galaxy, and as you'd expect from a Soul Jazz set, it's wrapped up quite nicely. 18 tracks in all, including "I Don't Know Why" by Delroy Wilson, "Touch Me Baby" by Myrna Hague, "Darling I Need Your Loving" by John Holt & The Paragons, "Ten To One" by The Mad Lads, "Reggae Magic" by Jackie Mittoo, "Too Long Will Be Too Late" by Freddy & Jenny, "Let Him Try" by Alton Ellis, "Don't Wait For Me" by Albert Tomlinson, "Got To Be Sure" by Horace Andy, "Ready To Learn" by the Heptones, 'We're All Alone" by Doreen Schaefer and more! LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent dip into the rootsier material from the Studio One catalog – the kind of reggae classics that have forever made the label one of the best Jamaican companies! The package is every bit as sublime as Soul Jazz's other reggae compilations – and it features a selection of tunes that far outshines most other reissues of Studio One material, and which includes some great rare gems that have a heavy soulful feeling. Titles include "Meditation" by The Cyclones with Count Ossie, "Set Me Free" by L Crosdale, "More Creation" by Lennie Hibbert, "Fear Not" by Winston Jarrett, "Blackish White" by Alton Ellis, "Far Beyond" by Leroy Wallace, "Addis A Baba" by Willie Williams, "Lumumbo" by Bunny & Skitter, "Africa Here I Come" by Freddie McGregor, and "Congo Rock" by Sound Dimension. LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's heavy on roots reggae numbers, but which also maybe predates some of the more mainstream work in the field – especially some of the more easygoing tracks that were playing bit in American dorm rooms at the end of the 70s! Instead, these are cuts from a scene where the message in the music was plenty crucial, especially amidst the early 70s turmoil in Jamaica – where Studio One was close to the streets, and able to capture the moment with the same sort of brilliance and sharpness they brought to earlier generations of rocksteady and ska! The instrumentation is great, as some of the older players evolve into more spiritual modes – and titles include "Jah Righteous Plan" by Willie Williams, "Run Babylon" by Larry Marshall, "Babylon Rock" by Vin Gordon, "Behold The Land" by Joseph Hill, "Tenor On Call" by Tommy McCook, "Sun Is Shining" by Winston Matthews, "Satta" by Cedric Im Brooks, "Message Of Old" by Ken Boothe & Joe Higgs, "Sleeping Trees" by The Saints, and "Small Garden" by Zoot Sims. LP, Vinyl record album

The legendary Studio One label recorded some of the hippest singers on the Kingston scene from the late 60s onward – and one of the ways they made them sound especially great was to use some of the city's coolest musicians on the sessions, and also give them some space to cut some key instrumentals of their own! The cuts here represent a time when Jamaican music was really hitting its stride with a really unique vibe – and these groups have really shifted from the sort of jazz, mento, or calypso that instrumental groups were cutting in the early part of the 60s – to work in ska, rocksteady, and early reggae modes that offer up a perfect blend of heavy rhythms and standout solo instrumentation! The package brings together 19 tracks from these glory days at Studio One – and titles include "Heavenless" by Don Drummond, "Bugaloo" by Soul Bros, "Black Up" by Karl Bryan & Count Ossie, "Still Calling" by Soul Defenders, "Namibia" by Liberation Group, "Sidewalk Doctor" by Jackie Mittoo & Brentford Rockers, "Heavy Rock" by Sound Dimension, "Money Generator" by Karl Bryan & The Afrokats, "Jericho Skank" by Jackie Mittoo & Ernest Ranglin, and "Ringo Rock" by The Soul Vendors. LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work from one of the most obscure sides of the Studio One catalog – dub recordings that were issued in small press runs, usually with handmade covers, and which barely saw circulation outside of Jamaica at all! This is Studio one at its most experimental – following the new wave of creative activity on the Kingston scene in the 70s, and letting the Dub Specialist access older tracks from the Studio One catalog, break them down, and build up these spare dub tracks that really live up to the "space age" promise of the title! The whole thing is almost more of a Dub Specialist album overall, save for the fact that the core of the tracks is from material by a host of other artists – on titles that include "Tricky", "Disco Dub", "Still Water Version", "Marcus Dub", "Accra", "A Lie Gal A Tell", "Pick Up", "Red Neck", "Wailing Sounds", "Barb Wire Version", and "Juk's Inc". LP, Vinyl record album