The American debut of The English Beat – aka the UK group The Beat, who'd been making some big waves with import 45s on the 2Tone label, the burst forth on our US market with a slight shift in name, due to another group hogging their original moniker on our side of the Atlantic! That bit of backstory hardly need matter, though – as the group wear their English loud and proud here, setting off a huge ska revival as they blend Jamaican roots with London attitude in the post-punk years – stacking up a set of classics that continue to groove many turntables all these many years later. Titles include "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Hands Off She's Mine", "Twist & Crawl", "Big Shot", "Best Friend", and "Jackpot". (Rock, Reggae) LP, Vinyl record album

A soaring set from Afro reggae trailblazer Alpha Blondy – and one of his best! The blend of Jamaican influlences and African heritage combine as passionately as ever on a batch of songs that includes "Afriki", "Jah Houphouet", "Apartheid Is Nazism", "Idjidja", "Kiti", "Sahel", "Come Back Jesus", "Djinamory" and more. LP, Vinyl record album