A seminal moment for Jamaican soul genius Ken Boothe – a set that has him stepping into deeper, more righteous territory – maybe following the inspiration of some of his soul contemporaries in the US! The set's nicely poised between two modes – not really a roots reggae set, given that there's more warmly glowing soul in the production – but with sense of depth that really makes Boothe's work of a few years before really pale in comparison – and that's saying a lot, given how great that stuff is too. Titles include "Have I Sinned", "Look What You Have Done To Me", "Train/I Don't Want To See You Cry", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Thinking", "Black Gold & Green", and "Second Chance". LP, Vinyl record album

A mellow 70s classic from the great Ken Boothe – very much at the top of his game as one of the most soulful singers on the Jamaican scene – and working here with superb production and arrangements from the great Lloyd Charmers! Charmers has a way of bringing a bit of an edge to Ken's vocals, while also keeping things nicely laidback – this slow-burning style that's got plenty of rocksteady roots, but which steps forward with a bit more of the pride of the mid 70s roots scene. Not that Ken's a roots artist, but he definitely has a current of righteousness that comes through in the music – on titles that include "Blood Brothers", "Silver Words", "I'm Singing Home", "I Don't Want To See You Cry", "No Woman No Cry", "Freedom Day", and "I Shot The Sherriff". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Produced by Clancy Eccles and Phil Pratt. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Two classic Lloyd Charmers productions – back to back on CD, with lots of bonus tracks too! Delroy Wilson steps up strongly with Sarge – a set that's got an unassuming cover and a very deep vibe – this mellow groove that always seems to work great with Delroy's style – and lets him really push over the top with all sorts of warmly crackling energy, stretching things more than some of his contemporaries who were maybe just content to kick back in the rhythm. The set's definitely one to remind you that Wilson was one of the more soulful Jamaican singers of his time – and titles include "My Conversation", "I'm Still Waiting", "My Cecilia", "Ain't That Loving You", "Everybody Needs Love", "Got A Date", and "The Last Thing On My Mind". On Boothe Unlimited, the great Ken Boothe is featured strongly on vocals, but the set also features a fair bit of instrumentals too – that balance between soulful lyrics and dubby instrumentals that you'd usually find on a 7" single, carried out here as a showcase for some stunning production from the great Lloyd Charmers! Titles include "Ain't No Sunshine", "Look What You've Done For Me", "You've Broken The Guitar", "Out Of Love", "Missing You", "To Get Rhythm", and "Second Chance". CD features 13 tracks on CD for the first time ever – and also includes 12 bonus tracks, all discomixes of titles on the albums! CD

With the rawer vocal approach of the roots movement, it's easy to forget that loads of Jamaica's finest singers were heavily influenced by American soul. Ken Boothe never let go of the smooth, soulful sound he established early on at Studio One. This album's part of United Artist's great "Anthology Of Reggae Collector's Series" and brings together some fantastic early reggae and rocksteady sides, produced by Coxsone Dodd, including "Live Good", "You're On My Mind", "When I Fall In Love", "Try A Little Tenderness", "Tell Me" and "You Don't Like Me". LP, Vinyl record album

You gotta love Ken Boothe – a guy who can take familiar pop tunes like "Impossible Dream" and "Theme From The Godfather", and turn them into surprisingly soulful reggae classics! Yet that kind of magic is exactly what makes a great reggae album so great – the kind of special inflection and inversion of source material, especially when mixed with original inspiration – and served up in a classic Kingston setting that features the great Lloyd Charmers on piano and organ, as well as production of the entire set! But it's the soulful style of Boothe that really makes the whole thing great – as he presents the tunes with one of the most unique voices in 70s Jamaican music – almost a Caribbean trill at points, but mixed with raspier soul at other times. Titles include "Speak Softly Love", "Everything I Own", "Evil Girl", "Crying Over You", "Sad & Lonely", "Impossible Dream", "You Will Reach Your Goal", "Time Passage", and "My Kid". LP, Vinyl record album

American soul tunes, but served up Jamaican style – on cuts pulled from the classic years of the Studio One label – when the imprint was one of the hippest sources for rocksteady, ska, and early reggae! The package has a great range of tracks – both classics and rare numbers, and even a few unreleased tunes – all expertly chosen to show the way that the Jamaican scene kept on mirroring changes in American soul well into the 70s – served up here in killer covers of tracks originally done by Bill Withers, The Stylistics, Curtis Mayfield, Lee Dorsey, and others! Tracks include "Compared To What" by Jerry Jones, "Thinking" by Ken Boothe, "Don't Change" by Winston Francis, "Get Out Of My Life Woman" by Tony Gregory, "Choice Of Colors" by The Heptones, "People Make The World Go Round" by Hortense Ellis, "Swing Easy" by Soul Vendors, "Westbound Train" by Jacob Miller, and "Fancy Pants" by Jackie Mittoo. CD

American soul tunes, but served up Jamaican style – on cuts pulled from the classic years of the Studio One label – when the imprint was one of the hippest sources for rocksteady, ska, and early reggae! The package has a great range of tracks – both classics and rare numbers, and even a few unreleased tunes – all expertly chosen to show the way that the Jamaican scene kept on mirroring changes in American soul well into the 70s – served up here in killer covers of tracks originally done by Bill Withers, The Stylistics, Curtis Mayfield, Lee Dorsey, and others! Tracks include "Compared To What" by Jerry Jones, "Thinking" by Ken Boothe, "Don't Change" by Winston Francis, "Get Out Of My Life Woman" by Tony Gregory, "Choice Of Colors" by The Heptones, "People Make The World Go Round" by Hortense Ellis, "Swing Easy" by Soul Vendors, "Westbound Train" by Jacob Miller, and "Fancy Pants" by Jackie Mittoo. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes selections by JC Lodge, Josie Wales, Robbie Lyn, Hopeton Lindo, Dennis Creary, Lady G, Ken Boothe, Dean Frazer, Mighty Diamonds, and Home T. LP, Vinyl record album

The Trojan Records label was a pivotal force in taking reggae to a larger audience at the end of the 60s – pushing a huge amount of Jamaican artists into the global scene, and forever helping the sound of music in the process! Trojan was especially heavy in the years of ska and rocksteady, and this package is filled with some of the key cuts the label helped put on the map – tracks that are classic numbers from the early reggae years, and which had a hell of a lot of power both in Jamaica, and overseas in the UK! 2CD set features 50 tracks in all – and titles include "007" by Desmond Dekker & The Aces, "Double Barrel" by Dave & Ansel Collins, "Everything I Own" by Ken Boothe, "Uptown Top Ranking" by Althea & Donna, "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker & The Aces, "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah" by The Pioneers, "54 46 Was My Number" by the Maytals, "Monkey Spanner" by Dave & Ansel Collins, "OK Fred" by Errol Dunkley, "Girlie Girlie" by Sophia George, "Money In My Pocket" by Dennis Brown, "Black Pearl" by Horace Faith, "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Desmond Dekker, and "To Be Young Gifted & Black" by Bob & Marcia. CD

The Trojan Records label was a pivotal force in taking reggae to a larger audience at the end of the 60s – pushing a huge amount of Jamaican artists into the global scene, and forever helping the sound of music in the process! Trojan was especially heavy in the years of ska and rocksteady, and this package is filled with some of the key cuts the label helped put on the map – tracks that are classic numbers from the early reggae years, and which had a hell of a lot of power both in Jamaica, and overseas in the UK! 2LP set features 28 tracks in all – and titles include "007" by Desmond Dekker & The Aces, "Double Barrel" by Dave & Ansel Collins, "Everything I Own" by Ken Boothe, "Uptown Top Ranking" by Althea & Donna, "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker & The Aces, "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah" by The Pioneers, "54 46 Was My Number" by the Maytals, "Monkey Spanner" by Dave & Ansel Collins, "OK Fred" by Errol Dunkley, "Girlie Girlie" by Sophia George, "Money In My Pocket" by Dennis Brown, "Black Pearl" by Horace Faith, "You Can Get It If You Really Want" by Desmond Dekker, and "To Be Young Gifted & Black" by Bob & Marcia. LP, Vinyl record album

It's hard to get any funkier than this – and with Keb Darge and RZA making the call, we'd expect nothing less! RZA gets one disc, Keb the other – and the difference between the taste of the two makes for a really expansive collection – one that's got a few familiar bits that we'd almost forgotten about, next to some harder to find numbers that we're plenty happy to have in a format like this! And leave it to BBE to keep the standards high for packaging and recording quality – serving up a whopping 20 tracks in all, with titles that include "Is It Because I'm Black" by Ken Boothe, "From The Love Side" by Hank Ballard, "Party Time" by Brand New, "The MG Beat" by Mighty Generation, "Will You Love My Child" by Anna Raye, "You Can Make The Change" by Madcliff, "Simple Song" by Zebra, "Genuine" by Sharon Jones, "Family Affair 1973" by MFSB, "Don't Joke With A Hungry Man" by Quantic with Spanky Wilson, "Getting Off On Your Loving" by Sking High, "I Can Deal With That" by Dee Edwards, "Do Your Thing" by Lyn Collins, "Stone Small Talk" by Sly & The Family Stone, "Climax" by Ohio Players, and "Ain't No Sunshine" by Harlem Underground. CD

A righteous batch of 70s reggae tracks, all produced by Niney The Observer – including 15 tracks that haven't been in print since their original Jamaican release back in the day! The cover and title are a play on a famous American film of the late 60s – but the music here is pure Kingston, and has Niney working with some of the top talents of the scene, and as a lead act on his own – serving up both instrumentals and vocal tunes, all in a wonderfully soulful mix of modes! There's definitely some key classics on the set, but those are also mixed with some great rare numbers too – a rich array of cuts that were originally only issued as 7" singles, presented here with great sound and very detailed notes. There's a whopping 49 tracks in all – with work from Big Youth, Earth & Stone, Ken Boothe, Sang Hugh, The Observers, Hubert Lee, Winston Wright, Delroy Wilson, Denis Brown, U Roy, Glassford Manning, Junior Delgado, Roman Stewart, and Niney himself! CD

With selections by Junior Byles, Delroy Wilson, Michael Rose, The Soul Syndicate, Porti, Keeling Beckford, Slim Smith, Ken Boothe, Bongo Herman, Glasford Manning, Errol Flabba Holt, Gregory Isaacs, and Dennis Brown. LP, Vinyl record album

A heavy package of treasures from the vaults of Studio One – tracks from the early days of the label that really illustrate the special touch that Studio One had right from the start! The work here is some of the most soulful from the early years of reggae – Jamaican music that's clearly drawn strong inspiration from American work, but which is already really finding its own sort of special groove – mellow burning rocksteady, early reggae, and more – still sounding every bit as righteous and powerful as it did back in the day! This double-length set brings together both volumes of the original compilations – and titles include "Peeping Tom" by Brentford All Stars, "Honey Come Back" by Jerry James, "Get You Off My Mind" by Larry Marshall, "I'll Be Waiting" by Alton Ellis, "Got To Be Sure" by Horace Andy, "My Eyes" by John Holt, "He Don't Love You" by Larry Williams, "Psychedelic Rock" by Ernest Ranglin, "Life" by Hortense Ellis, "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Winston Francis, "Old Time Saying" by Burning Spear, "Riddle I This" by Dennis Alcapone, "Feel Good All Over" by King Sporty, "Zion Higher" by Burning Spear, and "Home Home Version" by Dennis Alcapone & Ken Boothe. CD

A pretty nice collection of reggae tunes from the years when United Artists were issuing some of the best reggae albums in the US! The 23 track package is a nice overview of soulful styles – and titles include "Seven Seal" and "Stream In the Meadow" by The Skatalites, "Mexican Divorce" by Dobby Dobson, "Riding For A Fall" by Delroy Wilson, "Corrupted Man" and "Where Am I" by Pablo Moses, "Tomorrow" by Ken Boothe, "Running From Jamaica" and "Babylon Trap Them" by The Meditations, "The Truth Has Come Again" and "Tenement Yard" by Jacob Miller, and "A Quarter Pound Of L'cense" by Max Romeo. LP, Vinyl record album

A great little set of rocksteady and early reggae tracks – featuring 16 gems recorded in the late 60s by producer Leslie Kong. Titles include "Monkey Man" by The Maytals, "Rivers Of Babylon" by The Melodians, "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker, "Monkey Girl" by The Maytals, "Freedom Street" by Ken Boothe, "Peeping Tom" by The Maytals, "Samfie Man" by The Pioneers, "Night Flight" by Ansell Collins, and "Gave You My Love" by Delroy Wilson. CD

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