Forget the cheapo look of the cover, as the set's a classic batch of gems from the Trojan Records catalog – 2CDs worth of material, with 55 titles that go way past the obvious hits – served up in a great mix of rocksteady and early reggae modes, and filled with the kind of tunes that instantly bridged the space between Kingston and London at the end of the 60s! The package takes off from a mainstream Trojan set from back in the day, and offers the much deeper dig that we love from the Doctor Bird label – tunes that make the whole thing more of a journey of discovery than you might guess from the simple statement of the title. Tracks include "Build It Up" by Tito Simon, "Sweet Sensation" by The Melodians, "This Is Reggae Music" by Zap Pow, "Floating" by Greyhound, "Black Pearl" by Horace Faith, "Liquidator" by Harry J Allstars, "Elizabethan Reggae" by Boris Gardiner & The Love People, "I Need Your Sweet Inspiration" by The Pioneers, "Red Red Wine" by Tony Tribe, "Think About That" by Dandy Livingston, "Down In The Boondocks" by Delroy Williams, "Reggae From The Ghetto" by John Holt, "Yesterday Man" by Nicky Thomas, "Who's That Lady" by Paris Connection, and lots lots more! CD

Compilation of tracks produced by Sly & Robbie just as they were getting the Taxi gang started and stepping out as producers in their own right, at the dawn of the Dancehall era. The rhythm tracks are top notch, and in a lot of ways, this is our favorite period for these 2 reggae greats. The set includes both vocal and instrumental numbers, including "Triplet", "Devil Pickney", "Rock Music", "Pure & True", "Fort Augustus", "Sitting & Watching", "Baltimore", "Taxi Connection", "Bang Bang", "Red Hot", "Those Tricks", "Unmetered Taxi" and "VIA Music". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer set of rare club and underground disco – filled with lots of tracks we haven't seen on other collections! Andy Smith has given us many amazing compilations over the years – sets that have a special mix magic, made up of rocksteady, reggae, vintage funk, and even some rockabilly too! Yet as Andy says here in the notes, he first got hooked on music in the disco generation – and has always had a life-long love of unusual and underground grooves – which he definitely demonstrates here, in a stunning selection of cuts that focus on the funkier side of the disco generation – with a good number of tracks that have turned out to be sample cuts over the years. Titles include "For The Love Of Money" by Disco Dub Band, "Patty Duke" by Cloud One, "Times Are Tight" by Jimmy Young, "Share The Night" by World Premiere, "Is It In" by Jimmy Bo Horne, "Let It Flow" by Tamiko Jones, "Main Thing" by Shot with Kim Marsh, "Give It Up" by Neddy Smith, "Groove To Get Down" by T-Connection, "Holding You Tight (ext DJ mix)" by Sure Thing, "First True Love Affair (Andy Smith & Nick Halke reach up edit)" by Jimmy Ross, "Got To Have You (Whiskey Barons re-edit)" by Joanne Wilson, "I Wanna Be Myself" by Don Laka, "Get Up & Boogie" by Freedom, and "Take Me To The Top" by Advance. LP, Vinyl record album

Two classic Lloyd Charmers albums – both new to CD, and presented here with lots of first-time CD bonus tracks too! First up is the great Gold Connection album – an obscure little record, but a soulful one too – a rare 70s Federal Records session that mixes together reggae and soul – with vocals by a trio of female singers that includes a young Marcia Griffiths and Cynthia Schloss! Lots of tracks take a disco inspiration, but slow the pace down a lot more for the Kingston scene – so that the grooves are dubby steppers with a lot more going on at the bottom than their American counterparts up north – laidback, and given some nice instrumentation from Willie Lindo on bass, Harold Butler on keyboards, and Cedric Brooks on tenor! Titles include "That's The Way I Like It", "Fly Robin Reggae", "Love's Theme", "Soul Charm", "Do It Anyway Reggae", "Latin Hustle Reggae", and "Darling I Like It". Next up is Sweet Dreams, a very unique album from Jamaican sweet soul singer Dobby Dobson – an artist who seems to owe a bit to Sam Cooke, and who references music from Sam's era too – remaking some older cuts with a warmer, sweeter 70s vibe overall! The Lloyd Charmers production makes for an unusual blend of reggae and classic soul – and titles include "Little Stars", "Sweet Dreams", "Oh Gee", "You're Mine All Mine", "Muriel", "My Special Prayer", and "It's A Miracle". 2CD set features 20 more bonus tracks – including the great Supernatural Thing project from Richard Ace with Lloyd Charmers – and more tracks from Sister Stern, The Africans, Richard Ace, Delroy Wilson, and CHARM! CD

A great little set that brings together the short but fantastic legacy of Risco Connection – a late 70s project led by Studio One drummer Joe Isaacs, after moving from Kingston and setting up shop on the scene in Toronto! Joe calls on plenty of his older roots in early reggae, but also serves up cuts that have a strong nod towards contemporary club – slowing down the rhythms from the pace of disco, but also not really working in a reggae groove either – and instead coming up with a really unique hybrid of both – one that's peppered by vocals from a variety of different singers, often has nice keyboard touches in a moogy/spacey style, and which also features dubby reworkings of most of the tunes too! As usual, Strut do a great job of putting together the material with nicely detailed notes – and titles include two versions each of "It's My House", "Good Times", "Ain't No Stoppin Us Now", and "Sitting In The Park" – plus "I'm Caught Up", "Argument", "Stopping", "Bringing Out The Sunshine", "Risco Music", and "Reggae Music". CD

A great little set that brings together the short but fantastic legacy of Risco Connection – a late 70s project led by Studio One drummer Joe Isaacs, after moving from Kingston and setting up shop on the scene in Toronto! Joe calls on plenty of his older roots in early reggae, but also serves up cuts that have a strong nod towards contemporary club – slowing down the rhythms from the pace of disco, but also not really working in a reggae groove either – and instead coming up with a really unique hybrid of both – one that's peppered by vocals from a variety of different singers, often has nice keyboard touches in a moogy/spacey style, and which also features dubby reworkings of most of the tunes too! As usual, Strut do a great job of putting together the material with nicely detailed notes – and titles include two versions each of "It's My House", "Good Times", "Ain't No Stoppin Us Now", and "Sitting In The Park" – plus "I'm Caught Up", "Argument", "Stopping", "Bringing Out The Sunshine", "Risco Music", and "Reggae Music". LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy transatlantic vibrations selected by Don Letts! As the principle architect of the connection between the brash UK punk scene of the 70s and the Jamaican music community, you know Letts is especially qualified to assemble a massive set of reggae pulled from the vaults of Greensleeves! Bouncing back and forth between rollicking dancehall and dee jay cuts, earth shaking dubs and hardcore roots, on up through bubbling modern digital numbers, this is one excellent set of cuts that haven't been anthologized over and over again as you hear so often! 30 tracks spread out over two discs, including "War" by the Wailing Souls, "Wa Do Dem" by Eek A Mouse, "Mary Long Tongue" by Barrington Levy, "How The West Was Won" by Toyan, "Love Tickles Like Magic" by Junior Delgado, "Poor & Humble"by Wayne Wade, "None Of Jah Jah Children No Cry" by Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus, "Let's Get Started" by Tetrack, "Pirate's Anthem" by Home T, Cocoa Tea and Shabba Ranks, "Mind Yu Dis" by Gregory Isaacs, "Heads High (Kill 'Em With It rmx)" by Mr Vegas, "Under Mi Sensi" by Alozade & Hollow Point, "No Letting Go" by Wayne Wonder, "Sufferer" by Bounty Killer and "Love Is Divine" by Sizzla.c CD

Wonderful work from the great John Holt – a Jamaican singer who managed to find a real way to weave connections between reggae and the sweeter side of soul music in the 70s – often at a level that had John taking on songs from the American scene and making them sound even better with a reggae groove! Yet the work of Holt also goes way past that formula used on some of his hits – as you'll hear on this massive collection that offers up some of the greatest cuts he recorded for Trojan Records, plus some nice surprises along the way. Most of the tracks have a loping midtempo groove that's perfect for Holt's vocal approach – and the 2CD set features 50 tracks in all, with titles that include "Stealing Stealing", "I Wanna Dance", "Help Me Make It Through The Night", "Sister Big Stuff", "Stick By Me", "Ali Baba", "You Baby", "The Tide Is High", "Let's Build Our Dreams", "Sweetie Come Brush Me", "Wild Fire", "I'll Be Lonely", "My Heart Is Gone", "Strange Things", "My desire", "I'll Take A Melody", and "Time & The River". CD

Wonderful work from the great John Holt – a Jamaican singer who managed to find a real way to weave connections between reggae and the sweeter side of soul music in the 70s – often at a level that had John taking on songs from the American scene and making them sound even better with a reggae groove! Yet the work of Holt also goes way past that formula used on some of his hits – as you'll hear on this massive collection that offers up some of the greatest cuts he recorded for Trojan Records, plus some nice surprises along the way. Most of the tracks have a loping midtempo groove that's perfect for Holt's vocal approach – and the 2LP set features 28 tracks in all, with titles that include "Stealing Stealing", "I Wanna Dance", "Help Me Make It Through The Night", "Sister Big Stuff", "Stick By Me", "Ali Baba", "You Baby", "The Tide Is High", "Let's Build Our Dreams", "Sweetie Come Brush Me", "Wild Fire", "I'll Be Lonely", "My Heart Is Gone", "Strange Things", "My desire", "I'll Take A Melody", and "Time & The River". LP, Vinyl record album