various artists - Mojo Presents: Studio One Selecter (The Originals)

There's still a lot of ink that could be spilled about Studio One and its heart, Coxsone Dodd. After all, do we music lovers elevate his name to the status of Berry Gordy, Jerry Moss, Jac Holzman, or Moses Asch? We should; Dodd gathered the legends for 20+ years and put them on wax, shared it all with the world to experience.

This sampler, assembled by Soul Jazz Records head Stuart Baker for Mojo back in 2005, eschews a lot of the expected hits ("Simmer Down" excepted) for a survey that spans the progression of JA music. Starting with the Skatalites and Delroy Wilson in 1964, moving to Jackie Mittoo and rocksteady, pop reggae with Lloyd Williams, then dub, roots, deejay, and lovers rock. It's a pretty grand spin any time of the year, but now, in late June, on the second-longest day of the year, I think it's perfection over 49 minutes.

Discogs

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Dennis Bovell And The Dub Band - Audio Active

I don't have a great deal of insight to share about this record. I knew Dennis Bovell produced the Slits and the Pop Group when I found this several years ago. I ripped it and stashed the CD. No big deal. But it's getting to be summer, which means I swap all my post punk records on my phone for dub records, and this just started getting some spins. It's a very weird, very cool record to come out in 1986, when reggae had either gone full dancehall or full Rasta. Of course I dig it.

Discogs

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various artists - Clancy Eccles' Reggae Revue At The V.I.P. Club (1970-1973)

This third release of Clancy Eccles'-produced reggae from Jamaican Gold is more historical curiosity for me than quality archival release. But you'll get boss sounds from Lord Creator and Third World, a few more Dynamites contributions, and Tyrone Taylor covering a Sly & The Family Stone classic, inna reggae style. And the liner notes are pretty damned fantastic. So ignore the graphic design that is better suited for a truck stop rack of greatest hits in the aughts, and give this one a spin. Satisfy your curiosity and scratch your reggae itch.

Discogs

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various artists - Clancy Eccles' Rock Steady & Reggae Revue At The Sombrero Club (1967-1969)

I long ago reached that stage in my collecting where if it looks interesting, and it's cheap, I'm guaranteed to buy it, no matter the presumed quality. So it was that I turned up a dollar copy of this last year while I was digging through an otherwise-boring pile of 90s pop and alternative CDs. Of course Clancy Eccles' name is going to stand out to me. And if it ends up being a bunch of lo-fi live recordings from the dawn of reggae? All the better.

Not so fast, reggae fans. These actually seem to be a bunch of super-deep Eccles-produced cuts from 1967 to 1970, a number of which hadn't been collected in 2001. The first of four volumes that would emerge on the Dutch Jamaican Gold label in 2001, what's great about this is being able to listen to the mutation from rocksteady into reggae, and to hear someone like Lee "Scratch" Perry performing in front of a group of artists who you otherwise wouldn't associate him with. There are other names who I own a bunch of records by: Alton Ellis, Busty Brown, and Theophilus Beckford. And a few that I've never encountered before. It's all tied together with the backing of the Dynamites, augmented by folks like Jackie Mittoo, Lyn Taitt, and Ernest Ranglin. This was a welcome discovery in the dollar bin, and a perfect play when it's in the 30s outside, even on a cloudless day.

Discogs

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various artists - Duke Reid's Treasure Chest

I meant to post this last week, but the heat caused my brain to short circuit. Which is ironic, because some Duke Reid-produced rocksteady is pretty much the perfect antidote to a hot August night.

I've racked my brain for something interesting to write about this, but, like a lot of Heartbeat comps, I find this just washes over me.like a warm breeze. So I'll mostly let the music speak for itself. There are a bunch of bona-fide all-timers here; "The Tide Is High", "Lala Means I Love You", "Ranglin On Bond St.", and "My Best Girl". All in all, a hell of a good buy at $4.

Discogs

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various artists - Slaves Of New York (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

What do you think it was that lead to pay a penny (plus $1.75 S&H!) to bring this home? I've never seen the Merchant-Ivory film to which this provides the soundtrack. The only artist here I love is Iggy, and I didn't need to snag this to have "Fall In Love With Me". I don't stan P.I.L. or Boy George, and Maxi Priest & Ziggy Marley are low on my list of reggae artists I'm interested in.

That leaves a weird mix of songs that made for a nice surprise. "Buffalo Stance" broughr back memories of my first Walkman, playing the hell out of Neneh Cherry and Public Enemy and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince before I needed to use deodorant regularly. "Good Life"? Only one of the all-timer house cuts, from one of the Belleville Three. There's a pair of Arto Lindsay tracks here, both derived from the second Ambitious Lovers record. With guest spots from Vernon Reid and John Zorn, these are a duo of pretty awesome mid-80s downtown tracks, the sort of which you'd NEVER see on a major label release these days. The whole thing wraps up with a cut from French new wavers Les Rita Mitsouko, a curiousity the likes of which I found most welcome.

That Dalmatian on the cover looks like it aims to misbehave. What a naughty dog.

Discogs

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various artists - Reggae Chartbusters Volume Four

So this is where the series gets interesting.

Trojan didn't release a fourth volume of "Reggae Chartbusters" back in 1972 or 1973, opting instead for continuing the "Club Reggae" series and kicking off "Trojan's Greatest Hits". That didn't keep Trojan from surveying from 1971 to 1973 in this 2009 release.

You see where JA reggae and UK reggae are diverging during this period. There are a pair of Bob Marley & the Wailers tracks on this (leftovers from their pre-Island output) and a Dennis Brown cut, but that's it for roots reggae here. The rest of is that pop reggae ilk that was pretty safe for English folks in the early 70s, but was out of step with the soon-to-be dominant sound coming out of Jamaica.

None of that is to imply this is bad, to be clear. There's music from Dandy Livingston, Joe Higgs, Toots Hibbert, Desmond Dekker; all heavyweights. But the tell here is the presence of Judge Dread's "Big Seven". I love his schtick, but his appearance maintains the theme. This was a series made for white audiences, with a minimum of nasty Rastafari or politics. Groups like Greyhound and Blue Haze wouldn't otherwise stack up to the likes of Sound Dimension or the Supersonics.

It's still pretty good, tho. Better than a sharp poke in the eye, to be sure.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: The Dawning Of A New Era (15 Classic Punk & Ska Tracks!)

Summer slips away. The days here grow short. The sun stood tall in the sky past 9pm just a few weeks ago; now, things are evening out, dusk coming at a more normal hour of 8-ish. The pool will soon close; the hoodies will come out of the closet.

I will wear shorts for another four months.

I didn't pick this up in January/February 2008, when this hit the newsstands. So I couldn't say what the context of this was. I'm left to guess how one justifies mixing JA rocksteady & reggae, the Untouchables, the Ruts, Judge Dread, and the goddamn Belle Stars to represent the eIxplosion of 2 Tone in 1979 & 1980. It's as tenuous a compilation as I've encountered from Mojo.

But I'm not really complaining. I think I got this for a buck, and one could play the first five tracks, all Trojan classics, on repeat without it ever getting old. I'll do this at least a few times over the coming weeks, if only to extend summer just a bit longer.

Discogs

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various artists - Reggae Chartbusters: Volume Three (Extended Edition)

This the last of the extended editions in Trojan's 2009 reissue series of "Reggae Chartbusters". Trojan moved on to different titles and themes for their sampler records after 1971. So after this one, it's all imaginary samplers.

The Pioneers' version of Jimmy Cliff's "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah" leads off this, and it's alright. The rest of the original release is pretty mediocre; there's a post-heyday Desmond Dekker track, a pair of cuts from former Technique Bruce Ruffin, and fukkin' Greyhound. Not great stuff. Where some of the classic artists from the JA explosion from '67 - '71 embraced Rastafari and a more rooted approach to reggae, this is more representative of reggae-pop. Which I can't stand.

But this one is worth it for the classic two-fer from Dave & Ansel Collins of "Double Barrel" and "Monkey Spanner". These are two of my favorite tracks from this era, going back to the first Trojan CD samplers I bought in the mid-90s. "Small Axe" is also one of the few Wailers songs I like, due in great part to killer production from Lee Perry. The additions of Eric Donaldson, Delroy Wilson, and the Slickers in this expanded version lead me to ask, "Why weren't they on the original?"

Discogs

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various artists - Reggae Chartbusters Volume Two (Expanded Edition)

I busted my ass to find a copy of this.

See, getting Volumes 1, 3, and 4 were pretty easy. All three came from a seller in the UK with very reasonable shipping costs. I think I paid around $20, shipping included, for all three. But Volume Two was, for most of spring and into summer, a white whale. Sellers were asking $25.00 to ship a copy from overseas. The few US shops who had a copy were similarly asking WAY to much for a 15-year-old reissue of a budget comp from 1971. But, luckily, a Japanese store that I've bought records before had a cheap copy, the yen is weak against the dollar, Bob's your uncle, a copy way mine for $10.

And it was worth it, goddammit. Worth it for the seventeenth record I own with these Desmond Dekker songs on them. Worth it for a pair of my all-time favorite Maytals tracks. Worth it for Bob & Marcia's "Young, Gifted, And Black", which got me a native nod in traffic last week. And worth it for the eight bonus tracks appended to the original release. This is a perfect record for the hot season here in the PNW, chock full of slower jams from the first years of JA music transitioning from the rocksteady beat into reggae and creating one of the finest bodies of pop music ever created.

Discogs

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various artists - Select Cuts From Blood & Fire

I feel bad that I missed my last posting slot. Outside of my professional life, I tend towards not being disciplined. So it's important to me that I follow through when I commit to doing something; whether that's posting twice a week, or following my Reminders app religiously, or just being on time. And when I fall short, it stings, no matter how banal or unimportant in the greater scheme that task might be.

But I don't feel that bad.

Now that that's out of the way: on to the music. In this case, it's a cheapy pickup from eBay. Whenever I see "Blood & Fire" on a record, my brain perks up. I'm a huge fan of what the now-defunct Mancunian reissue label put together during it's 15-some-odd year history. And when I can snag one of their out-of-print releases for a buck or two, all the better. So a late night scroll turned this guy up without an awful lot of information. I didn't consider cross referencing what this was on Discogs; it was going for $1 plus shipping, fer Crissake! Just pull the trigger.

So I did, and it arrived, and I was pleasantly surprised. Select Cuts was a sub-label of noted remixers Echo Beach, It paired contemporary artists with older catalogs and let them go off with remixes. The results, as I've come to discover, are pretty solid. There are names I know (the Orb, Stereo MC's, Transglobal Underground) remixing artists I love (Horace Andy, King Tubby, the Congos). Simple as.

This isn't something I would have ever sought out, but it's something I'm happy I stumbled across. Rabbit Rabbit, everyone.

Discogs

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various artists - All Aboard The C.N. Express: Rock Steady And Boss Reggae Sounds 1967-1968

The releases on Doctor Bird are so dope. As Cherry Red's reggae reissue label, Doctor Bird has been revisiting so many of the classic Trojan comps and long-play releases from their initial heyday AND, in many instances, expanding upon them. They've also been collecting and theming era-specific releases, bringing new context to every period of JA music, from the birth of ska up until the dawn of dancehall. And the cool thing is that they continue to uncover tracks that haven't been available for 50 years or more. They're keeping this work alive; a noble goal, and one that I want to support.

Now, the rub is that, as a UK label, and much like other Cherry Red releases (coughCaptain Oi!cough), it's pricy to import, and impossible to find on the shelves here in the States. Doubly so now that vinyl is all anyone can talk about. So when I do turn one up for a reasonable price, I make a point of grabbing it. No clue when I'll see it again for less than $25 shipped, know what I mean?

This one is the third of Doctor Bird's Clancy Eccles compilations, focusing on his production from 1967 & 1968. That's a period that I don't know a ton about; coming up, I bought a ton of reissues from the ska period, and the entire reggae period was well covered and easily available. But a lot of the rocksteady era wasn't super visible for me, especially that timeframe where the sound was simmering down. This collection, which has 17 tracks that had never been available digitally until this release, features names I knew already (Lee Perry, Alton Ellis, Monty Morris) and a ton I didn't. But most importantly, it helped connect some dots that were previously invisible to me.

Discogs

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various artists - Yesterday (16 Fab B**tles Reggae Classics)

4/30 update: apparently, I forgot to post the link. And Mega was giving me a hard time, so you get a Kraken link on this one. Sorry, gang. On with the shit talk.

It's confession time. I....(sigh).

I do NOT like the Beatles.

It seems antithetical to my current "let's see how dumb I was to dislike this when I was 18" stance, but I still cannot get into the Fab Four in my late age. I will offer grudging respect to solo George Harrison and Paul McCartney, definitely fuck with Beatles-adjacents like Billy Preston and Yoko Ono, but I just can't hang with the Liverpudlian legends. Maybe it's the boomer worship, maybe it's that John Lennon always struck me as a self-important pud, maybe it's just because the Stones are more fun. But I just don't get how anyone under the age of 60, most of whom weren't alive when the Beatles were a working band, can worship them.

HOWEVER...I can absolutely get behind a Beatles cover. Whether it's Motown covering the early pop catalog, or Nina Simone's version of "My Sweet Lord", or this collection from 1991, there's something about a different artist interpreting Lennon/McCartney that makes it click for me. This has a few AAA headliners on it (the Maytals, Dandy Livingston, John Holt), but it's a lot of deeper cuts from the Trojan vaults AND includes a fair amount of solo work. Even viewed as a relative novelty, this helps prove that the Beatles weren't TOTAL shit, and maybe I should pull my head out of my ass on this one.

Discogs

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various artists - Reggae Chartbusters Volume One (Expanded Edition)

 This, my friends, is a bona fide banger.

Set aside your knowledge of reggae for a second, if you can. Imagine being 15 again. It's summertime 1969, and the sounds of rocksteady are just starting to simmer down. It's been less than a year since the Maytals taught us how to do the reggay. You take a couple quid down to the nearest stockist, and you see this on the racks. Twelve tracks, for the same amount you'd pay for a couple of 45s? You're sold.

And what a lineup! On the A side, it's Jimmy Cliff, Symarip, Dandy Livingston. On the flip, Lee Perry's Upsetters, Tony Tribe, Boris Gardiner. Both sides showcase Desmond Dekker and the Pioneers. Can you imagine hearing this all together for the first time? This isn't a stack of singles playing on a jukebox; it's the best value compilation you're probably ever going to buy.

55 years on, I still encounter folks whose first experience with reggae was this comp. One of the first full-lengths released by Trojan, it's up there with "Flex Your Head" or "C86" or the "Easy Rider" soundtrack as the sort of collection that shapes lives. This version, expanded to twenty tracks in 2009 and featuring Max Romeo, the Ethiopians, and the Maytals, gives an even more robust view of the first year Trojan licensed a monster lineup of JA labels and producers for the UK.

No wonder reggae became the sound of working class youth in the early 70s. You take great art, you focus on getting it in as many hands (ears) as you can, as cheaply as possible, and nature takes its course.

Discogs

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various artists - X-Ray Music: A Blood And Fire Dub Directory

The summer is coming to an end, which, for me, means really stepping up the amount of reggae I listen to. Starlit nights call for a righteous dub to tear down Babylon. And this, a 1999 sampler from the late, lamented Blood & Fire label, is almost purpose-built for such a need. Headlined by a quintet of King Tubby dubs, along with productions from Scientist, Lee Perry, and Prince Jammy, this is a pretty irie CD.

Did I use "irie" correctly?

Discogs

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various artists - Bonus CD: Rebel Discomixes

Another reggae record, since I forgot to load up something for Friday.

This one came via a Half Price Books "fill a bag for $25" sale several years ago, and while I'd prefer to have the whole "The Best Of Studio One Collection" set, I'll settle for having this disc of extended mixes. You get a trio of Dennis Alcapone deejay cuts, a lil' something from the Jackie Mittoo-led Soul Vendors, some early Winston Francis, and Tommy McCook leading the Brentford Disco Set.

Six tracks, 47 minutes, dub on, gang.

Discogs

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various artists - Young Gifted And Black: The Story Of Trojan Records

UPDATE 1/25/23: new Kraken link uploaded.

I stopped by the local Half Price Books over the weekend, my favorite ex-employer, on the hunt for some Criterion laserdiscs and other fun at (you guessed it) half price. Any day that ends with a double disc of "Glen and Glenda" and "Bride of the Monster", a copy of Samuel Fuller's "The Naked Kiss", and a few other classics on 30mm aluminum is a good day. However, I took a quick peek into the music book section and found a copy of "Young Gifted And Black: The Story Of Trojan Records", a 2003 book put out by Trojan owner (at the time) Sanctuary Publishing. While I wasn't necessarily feeling spending the money, I'd never seen a copy on the shelves before, and it came with the compilation I share now. Who am I to deny a sign from the reggae gods?

By now, it should be quite clear that I'm into reggae. I'm not into some Ras Trent/cultural appropriation/I like to get wicked stoned white boy reggae scene. I'm into the deepest south soul, six hours of Lee Perry dubs, a chanting down of Babylon and a celebration of skinheads. My first ever Trojan purchase was a two-fer: Symarip's "Skinhead Moonstomp" and the classic "Monkey Business" comp. It was the introduction to another bit of obsession, searching out not just more reissues and compilations, but always keeping an eye out for dub plates and white labels and the records I'd mostly just read about or heard on the random radio show.

I've yet to start reading the book, but this was am immediate "load it onto the phone" record. At 33 minutes long, it's almost just a sampler; barely scratching the surface of initial seven year heyday. But, fuck, if this doesn't pique your curiosity, get you dancing or crate digging, then I guess you're in the wrong place, baby.

Discogs

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various artists - Natty And Nice: A Reggae Christmas

UPDATE: new link for youse. Enjoy skanking under the mistletoe.

I just sold my copy of this one on Discogs, so I took the opportunity before shipping it to re-rip it and share with you cats and kittens on this, the first Friday of December.

Truly a most irie comp, and one of my favorite "novelty" Christmas records, this one leads off with a track from Lee "Scratch" Perry, and moves on, covering a wide swath of JA music history in one go, with December 25th the common theme. John Holt's cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is an absolute knockout, and while I'm not much of an Inner Circle fan, Jacob Miller steps in with a "Wish You A Merry Christmas" that I've added to more than one holiday mix. There's a little something for every fan of reggae's evolution, from ska and rocksteady into Trojan's heyday and thru into dancehall and ragga.

If you're looking for something to play instead of that shit Wings track, give this one a spin.

Discogs

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Hepcat - Scientific

Spring has sprung, and an aging punk's fancy turns to the sounds of the Caribbean, no matter how bastardized or temporally removed they may be.

That's right, it's ska season. There's something about the temperature turning 60 that immediately leads me to load my 30 favorite third wave records onto my phone and make them my walking/driving soundtrack. Foremost amongst them is this, Hepcat's second of four LPs, 1996's "Scientific".

I played the ever-loving shit out of this and the promo single "Bobby & Joe b/w Dollar Dance" in the summer and fall of 1996. It slotted nicely alongside the Slackers' "Better Late Than Never" and the Stubborn All-Stars' "Open Season"; a trio of contemporary records from either coast that could have just as easily come out on Trojan in 1968. It was a very good summer to make friends and meet girls and stay up all night and raise the slightest bit of hell. There wasn't a need for anything much stronger than a Mickey's wide-mouth and a pack of Marlboros, and it was mighty easy to find a few bucks to pay for both.

Yeah, this evokes a fair amount of nostalgia for me. But it still feels lively and fresh and the sort of thing I want to play for my nieces this summer. This, of all the Hepcat records, appears to be out of print (sadly), so enjoy with a free conscience...at least until Jump Up puts in for a reissue.

Discogs

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various artists - In Dub Daze: An On-U Sound Compilation

Amongst a wide range of industrial, deathrock, ambient, and acid house releases, there are a few gems in Cleopatra's 90s catalog. Although I couldn't appreciate it at the time, I can look at those first five years and say, "whoa, they really had their shit together". After all, they were the ones putting Kraftwerk's best records back in print on CD, putting out new stuff from Psychic TV and Helios Creed, and giving a young Ape his first exposure to Blitz, Angelic Upstarts, and Broken Bones. They licensed some hella good stuff, a fair amount of which it took me a long time to get into (looking at you, Kommunity FX). And they had strong distribution via Caroline, which meant you wouldn't necessarily have to crate dig in order to find something cool.

They compiled a bunch of the On-U Sound singles, initially released as vinyl only in the early 80s, across three CDs in 1996 and 1997. The first of these, "In Dub Daze", turned up in a cutout bin at Camelot Music in Harford Mall sometime during my first obsessive wave with dub.

...and that's where I left this, back in April, when I essentially quit writing for a few months. I'll leave the knob polishing alone from here on out...you get it: Cleopatra put out some solid reissues back in the 90s. Adrian Sherwood's collective isn't on the level of Scientist or Lee Perry to me, but it's summer, and when the heat dome camped out over the MSO Compound here in the PNW a few weeks back, it found myself playing this on repeat. It has some swelter on its side, some shimmy.

Discogs

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