The Same Song : Israel Vibration

This is the powerful debut album by this legendary vocal trio.  Original release was in 1978 on LP by Top Ranking. 1979 and 1980 had seen consecutive releases on LP by the Harvest label and again off of Top Ranking.  It came out  rather quickly on CD in 1995 off of Pressure Sounds and is considered a cornerstone album for vocal trios.  My CD version is off of RAS from 1996 and only has 10 tracks total. The EMI CD version is going to be your best bet with 14 tracks including 12" versions and discomixes.  A couple of the nice tracks on this one are: #2 (Weep & Mourn), #6 (Why Worry), and #7 (Lift of Your Conscience).  The roots radics blast some super bass tracks out of Channel One.  Engineer Maxie has done a great job of setting these tracks up for killer dub versions, but definitely not overshadowing the sweetness of the crisp vocal work from Israel Vibration.  Some tracks are heavy bass sapping with roots and others are slow and easy but they all come together to make this an overall great album.

Weakheart Fadeaway : Ranking Joe

Greensleeves and Ranking Joe released this 10 track set back in 1978, yet Joe's roots dj messages stay relevant in today's world. This seems like a short album when you look at the length and number of tracks, but each one is an excellent example of 70's roots dj at it's finest. My favorites on this one are #3 (Dread Earthquake), #4 (Natty Dread is a Trademan), and #6 (Weakheart Fadeaway) which is Joe version of Junior Byles "Fade Away" famous from the Rockers Soundtrack : Various Artists. This has got to be one of Ranking Joe's top 3 albums and with talent like Ansel Collins, Sly, and Robbie - I consider it a classic for sure. The studio engineering was done at Channel One by Ernest Hoo Kim, Maxie, and Barnabas - produced by Joseph Hoo Kim. I think the most recent release of this disc is a Greensleeves "Reggae Classics" CD from 2004. You should be able to pick it up for about $6-$8 on the used CD market.