Africa Must Be Free By 1983 + Dub : Hugh Mundell

This was Hugh Mundell's breakout album, originally released in 1978 by Message, along with the dub tracks on the same album later on CD by Ras and Greensleeves.  There are 17 tracks total on this one, the first half is original vocals and the second half is all of the dub tracks.  This is also one of the most well known Augustus Pablo produced albums.  Pablo brought in great reggae talents to do the engineering : Errol Thompson, Sylvan Morris, & Phillip Smart.  Tracks #1 (Let's All Unite) & #6 (Run Revolution A Come) are the highlights.  Hugh Mundell was a hot commodity on the international reggae market from the get go.  Mundell released two more outstanding albums in his short and sweet career.  My favorite of the two is Jah Fire and a great compilation disc opportunity is The Blessed Youth from 2003.  The "Africa Must Be Free" album was wildly popular at the time of its release and interest from the reggae public has never really slowed down.  This is known as a reggae standard and benchmark milestone in the roots tradition history.

RAS Portraits : Live & Learn Presents ....

This disc is a nice roots compilation supposedly from the 1981-85 time period and featuring such roots greats as : Barrington Levy, Ras Michael, Wailing Souls, Mighty Diamonds, and more.  With 16 tracks on this one, you get a nice 2-4 track sample of each artist and the selections for this "variety pack" are solid representations of the artists' sounds and styles.  My favorite tracks are #5 (Chanting - Jr. Reid) and #9 (Them A Fret- Wailing Souls).  There is a great Jr. Reid combo album with Don Carlos that also features "Chanting" called Firehouse Clash giving you more from these two artists' early eighties collection.  The RAS Portrait series is a standard these days for finding an inexpensive compilation for most of your reggae favorites.  The prices are affordable and sometimes downright cheap, but the music is usually top notch.  Beware, selections on these compilations will sometimes sound familiar because they appear on several other albums ( ex. this disc and Firehouse Clash ) so make sure to find the ones you really want.  This is a great starting point to find more classic reggae that might fit with your style.

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.

Unconquered People : Israel Vibration

This disc provides a great look at one of Reggae's sweetest vocal trios in their prime.  Original recorded material from about 1978-1980 and released on LP by Talent Music in 1978 and Greensleeves in 1980, then on CD in 1990 also by Greensleeves and again in 1996 on RAS.  Israel Vibration is a killer vocal trio with it's three legendary members: Skelly, Apple, and Wiss. Their albums from the seventies to early eighties are the heaviest, from the last great roots movement coming out of the '70's.  The backing musicians on this one include Augustus Pablo and the Barrett's (Aston "Familyman" and Carlton).  10 tracks total on this one.  Recorded at Tuff Gong - Kinsgton with mixing engineer Errol Brown.  These three tracks are a good example of what this album offers: #2 (Friday Evening), #5 (Top Contol), #10 (Practice What Jah Teach) this last track has a killer guitar riff and a great conscious message.  There's a little horns, piano/keyboard in almost all the tracks.  It's a well engineered and produced set.

Firehouse Clash : Junior Reid vs. Don Carlos

This disc is a short simple compilation of a few Junior Reid and Don Carlos tracks. It's got 11 tracks total. The first 5 are from Junior Reid and the last 6 are from Don Carlos. I've had this disc since the late 1990's and still listen to it on a regular basis. It serves as a decent sampler for the two artists. My favorite Junior Reid track on this on is #2 (Respect Due). My favorite Don Carlos track off this one is #11 (Spread Out), although the CD has other popular Don Carlos tracks like (Living in the City) & (No Trouble This). Although this CD was distributed by RAS, it was put out under the label name "Live & Learn". It seems to be kind of an economy type of release - maybe meant for cheaper retail pricing. None the less, this is still a solid set of tracks to have in rotation.

Pablo & Friends : Augustus Pablo

Here's a peak at another Augustus Pablo disc. Pablo & Friends is a kind of greatest hits CD with 18 tracks total. You get to hear the original track by such artists as: U Roy, I Roy, Derrick Morgan, John Holt, and Prince Jammy. That's followed by the Pablo instrumental version. Showcase style a la Pablo. This album set-up allows you to experience the pure Pablo and gain insight into how he's contributed to the evolution of reggae music. His instrumental interpretations of these reggae classics are good to have in your collection. My favorite tracks on this one are: #5 (It Dread Inna Earth), #6 (Pablo's Majestic Mood), #8 (A Tuff Dub), #15 (Cow Town Skank), and #16 (Pablo in Cow Town). When you listen to the disc as a whole, it's really like listening to 9 extended tracks - nice to leave on around the house. My copy of this disc is RAS '92, but there might be other releases out there. With all the popular reggae artists on this one, I would almost consider this a various artists CD.