Harder Than The Rest : Culture

This album is a classic Culture selection right out of their roots swell from about 1977-1980.  The original LP release was in 1978 on High Note and Virgin "Frontline".  Other notable Culture album releases from this time period include International Herb(1978) and Two Sevens Clash (1977).  Harder than the Rest has 10 tracks total.  All the tracks are solid and you can easily listen to this one straight through, without skipping over any tracks.  my favorite track is #2 (Holy Mount Zion) - a great example of downbeat roots.  Other nice picks are #4 (Iron Sharpening Iron) and #8 (Work on Natty).  My copy of this disc is a Virgin Frontline reissue from 2000.  The Mixing Engineer is Errol Brown and the album was cut at the Treasure Isle studios in Kingston.  Some of the backing musicians are Sly and Robbie as well as Ansel Collins and many other homegrown Jamaican talents.

The Icebreakers with The Diamonds : Planet Mars Dub

This is a dub set from the Virgin Frontline series of discs, the material was originally released in 1978. Ten tracks total on this one. All the tracks are solid and dub fans can listen to this one straight through. Track #2 (Sweet Answer) and track #6 (Grand Rock) are the standouts. This one's nice and mellow, just nice cleaned up dub with a little Diamonds vocal in the background. The Mighty Diamonds meet up with the Icebreakers backing band. This is a heavy crew featuring Sly Dunbar, Chinna, and a few other regulars. An interesting note to this one is that was recorded and mixed in the Bahamas at Compass Point. Total Jamaican reggae with a little Bahamian flair perhaps. I dig the album art on this one - the "speaker flying saucers" arriving on the scene to perhaps share some fat bass lines with the dreads. This is one of my top ten PURELY dub albums.

Ah Who Seh Go Deh? / Leggo! Ah-Fi-We-Dis : Dennis Bovell/4th Street Orchestra

This is an interesting set of 2 albums on one disc from Dennis Bovell. With 20 tracks total, the albums "Ah Who Seh Go Deh?" and "Leggo! Ah-Fi-We-Dis" are crammed together for our listening pleasure. This material was originally released across the pond in England back in 1976. Featuring the classic dub sounds of the 1970's, Dennis Bovell had put together a double set of dubplates and instrumental versions once used in the sound system scenes of England. You'll here the same rhythm a few times with the vocals taken away or some dub effects added, but the versions will be alternated throughout the track list, not back-to-back. My favorites on this one are #2 (Za-Ion) and it's dubbed-out counterpart #4 (Half-ay to Za-Ion), #9 (Rite Dem), and #16 (Ah-Fi-We-Dis) with a mean horns riff and bouncing bass line. My copy of this disc is a remaster from EMI records "The Front Line" series and was imported from the UK. This is a good solid roots, dub, and instrumental album for reggae aficionados that like multiple versions battling for the top spot on their hit list.