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.

Reggae Bloodlines : Stephen Davis and Peter Simon

This is a nice magazine sized 8x11 softback book by Stephen Davis and Peter Simon originally from 1977.  My copy is a De Capo Press reissue from 1992 with the updated cover art you see to your left.  This "story" starts out as a typical American journalist goes in search of insight to the reggae music scene witch is beginning it's stretch across the popular music landscape.  Our journalist author and his photographer friend quickly get more than they bargained for but nothing they are ready to handle.  Meeting one local after another, they seem to be passed of on to all sorts of genuine Jamaican characters who show them every view of the current life situation on the island.  Politics, economics, colonial slavery and history,the ganja trade, and tourism are just some of the areas of interest that are touched upon.  Our authors fearlessly delve in to the different neighborhoods and hill side pit stops to retrieve endlessly entertaining interviews with local legends and shanty town historians.  This book can be a nice quick read with only about 224 pages and many black and white photos to guide you along the journey in to seventies Jamaica.  Peter Simon has written about ten books on popular music including : Hammer of the Gods (The Led Zeppelin Saga) and Reggae International (Bob Marley).  I haven't read any of his other publications, but look forward to checking out Hammer of the Gods.

Prison Oval Rock : Barrington Levy

This is a 10 track Barrington album originally released by Volcano in 1984, a couple years after his massive breakout in the years of '79 through '80 wich gave us such great albums as Shaolin Temple, Englishman, Robin Hood, and Bounty Hunter.  Junjo Lawes took the production leed on this album, bringing the Roots Radics in to back Levy during the sessions at Channel One and Harry J's in Kingston.  Sylvan Morris and Scientist sat at the boards and earned the mixing engineer credits on this one.  It's a pretty solid album - my cd copy was released by VP in about 1992 and  the sound quality is excellent.  It leads off with the title track, followed by the dub version.  Out of the remaining eight tracks I really enjoyed #4 (Good Loving) and the very catchy #3 (You Say You Love Me).  Along with the classic Barrington Levy style and voice inflections, you might hear familiar Junjo rythms (a good example is #8 Hammer - wich shares beats with Daweh Congo's Human Rights & Justice). This is a nice albums with it's sweet spots, but no real need to add it to your top notch group of discs unless you are a true Barrington Levy aficianado.

Jacob Miller & The Inner Circle Band & Augustus Pablo : Culture Press

This disc should be considered a compilation of the seventies Jacob Miller with The Inner Circle Band.  It was a CD release from Culture Press in 1992 and again in 1998.  With fifteen tracks total, most of them are selections featuring the talents of Augustus Pablo as musician and/or producer.  Tommy Cowan is labeled with producer credits as well.  Pablo's contributions along with the brilliance of Inner Circle front man Jacob Miller make this a nice compilation disc to feature in your collection.  The liner notes are simple ; only listing the musicians, tracks names, and durations.  There's a nice combination of Miller vocal tracks and Pablo melodica versions as alternate tracks on some of the classics like : track #3 & #4 (Ala-ala-bama / Eli's Move) and tracks #7 & #8 (Curly Locks / Curly Locks Dub).  The track I enjoy the most on this one is track #1 (Curfew), a great version of the Marley sung tune.  All together this disc serves as a pretty good seventies roots compilation, although some of the tracks might cross over on other discs you have by these artists.

Legalize It : Peter Tosh

This is of course one of the most well known reggae albums of all time thanks to the Bob Marley / Peter Tosh connection via the Wailers that has helped leaked the more poignant and sometimes militant vocals of Peter Tosh in to the main stream. The title  track serves not only as an anthem for the cause of ganja decriminalization, but also a love song and testimonial to the benefits of the herb on not only ones body for certain ailments, but for the psyche of the mind as well.  This album was Tosh's first solo experience and you can hear all the built up enthusiasm in his energetic delivery of songs like "Ketchy Shuby / Track 7" and "Brand New Second Hand / Track 9".  My copy of this disc is the CBS Collector's Choice series of classic seventies releases strictly based on the original 1976 LP.  Tosh followed with releasing "Equal Rights" in 1977, the two first solo sets of his career seem to help Tosh find his true direction and message in the reggae world.  "Legalize It" was recorded at Randy's and Treasure Isle in Kingston, JA and features musicians such as Robbie Shakespeare, Carlton & Aston "Familyman" Barrett.

Abraham VP Various Artists Compilation : Scientist, Wailing Soul, Wayne Wade, Barrington Levy

This is a great compilation of seventies roots from the Abraham / Clocktower group out of Ontario, Canada.  There's 14 tracks total on this disc including cuts by Barrington Levy, Sammy Dread, Linval Thompson, and others.  This disc keeps it going throughout by supplying a good mix of downbeat - classic roots - and chant style DJ.  The highlights of this set are track #6 Rudy Say Him Bad (Wailing Soul), #10 Poor & Humble (Wayne Wade), and numbers #6 and #14 which are both dub tracks by Scientist.  I don't really know if this disc has an official name or not - the front says "Various Artist" and then simply shows a few images of some our reggae favorites.  I really didn't know that this disc was the highest of quality by it's appearance.  Looks can be deceiving sometime.

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.

Jah Fire : Hugh Mundell

This Hugh Mundell disc is from Black Arrow Records.  The original material on this album was recorded in and released in 1980 by Live & Love Records.  It has eleven tracks total and some of the highlights are #5 (Million Miles), #8 (Blacksheep), and the title track #2 (Jah Fire).  Other noteable songs on this disc are #9 (Million Dub) version of Million Miles, #10 (King Pablo) dub version of King of Israel, and the now classic #11 ( Pablo in Moonlight).  Tracks 9, 10, and 11 are extras only found on the Black Arrow CD, released in 2002.  Producer is noted as King Jammy's ; featuring Lacksley Castel and Augustus Pablo.  And of course these rythms were layed down by some master musicians like : Santa, Horsemouth, Sly, Robbie, Bobby Ellis, Deadley Headley, 'Im Brooks, Bingy Bunny, and more.  This is an outstanding musical effort coming hot off the heels of 1978's "Africa Must be Free by 1983", the legendary album that gained Hugh Mundell his noteriety.  Self-titled "Mundell" came afterward in 1982, and if you've got all three of these albums, you've got the most important cross-section of Hugh Mundell's work.

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.

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.

Harder than the Best - Marcus Garvey / Garvey's Ghost : Burning Spear

These are two great albums that represent a great cross-section of Burning Spear Material.  With Garvey and Garvey's Ghost, you get the heart of the message of Burning Spears music.  Harder Than the Best was a short order compilation of sorts representing material from '75-'77 with eleven tracks total.  Originally released on LP in 1979 by Island and then again in 2000 on CD.  These two discs share quite a few cross-over tracks including : The Invasion, Marcus Garvey, and Slavery Days.  This disc has one of my favorite Burning Spear tracks "Man in the Hills".
Burning Spear 100th Anniversary is really the way to go, it includes both the Marcus Garvey & Garvey's Ghost (dub) albums.  This was also an Island release CD.  The Garvey's Ghost dub set is a nice instrumental dub with out too much effects.  This material was originally recorded in '76 and fits in with the other mid seventies tracks from Harder Than the Best.  You get a good twenty tracks total on the 100th Anniversary, including the killer dub "Farther East of Jack".  The music found on these two discs is a decent portion of the great seventies catalog that Burning Spear has presented to us and this time frame is were his most famous work is from. 

Shaolin Temple : Barrington Levy

Barrington Levy's Shaolin Temple is a great roots album from the Auralux label (CD) released in 2006 and the original LP release from Jah Guidance in 1979.  The CD release has 14 tracks with four extended tracks and a super-bonus of Jah Thomas / Lawes Rockers Version of Shaolin Temple.  It's a killer dub instrumental of the humbling title track.  This is probably the second best Barrington Levy (Non-Compilation) album only bowing to English Man.  Barrington displays the same vocal prowess executed in English Man and the Producer Junjo puts together the driven crew of experts that pushed this album out, including: Mixing Engineer Scientist and Backing Band  Roots Radics.  You'll hear many familiar Junjo rhythms, used by others such as Daweh Congo.  Track twelve shares the beat with Daweh's killer track Human Rights & Justice.  The best tracks on this fully outstanding album are track #3 (Bounty Hunter w/ an outstanding intro), and numbers #13 & #14 which are both extended version of the title track Shaolin Temple.  Another good source to find other versions of many of these tracks is the Roots Radics Dub Fi Junjo disc, a dub tribute to the late Junjo Lawes.