Rudie gone soft. Irresistible love songs — with simmering brass, splashing cymbals on the A; classy sax on the flip.

Gripping, up-in-your-face account of the story of Judas. Full-on Keith Hudson roots.
And an unmissable nugget of flute-led JA funk, by the Soul Syndicate, on the flip.

Hymning the power of reggae, over a re-licked, surging Conquering Lion, with worrisome Tubbys bass. The dub is here.

Double helpings of riotous, classic dancehall recorded for Jah Thomas’s Midnight Rock label, but previously only issued as a promotional white label. The rhythms are by the Roots Radics, at Channel One. One side each for the deejays, brandishing lyrical cutlasses fit to kill. Early days for Super Cat, but his irresistible rise is already up in your face, plain as day.

From the Black Ark; a local hit in 1975. Clarke’s tale has the hapless, resilient innocence of Buster Keaton. Nice, basic melodica. The production is credited to Mike Johnson — who also stumped up for I-Roy sessions at the Ark around this time — but the rhythm and dub are Upsetters through and through.

Ace 1978 set voiced at King Tubby’s and mixed by Prince Jammy, with Trinity’s younger brother Clint deejaying over tough Aggrovators rhythms like African Roots and Stars, including an excursion on Black Uhuru’s Eden Out There.

‘Yes we nice, yes we nice… Hold them, music, hold them, yes, we control them… no we nah go let them stray.’ Dancehall manners — on the rhythm Delgado used for Rasta People — as clinically murderous as all-time EJ hits for Jammys like Rock Them One By One and Turn Up The Heat.

Rugged 1974 dub LP replete with Upsetters and Tubby vibes, including the killer Macca Bee, and a nice vocal-with-deejay Love Me With All Your Heart, and featuring fine fleet flute froughout.

Sweet, hymnal, one-away two-parter from Elijah, out in the seventies on the New York label Waricka and in the UK on Ackee. KC White has a version, too; also available from Digikiller.

Stunning. Crucial Studio One.
Heavy, heavy, heavy roots nightmare about centuries of African enslavement and colonial exploitation by the British, and their mutation post-independence into the new JA ruling class, like a home-grown zombie.
The dub is a total knockout, too.
Killer record.

The debut LP by the godfather of rocksteady, from 1967; choca with many of his signature recordings. Stone-classic songs over cornerstone rhythms, like I’m Still In Love With You, I’m Just A Guy, and Get Ready.
Crucial bunny.