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Killer lost blaxploitation soundtrack to Calvin Lockhart’s 1974 film fiasco — deep JA funk, rocking lovers, moody dub, punchy Carib jazz, and sweet soul, bubbling together, warmed by the genius of US inspiration like Jimmy Smith, Curtis Mayfield, and The Meters. There’s a deejay version of John Holt’s Same Song, with a red-eyed nod to U-Roy and Scotty from ‘The Scorpion’. Keyboardist Leslie Butler tears up the deadly instrumental originals Funky Nigger, Negril, and Ghetto Funk (which kicked off Darker Than Blue). Boris is especially heartfelt on the acoustic version of Star (which he wrote, and Big Youth covered). Gardiner on bass and Paul Douglas on drums keep it tight as Titus Andronicus; Tommy McCook leads the horns; Sid Bucknor from Studio One is at the controls, inside Channel One.

Superb rock steady, from the dark end of the street. Recorded for Sonia Pottinger, on the eve of Delano Stewart’s leaving the group to join Lee Perry. So nice The Heptones did it twice.

Sweet, soaring, rocksteady courtship. BB Seaton, Delano Stewart and Maurice Roberts in top form. Plus a Ken Boothe scorcher — plangent, vocally idiosyncratic, stoic — masterfully channelling Otis.

Perfectly irresistible, bumptious girl-pop from Judy Mowatt’s group.

Deadly, hip-hop-inflected, soundboy version of Skylarking. Nasty bass.

Ace, rampaging digi.

Two fine sides of expert, Curtis-inflected soul-reggae.

A mystical roots gem by the vocal group More Relation, founded in New York in 1977. They were one short on the day of the recording, so they renamed themselves for this release only.
Stripped-back, ecstatic, and hypnotic, in the manner of bare-bones Upsetters, by way of Bullwackies. The singing is bathed in the light of Bob Marley and the I Threes. The dub is casually killer. We could listen to it for hours.