Freddie in his heyday like this was one of the greatest singers in reggae history.
He’s in soaring, inspirational form here, riding a hard-as-nails Niney rhythm.
The organ-led dub is dazzling. Mark Ernestus from Rhythm & Sound recently opened a set with one of its incarnations, at the already-legendary Open Ground club in Wuppertal.
Both sides, classics.

A less familiar version of one his best songs. Mournful, hurting, cautionary, super-soulful as ever.

A deadly fleet of Studio One sevens, and one almighty ten-inch, swooping in from the Far East.

First time on 45 for this excursion on the heavy Roots Radics rhythm used for Barrington Levy’s Englishman.

This is ace.
Sweet harmonies; a majestic, more-ish rhythm, with a touch of the natural mystic. A lover’s open-hearted overture without the usual screwface braggadocio: ‘Me look like a lion but me humble like a lamb.’
An under-stated classic by the Indian-Jamaican Silpatt brothers.

With McCoy Tyner, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, in 1963.
‘Classic Vinyl.’

Drawn from his six monumental singles for the Philips, Amha and Yared labels between 1970-73, revolutionising traditional Eritrean music via the innovations of amplified kirar, electric guitar and horns. Thick, deep declarations and considerations of love over a mixture of sombre and joyous tunes (with the hand-clapped beat often shifting into double-time near the end).
Co-released with Mitmitta Musika in Addis Ababa; handsomely presented in a tip-on sleeve, with extensive liner notes, translations and exclusive photos.
Fab.

Not a best-of compilation, this is the great singer’s fine fourth LP, squaring up to Roots in 1977, with the Revolutionaries.