Terrific excursion on the great Sleepy/Santic/Rockers Problems rhythm, by the Maytones’ Vernon Buckley, with a knockout dub.
Pure vibes. Bim.

Ace Barrington, from the Englishman sessions; with a concussive Scientist dub.

Superb, under-the-radar, late-seventies roots. Beautifully sung, punchy, serious-minded; but under-stated and natural.
‘The world is getting dread… dreader dread… so stand up, and look up… for the time is so hard… harder times to come.’
Crucial bunny.

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.

Tougher-than-tough instrumental by the Links house-band, featuring Joe White and Ken Boothe on keys, and killer guitar and trombone by Harris Seaton and Derrick Hinds. Same circle of heaven as tunes like Sidewalk Doctor and Tight Spot. Something new, ushering rocksteady out the door, into the past.

Classic lonely-lover rocksteady, led by Tony Brevett, with the group on the rebound from Treasure Isle. A young Trinity rides out on the flip.

Killer UK lovers. Jeniffer Redman at the mic; Jah Bunny at the controls. Bubbler worries.

Jubilant eighties cumbia from Peru. Scorcher.

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

Blazing start and great delivery, but rather treading water over killer late-80s digi.
Same vintage as his massive Dangerous hit for Redman. Not to mention the more voluble Don’t Touch The Crack by Dignitary Stylish.
Zinging with raw dubplate-style presence, like the other two 45s on this rhythm.

Characteristically masterful singjaying; duetting with himself, for added dancehall vibes. The message calls for self-respect to be tempered by humility… probably a bit rich coming from KK. Sick rhythm.

Hurting, heartfelt sufferers about youth unemployment in hard times.
Our favourite of these three new Jah Lifes from Digikiller.
All three run the same ruff digi rhythm, stripped and venomous on the flip.
All three are previously unreleased.

‘It’s not of my own will to idle on a corner.’

Guitarist Willie ‘Junei’ Lee spent the late-seventies touring with with Albert King, Curtis Mayfield, and The Emotions, before returning home to Gary, Indiana, to focus on his own sound. ‘The only artists I listened to was Hendrix and Santana,’ he recalls.
‘The emissions coming from his home studio were entirely different, however, as Let’s Ride channels the Euro sensibilities of Kraftwerk or Italo over virtuosic guitar. ‘I just didn’t want to sound like anyone else.’
‘Let’s Ride anticipated Chicago house by a few years. Pressed in minuscule numbers in 1987 on Pharaohs Records, the 45 never connected with the nearby scenes in Chicago and Detroit where it might have found purchase in fertile soils. Decades later, though, it found new life as the bed for Kaytranada’s Scared To Death.’