Everton is compellingly beside himself, over a dazzling, bare-bones, digi do-over of the rocksteady classic Tonight.
Previously unreleased.
Fire.

A perfect nugget of vintage digi. Chambers’ expert sing-jaying snags your attention — an inner city blues, with premonitions of ICE — over a tight, buoyant rhythm. Paired with its tough dub, for the first time.

Lloyd Forest, Tommy Thomas and Samuel Bramwell at Joe Gibbs.

Carlton Barrett at the Black Ark in 1975, on a spare Upsetters rhythm, with Pablo playing clavinet. Lovely stuff.

Ace, earnest cover of the Barry White killer. Tight backing by the Dragonaires, with horns in full effect.

Good grief, it’s actually The Chi-Lites, on a John John update of Sleng Teng.

Chinafrica was Wayne Chin’s next project, after his group Creole disbanded in the early-eighties.
Two shark-attack do-overs of foundational tunes, startlingly different: a deadly, sick, atmospheric Declaration Of Rights, with shades of Wackies; and a sprightly, in-your-face, digi Baba Boom Time, originally stepping out on Thunderbolt in 1987.

‘Politics have failed.’
Stone-classic Bullwackies (as excursioned by Rhythm & Sound for Burial Mix), sensationally throwing in two unreleased dubs, newly extracted from the master reels. Both are equally unmissable but quite different, with contrasting effects: the second dub adds ninety seconds, including whip-dem spring reverb. Drawn from the Selective Showcase LP, the vocal mix is more open and dubwise than the Sing & Shout LP offering, with less keyboards.
Asked whether it should be mash or march, after some pondering Bullwackies replied: ‘That’s a good question.’

A fresh iteration of the mid-eighties LP (itself a compilation of recordings from the previous five years or so), replacing two tracks — Dancing In The Rain and All Things — with their full 12” versions.
This is a deeply personable, expert, limber blend of roots and lovers, kicking off with an exclusive mix of the deadly Mash Down Babylon; dropping classic, lush, spaced-out Wackies dub science to close; and taking in reworkings of Lickshot, Billie Jean and The Righteous Flames’ I Was Born To Be Loved, along the route.
The moniker ‘Chosen Brothers’ is Lloyd Barnes’ spiritual way of sharing the credit for his solo projects. “Anyone in the studio at the time could be a Chosen Brother,” he says. In this case a full crew includes Sugar Minott and Prince Douglas at the desk; Jah Batta, Milton Henry, Wayne Jarrett and Junior Delahaye all on backing vocals; and such dream-team Bullwackies instrumentalists as Clive Hunt, Jerry Johnson, Fabian Cooke and Ras Menelik.

Ace version of The Stylistics’ smash.

A worthy take on the Betty Wright classic, with funky drums and bass, rocking brass and jazzy flute. The guitarist gets his freak on, pon flip.

Cream-of-the-crop Island Soul, produced by Tony Robinson for TR Groove Master, featuring beautifully crafted covers of The Impressions, Betty Wright, Kool & The Gang, The Moments, Smokey Robinson, The Stylistics…