‘Another great set, with vocal contributions from mainstay Bim Sherman on a cover of Lloyd & Devon’s Cuss Cuss, and Shara Nelson (just prior to Blue Lines) on a version of Serge Gainsbourg’s Je T’aime. Originally released in 1989 and coinciding with the beginnings of Dub Syndicate as a touring unit.’

‘A follow-up to the Ambience In Dub anthology of the early Dub Syndicate albums, this box-set picks up the story in the late 1980s, with Style Scott coming more to the forefront of the project as bandleader and co-producer, and the group emerging as a live entity, mirroring the trajectory of Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah of labelmates African Head Charge.
‘This was also the period of their greatest popularity, with a series of classic albums that combined the best of Jamaican musicianship and the wild studio experimentation of Adrian Sherwood, resulting in music that appealed to ravers and dreads alike.
‘The four albums from that period — Strike The Balance (1989), Stoned Immaculate (1991), Echomania (1993) and Ital Breakfast (1996) — plus Obscured By Version, a special bonus album Sherwood has concocted out of new productions based on classic Dub Syndicate rhythms.’
With a 32-page booklet.

Munificent survey of Errol Brown’s late-seventies, early-eighties 12” remixes — and Sly & Robbie do-overs — of the glories of the Treasure Isle label, with Sonia Pottinger now at the helm.

Roland Al tearing up Louis Jordan in 1962; plus a tasty, doowop-derived ska shuffle.
Both sides previously unreleased.

The unmissable first outing of this wonderful song; recorded for Sonia Pottinger in the early seventies. A little way different to the all-time-classic Channel One version, but a round-one knockout on its own account.

The great singer loud and clear over a moody live-digital rhythm, laid down at Aquarius in the mid-eighties.

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.

Sweet, heavy lovers, with Perry’s genius touch, from early 1978 — concluding the singer’s illustrious accomplishments at the Black Ark, recently including backing vocals on Chant Down Babylon Kingdom, for Yabby You, Travelling, behind Deborah Keese, and the classic Freedom, under his own name.

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.