Heart-broken, body-rocking, mid-tempo ska. Ace.

Tearaway call-and-response vocal ska, rare and deadly; with a killer Baba Brooks.
Top-notch Japanese presentation.

JING-BANG, n. Also jin-; ging-bang; jabang. A considerable number. Gen. in phr. the hail jin(g)-bang, the whole lot, company, concern, affair. Also used attrib. and contemptuously — a worthless collection or lot (Uls. 1924 W. Lutton Montiaghisms 24, Uls. 1947).
Wgt. 1880 G. Fraser Lowland Lore 172: ‘Ye maun ken that the haill jingbang o’ them’s as Eerish as Rosy Monahan.’ Sc. 1892 Stevenson Wrecker xviii.: ‘He was the only one I ever liket of the hale jing-bang.’ Ayr. 1901 G. Douglas Green Shutters xiv.: ‘We’ve got the jing-bang lot if we’re quick.’

Excellent rock steady from 1966, with nothing much to do with the Lion of Judah; and a lush, tropical Tommy McCook, with nothing much to do with James Bond.

The Blues Buster showing his gospel roots in this superb, soaring version of the Sam Cooke, with support from Bobby Aitken and the Carib Beats.
Backed with some bumptious ska, led by Val Bennett.

Ska classics produced by Ken Khouri (who founded the first recording studio in Jamaica), including deadly unreleased selections.
Murders from the get go — a knockout acoustic version of You Made Me Warm, by The Sharks.

Links was an artists’ cooperative, formed in 1968 by The Gaylads, Ken Boothe, The Melodians, and Delroy Wilson, fed up with getting ripped off by Studio One and co. They did everything themselves — hiring Dynamic / Wirl studios, printing up labels, organising the pressings, and distributing in person to Kingston record shops — in the teeth of peeved obstructiveness from other labels, producers, and radio stations. Many of their 45s were blanks, hand-stamped with BB Seaton’s home address: ‘Links Records, 39 Wildman Street, Phone 24954’.
The backing band was probably Lynn Taitt & The Jets to start, giving way to the Conscious Minds (with Joe White and Ken Boothe on keys), whose instrumental Something New is one of the highlights here, featuring killer guitar and trombone by Harris Seaton and Derrick Hinds.
Links was short-lived; ironically unable to cope with the success of a Melodians’ hit entitled It Comes & Goes.
It’s a fascinating story, and this is top-notch rock steady; the first compilation of the dozen or so Links releases. Scorchers by Conscious Minds, The Melodians, Randall Thaxter, and Ken Boothe — doing his best Otis Redding — steal the show.

Ace.
Chugging, confessional, Chicagoan loveliness from Delroy Williams, Ricky Grant and George Allison.
‘I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid.’

Irresistibly bouncy, pestiferous and nostalgic do-over of the version of One Note Samba/Spanish Flea which Sergio Mendes cut for Herb Alpert, with Lani Hall singing.
Perhaps a shame Homer Simpson wasn’t in Kingston at the time.
The flip-side sets the stage for Lloyd ‘Reggae Feet’ Williams with a quick mashing of the intro to I Can’t Help Myself by the Four Tops into some chords from Rescue Me by Fontella Bass.

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.

Superb, previously unreleased ska group-vocal, with Baba Brooks and co in fine form.

Opportunity knocking once. Mid-tempo doowop-ska. On the flip, the Sneer Towners, hardly a household name themselves.