Ace early Tubbys digi — stripped and moody — with fine, amusing vocals.
Late-eighties Jammys digital roots — with Steelie & Clevie at the controls — following up the classic Hell A Go Pop set. The hits were Running Back To Me and Distant Lover.
Joyous, anthemic, nyabinghi defiance. The masterful Leonard Dillon on song, beautifully backed by Stephen Taylor. Back-weh horns, twinkling hi-hats, perky piano. Yet more Niney genius. Ace, Tubbys-style dub.
Booker Ervin! Mira!
From 1983, the same year as Jamming In The Street, his unmissable collaboration with Sugar Minott. Kicks off with a Queen Of The Minstrel excursion. Drifter is here, Late Night Blues, No More Will I Roam, Yo Yo, Real Rock. Sly & Robbie with the Aggrovators; Bunny Lee at the controls. Full-strength, body-rocking, early-eighties deejaying. It’s obvious why sounds like Black Scorpio and Kilimanjaro favoured him.
Killer lost blaxploitation soundtrack to Calvin Lockhart’s 1974 film fiasco — deep JA funk, rocking lovers, moody dub, punchy Carib jazz, and sweet soul, bubbling together, warmed by the genius of US inspiration like Jimmy Smith, Curtis Mayfield, and The Meters. There’s a deejay version of John Holt’s Same Song, with a red-eyed nod to U-Roy and Scotty from ‘The Scorpion’. Keyboardist Leslie Butler tears up the deadly instrumental originals Funky Nigger, Negril, and Ghetto Funk (which kicked off Darker Than Blue). Boris is especially heartfelt on the acoustic version of Star (which he wrote, and Big Youth covered). Gardiner on bass and Paul Douglas on drums keep it tight as Titus Andronicus; Tommy McCook leads the horns; Sid Bucknor from Studio One is at the controls, inside Channel One.