Been listening to a bunch of reggae lately. Just wondering who out there is a fan. Here's a few that have been getting a lot of play around me lately...

The Congos: Heart of the Congos
The Mighty Diamonds: Right Time
Upsetters: Super Ape
Jimmy Cliff: Struggling Man

and several more....

So, who else likes reggae...what are some of your favorites?

i don't really like reggae like peter tosh and bob marley et al, but i jam out on some rocksteady or dub stuff.

Israel Vibration

Love it. A friend is sending me some Black Uhura who for some odd reason I've never taken the time to seriously listen to.

Steve

can i use this space to recommend jackie mittoo again?

I've been getting into it a bit more, I just picked up some of those great Soul Jazz Studio One compilations and I'm now realizing why reggae is great for smoke outs

i love it, and listen to it quite a bit, mostly at work...

a few favs:

toots & the maytals
dennis brown
mighty diamonds
susan cadogan
heptones
sugar minott
abyssians
silvertones
desmond decker
the viceroys
cool sticky

I kinda burned out on it in college, but going back to it now, I can enjoy it again in small doses. Not an expert on any of these artists, to be sure, but here are some of my favorites:
Bob Marley (of course)
Desmond Dekker (more ska, really, but whatever)
Toots & the Maytalls
Peter Tosh

Again, I'll compliment the choice. I also would mention that he's a great choice for people who wanna listen to some reggae but aren't big fans. I've played him for a couple people who are more into old soul r&b stuff and they still like him. That organ translates across a pretty broad spectrum.

Every year I think I've heard most of the "essential" stuff, and then about two dozen reissues come out that blow me away. Jamaica was really on fire from '66 to '79. It seems like nearly any artist couldn't do wrong, in a way.

I recently filled out my Lee Perry collection and wrote a piece with an annotated discography - Lee "Scratch" Perry: Now Well-Loaded. Check it out.

I'm actually going to Jamaica on Feb. 12. While I'd love to visit landmarks in Kingston and interview some musicians, this trip is all about getting my girlfriend to relax, so it's the beach, drinks, smokes and beach in Negril.

sometimes i feel like i'm the only white man in the world who likes new reggae. (i realize i'm not)

but i don't understand how people can like old reggae, new hip hop and not like new reggae.

Just remember it's a place where every white face is an invitation to robbereeee.

After being thoroughly burned out on Bob Marley's Legend going to a Dirty hippie college I decided to give his full albums a listen and have become a fan. I saw Lee "Scratch" Perry perform in 2000. That guy's seriously out there.

I'be been listening to
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Macka B
Culture
Peter Tosh
Bob Marley

I really like the dub reggae influence in Thievery Corporation's music.

Good point. I'm hit or miss with the newer stuff. I hear it out and about, but rarely buy any.

I did like the last Sizzla record I heard and would like to grab Crazy Caribs meet Mad Professor that I saw just came out.

Any good suggestions for modern reggae?

Just lack of exposure.

mostly i listen to mix cd's that my friend brings me from brooklyn (all my local mix cd guys got shut down)

but a few of my favorite artists

luciano
jr kelly
anthony b
sizzla
bushman
sanchez
beres hammond
morgan herritage

many of my favorites have already been mentioned, but i may i suggest picking up any comp with brentford all-stars? i believe they were just studio musicians that occasionally put together a track, but they were great.

This is a good opportunity to exhume an old CMJ post before it's deleted into oblivion:


Dub
From "Version Therapy" in the February 1995 issue of The Wire.

21 Dub Salute: guaranteed boom shots

1. Herman Chin-Loy * Aquarius Dub (Aquarius) 73 - one CD copy (out of print) available in Australia, but shipping is $17!

Me and Bogdan from the Lab store have a rapport going on about reggae records and dub albums in particular. Being the hungry hungry Romanian record collector that he is, his knowledge and interest knows no bounds and he immediately freaked upon hearing Harry Mudie meets King Tubby Vol 1. Not that unusual, everybody does. But he kept asking me where he could get more shit like that. Now I fancy myself quite a reggae head and sadly, I had to tell him that I didn’t know. To gain full record knowledge, you’ve got to yap it up with other collectors, do the schmooze, make trades, hit up message boards, at least search out those Rough Guide books, but I’ve never been much for that. I’m like a cocoon collector, making up my own classics, my own hits. Happily for me, they coincide with the truth a lot of the time, but is there any reason for me not to be aware of this amazing fucking record? Sure I had kind of heard of it, seen it around on repress, maybe even heard some indie dude call it seminal, I don’t know. In any case Aquarius Dub is really really good on a lot of levels. Reggae fans? It’s a lock. This is one of the first ever dub recordings, the sound is fantastic and full, and they version many classic rhythms here including “Jah Jah Dub(1),” a super heavy affair that preceded the more famous “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” version. Cross-genre hunters and break-fiends? Also a lock. Check out the version of Donny Hathaway’s “The Ghetto” called “Oily(2)” or Dennis Brown’s cover of “It’s Too Late Baby” called “Rest Yourself(3).” I heard they also use bits of “Heavy Duty(4)” on the new Jaylib album, if that’s of interest to you. The whole thing is like this. It might sound a bit sparse at first, but shake it off and let both sides ride a few times. You can only hide from these albums for so long- it’s like being a funk collector and not owning any JBs records. 10 tracks total.

2. Lee Perry * Blackboard Jungle -- reissued as part of Dub Triptych.
3. King Tubby/Bunny Lee * Dub From the Roots (Total Sounds/Moll-Selektra) 75

Now this is a real find. I was browsing through Virgin's fairly large reggae section when I discovered this. I don't usually buy anything becaus they're overpriced, but at $20.99 for 2 discs and instant gratification, it was a steal. I've been looking for these albums since Barrow's article came out in '95 when he ranked them #3 and #5 on his top 21 boom shots. What threw me is that he listed them under Bunny Lee's name, who was the producer. However, the actual album sleeves credit only King Tubby, the engineer, and ultimately the one responsible for the dubs.

Tubby remixed hundreds of songs for Bunny Lee from 1973-1975. Most appeared on B-sides of singles. But these two albums were his first that took the cream of the crop and engineered them specifically to flow on an album. And check this out -- Bunny Lee's house band was none other than The Aggrovators (Robbie Shakespeare, Carlton Barrett, Ossie Herbert, Augustus Pablo and Aston Barrett).

On first listen, I've heard a few cuts before, and they're definitely some of the best dubs, including John Holt's "A Love I Can Feel," "Man Next Door," Cornel Campbell's "Queen Of The Minstrell," and Johnny Clarke's "Rock With Me." The Rosetta Stone of dub indeed. The liner notes claim Tubby was the singular pioneer of dub, first applying the technique in 1968. There are conflicting accounts of this, and though Chin-Loy's Aquarius Dub and Lee Perry's Blackboard Jungle Dub came first in '73, these are essential.

4. Clive Chin * Java Java Dub (Impact) 72 or 74
5. King Tubby/Bunny Lee * The Roots of Dub (Total Sounds/Moll-Selektra) 74
6. Errol Thompson/Joe Gibbs * African Dub All Mighty (Gibbs Record Globe) 75
7. Keith Hudson * Pick A Dub
8. Maurice Wellington * Dub Me Baby/Morwell Unlimited Meet King Tubby's: Dub Me (Morwell/Blood & Fire) 75
9. Augustus Pablo * King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
10. Harry Mudie * Harry Mudie Meets King Tubby In Dub Conference Vol. One (Moodisc) 76 - just picked this up at Dusty Groove. Love the use of strings, no wonder he's the Barry White of dub.
11. Jo Jo Hookim * Vital Dub Strictly Rockers (Well Charge) 76
12. Yabby U * King Tubby's Prophesy Of Dub
13. Tappa Zukie In Dub
14. Augustus Pablo * Africa Must Be Free By 1983 (Rockers International) 79
15. Sonia Pottinger * Treasure Dub Volume One (HighNote) 77
16. Trevor Leggo Douglas * Leggo Dub
17. Prince Jammy * Jammies In Lion Dub Style (Jammy's) 78
18. Clement Dodd * Juk's Incorporated (Forward) 78
19. Michael Campbell * African Anthem Dubwise (Cruise) 79
20. Jah Screw/Ranking Joe * Dangerous Dub (Copasetic) 80
21. Horace Andy * In The Light Dub

More:

Horace Andy * In The Light Dub (Blood & Fire) 77
Glen Brown & King Tubby * Termination Dub 1973-79 (Blood & Fire)
Burning Spear * Garvey's Ghost (Dub)(Mango) 76
Creation Rebel * Historic Moments Volume One 1977-1978 (On-U Sound) 78
Creation Rebel * Historic Moments Volume Two 1979-1980 (On-U Sound) 80
Creation Rebel * Dub From Creation (Hitrun) 77
Dub Syndicate * Pounding System (On-U Sound) 82
Impact All-Stars * Forward The Bass: Dub From Randy's 1972-75 (Blood & Fire)
King Tubby * King Tubby's Special 1973-1976 (Trojan) 89
King Tubby * If Deejay Was Your Trade: The Dreads at King Tubby's 1974-77 (Blood & Fire) 95
King Tubby * Dub Like Dirt 1975-77 (Blood & Fire)
King Tubby * Dub Gone Crazy 1975-1979 (Blood & Fire) 95
King Tubby & Soul Syndicate * Freedom Sounds In Dub 1974-76 (Blood & Fire)
Augustus Pablo * Ital Dub (Trojan) 75
Lee Perry & Upsetters * Heart Of The Dragon (Justice League) 75
Lee Perry * Revolution Dub 1974-1975 (Lagoon) 75
Lee Perry * Kung Fu Meets The Dragon (Justice League) 75
Lee Perry * Upsetter In Dub 1974-1979 (Heartbeat)
Lee Perry * Super Ape (Mango) 76
Prince Jammy * Jammies In Lion Dub Style (Jammy's) 78
Yabby U (Vivian Jackson) * King Tubby's Prophesy of Dub (Blood & Fire) 76
Yabby U (Vivian Jackson) * Beware Dub (Prophets/ROIR) 78

And for newer stuff:

Rhythm & Sound with Tikiman * Showcase (Burial Mix)
Massive Attack v. Mad Professor * No Protection (Circa)

Some more favorite reggae albums that aren't produced by Lee Perry:

Jimmy Cliff * Wonderful World, Beautiful People 69
Horace Andy * Skylarking 70
Toots & the Maytals * Monkey Man/From The Roots 70
Toots & The Maytals * Stoot Slatyam 71
Jimmy Cliff * The Harder They Come 72
Horace Andy * You Are My Angel 73
Keith Hudson * Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood 73
Bob Marley & The Wailers * Catch A Fire 73
Larry Marshall * Presenting Larry Marshall (Heartbeat) 73
Toots & the Maytals * Funky Kingston/In The Dark 73
Bob Marley & the Wailers * Natty Dread 74
Burning Spear * Marcus Garvey 75
Keith Hudson * Torch Of Freedom 75
Jacob Miller * Who Say Jah No Dread 75
Hugh Mundell * Africa Must Be Free By 1983 75
Johnny Clarke * Rockers Time Now 76
Gladiators * Trench Town Mix Up 76
Bunny Wailer * Blackheart Man 76
Mighty Diamonds * The Right Time 76
Horace Andy * In The Light 76
Toots & The Maytals * Reggae Got Soul 76
Dennis Brown * Joseph's Coat Of Many Colours 77
Culture * Two Sevens Clash 77
Augustus Pablo * East of the River Nile 77
The Royals * Pick Up The Pieces 77
Johnny Clarke * Dreader Dread 76-79
The Chantells * Children Of Jah 77-79
Cornell Campbell * I Shall Not Remove 75-80
The Twinkle Brothers * Countrymen 80

While reading Lloyd Bradley's This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaican Music (original UK title, Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King) on vacation, I made a list of more early ska/rocksteady goodies to get. I ordered most of them from Alldirect when I got back:

Horace Andy * Feel Good All Over: Anthology 1970-1976 (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Ken Boothe * Everything I Own: The Best of Ken Boothe (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Stranger Cole * Bangarang: The Best of Stranger Cole 1962-1972 (Trojan/Sanctuary)Desmond Dekker * Rudy Got Soul: The Complete Early Years 1963-1968 (Trojan/Sanctuary_
Clancy Eccles * Fatty Fatty: 1967-1970 (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Alton Ellis * Soul Groover (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Justin Hinds & the Dominoes * Ska Uprising (Trojan/Sanctuary) 1963-1971
John Holt * The Tide Is High: Anthology 1962-1979 (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Derrick Morgan * Moon Hop: Best of the Early Years 1960-69 (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Slim Smith & the Uniques * The Best of the Uniques 1967-1969 (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Delroy Wilson * Once Upon a Time: The Best of Delroy Wilson 1967-1974 (Trojan/Sanctuary)

www.roots-archives.com
"The purpose of this website is to bring you a comprehensive and searchable database of Jamaican Roots Reggae Albums from 1970 to 1985. This site is a completely free source of information for all reggae lovers and collectors"

www.imanselection.com
This guy is a madman, with the deepest reggae collection I've ever seen. He has a show that's broadcast on the net at WHPK.

I listen to enjoy some Luciano, Sizzla and other newer artists, but as a whole there's really no comparison of the current scene with the talent and creativity and sheer massive amount of great music that was cranked out in the late 60s thru 70s. Always looking for recommendations though.

i like except for all the dirty hippies it brings out

people say that for just about any genre of music (and it's kinda true)
it seems like you are listening to some of my favorites, so i can't tell you much more than you already know.

i like some of the afro-pop/reggae best - stuff like alpha blondie and lucky dube are my favorites. steel pulse, aswad, etc. are also fantastic.

I listen to entirely too much reggae. Two favorites (though both were already mentioned I believe therefore I guess I'm not really contributing anything):

Augustus Pablo: As far as I'm concerned the man is the greatest melodica player of all time. He's one of the few less dancehall oriented types that still manages to somehow convey a subtle (very subtle actually) sense of urgency. Favorite Track: Burning Drums

Yellowman: There's no stopping this man. One of the best dancehall flows of all time. Obviously a legend in his own right and I will even go out on a limb and say that to an extent he opened the door for the little bit of success artists such as Buju Banton, Capleton, and Eek-A-Mouse (all three extremely good in their own right) have achieved here in the US.

Hee hee...Give 'Em Enough Radcliffe.



I loves the reggae, but I don't consider myself an expert on it or anything. Personally, the dubbier the better.