Roots / Lovers Rock

Review: Although not as celebrated as some of his Jamaican peers, Clive "Azul" Hunte was responsible for producing some of the finest roots reggae to emerge from the island in the 1970s and '80s. Bad Bad Bad is therefore an essential retrospective, which much of the material focusing on his golden period between 1973 and '76. While there are some impressive cuts from big names present - see Junior Murvin's slow-motion reggae-soul cover of Curtis Mayfield's 'Give Me Your Love', the skanking weightiness of I-Roy's 'Flying High' and the classical reggae sweetness of Dennis Brown's 'Love Light' - much of the best material comes from lesser-celebrated artists such as the In Crowd, Pablo Moses, Bonny Gayle and Jam Now Generation. In a word: essential.

Review: On its' original 1981 release, Space Invaders was credited to mixer Scientist, rather than producers Linval Thompson and Mickie 'Roots' Scott. This deluxe, expanded reissue attempts to put the record straight. The first disc offers up a re-mastered version of the original vinyl edition, with the Scientist dubbing out the Channel One Studio recordings of Thompson, Scott, and legendary session players the Roots Radic Band at King Tubby's studio. It remains a near-perfect dub classic, delivering the perfect balance between stripped-back, speaker-shaking riddims and rich Jamaican musicality. Intriguingly, disc two showcases the previously recorded (and released) vocal versions that the Scientist was given to work with.

Review: Around 1980, London-based Bullwackies fan Ed Brennan circulated amongst his friends a homemade cassette of his own favourite Wackies productions. In turn, Lloyd Barnes made his own selection from this Pirate's Choice - adding several debut cuts, but retaining Ed's title and much of his artwork (omitting the barcode which he had snipped from a can of drink!). Like the Coxsone re-appropriation, this makes for a superlative compilation. Lloyd Barnes trumps Ed Brennan throughout, kicking off with a killer one-off rhythm from the vaults, featuring Bobby Sarkie of The Immortals, before teaming Joy Card's 'Black Girl' (originally on 12") with a previously unreleased singjay version by Barrington Spence. Other highlights include Clive Hunt's reading of Wayne Jarrett's 'Darling Your Eyes', Joe 'No Equal Rights In A Babylon', Auxumite's 'Interpretation Of New Sensation' (by Wackies songwriting regular Andrew McCalla), and Sugar Minott singing beautifully over an exclusive horns mix of his 'Sometime Girl' 12". "From over 150 singles and 20 albums these 10 extracts are showing you the quality and range of Jah reggae music", as the cover puts it. Another master-class from Bullwackies country.