MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: VARIOUS ARTISTS - REGGAE FROM THE MUSICVAULTZ

A serviceable collection of big hits from JA that doesn't stray too far from the mainstream of reggae, staying away from most of the branches while keeping with the bigger names. So no dub, no dancehall, no lover's rock, nothing overly weird, yet still pretty solid. A safe but unarguable primer then.


Well, the only argument you might have is that the Marley track chosen is a remix of Jamming from a 2013 collection, but really, if you don't have that song already, you'd probably never buy a reggae set. But then the hits come flying. From the heyday, you get Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come, Toots' Pressure Drop, and Junior Murvin's Police & Thieves. Next generation stars include Third World, Gregory Isaacs and Black Uhuru , all popular choices. The British cousins are represented by stronger tracks from Steel Pulse, Aswad and UB40. I usually draw the line at Shaggy's Boombastic, but it would be curmudgeonly of me to argue for it's non-inclusion I suppose.


This is probably way too common for the bigger reggae fan, but if you want something to take someone to the next step after Marley and The Harder They Come soundtrack, this is be a good one. It's not for purists, but would let a newby make the decision to follow more pop tracks by Aswad and the like, or get political with cuts such as Marcus Garvey and Ku Klux Klan.