A nice cardboard sleeve with a cool design! The idea is 12 tracks gathered under the title "Essential Reggae Tunes", which is not easy, but the challenge is met without difficulty. We will forget the essential-compilation angle and dwell on the selection. At first glance, it runs through all periods and different styles. From 1968 rocksteady to 2003 dancehall. So it depends on taste, everyone will surely find something to enjoy and it is a chance to rediscover or discover some big reggae tunes. The tracks are strung together and come from the best catalogues: Blood & Fire, Trojan Records, Greensleeves Records, Irie Ites...
The roots classics are well chosen, tracks like "Roots & Culture" by Mikey Dread with its conquering horns or Ken Boothe's "Can't you see" are always a pleasure. The bouncing Give Praises riddim shows us a Sizzla full of restraint and subtlety with a measured delivery, a little less rapid than usual. Turbulence opens the selection and adds his new roots touch with "Girlfriend", a lovesong without much interest in the lyrics. Far too little known, Ras Mc Bean, singjay from French Guiana, lays down a brand new "Pick up and leave", a one drop served with an astonishing voice, though the female backing vocals are less well felt. Dennis Brown represents roots singing with the excellent "Want to be no general" as does the vocal trio the Abyssinians, all harmonies on "South African enlistment", bringing us back, in the middle of the selection, to the origins of roots reggae, while Ken Boothe's 1968 rocksteady version is still very influenced by American soul. Other important artists of the more mystical roots, The Congos with "Bring the Mackaback". Sandwiched between The Congos and Ken Boothe we find a version recorded at Sly & Robbie's: "Trouble you a trouble me" by Ini Kamoze, a brand new deejay at the time of this 1983 recording. Also worth noting is the hip hop-inspired digital reggae with Playgroup and Shinehead on "50 ways to leave your lover", which has more the air of a summer hit than of an "essential reggae tune". There is also a 1994 mix, showing another side of reggae on Dawn Penn's "No, no, no", over which Bounty Killer, Dennis Brown and Ken Boothe are laid. A chance to listen to or relisten to a great moment of reggae with the only real hit Dawn Penn will ever have. Finally, note the recent "Peaceful Valley" by Sugar Minott, a precise one drop against a backdrop of melodica, from his album "Leave out a Babylon" released on Zenah Music.
So it is a selection of 12 reggae tracks, and it is very hard to pick 12 pieces from almost 40 years of musical creativity! So this record, made in France and released by Discograph, contains good reggae but it is very difficult to give an opinion as the tracks differ so much from one another... it is in no way representative of a history of reggae but that was not the aim. However, you will find good sound and a few interesting figures who are far too neglected, such as Ras Mc Bean or Mikey Dread. A varied record then... a variety that is its strength but at the same time its weakness. In a historical context as complex and precise as that of reggae, it is always difficult to take the side roads.... good sound anyway!
