Best Reagae CD ?

I just happened to notice your note on the post just above that you like the older Jamaican music and thought I might note that you might look for recordings being put out by the Studio One label. These are collections of vintage recordings from Studio One, one of the most influential Jamaican studios of the '60's, run by a man named Clement S. Dodd. I've seen quite a few interesting collections of this stuff out there by folks like Horace Andy, Ernest Ranglin, early Burning Spear, Delroy Wilson, etc. and even own a couple that are quite nice. The Trojan label seems to do a good job at keeping that era of Jamaican music alive as well and has numerous box sets that would probably serve as good additions to any collection.

Corina
A lot of new listeners get thrown into reggae during it's various timelines. Some only know(Like)Marley, some the various Jamaican/U.S collborations. The old stuff sounds old and are definately forgettable except for a few: Pressure Drop(Toots and the Maytals), 007(Desmond Dekker) etc. Tere was a band from England called the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra(RPO) that did a Marley album... Fantastic! All classical muscians. Sadly, it's no longer in print but i have it on DAT and could send you a tape. A friend of mine in Phoenix has the CD but won't give it to me(He's probably the only one in the U.S. that has this). We were both stationed in Japan in the early 90's. Japan is a hotbed for reggae. Outside of Jamaica and England it's the next biggest market. I have some Japanese reggae that is not available here too! Here are some tips: Any artist with a military rank in his name does Dancehall ie: General Degree, Admiral Bailey, Lieutenant Stichie. Anyone using "Banton" with their name does a dancehall style called "Slackness" where they talk alot about how bad they are and guns ie: Mega Banton, Buju Banton(The original Banton) etc. If you want, send me some blank tapes and i'll steer you down one of the MANY paths to enlightenment. You can click onto www.ras.com to give you some direction. If you find something you like email me and i'll tell you if they're any good. Incidently, my username was taken from a reggae club in Tokyo that charged $50 to get in WITH a date. No date, No entry.

While Bob Marley will always be my faverite, I suggest copilations as you can sample different artists work without buying a lot of cds (or lps) that only contain one song you like. The Real Authentic Sample (RAScd3301, Heartbeat Reggae Now! (cd HB AN 13), and First Family of Reggea (Shanachie 9100) are three old favs of mine.Its interesting to obrerve all the pop and rock that has Reggae influences, from Culture Club, the Police, 10cc, Steely Dan, Rush, Eagles, Rickie Lee Jones .... It never occured to lots of my friends that Eric Claptons "I Shot the Sheriff" was a Bob Marley song, much less Reggea (of sorts).
I saw Ini Kamoze (sp?) before his "Hotstepper" fame and Statement" was great, but out of print now. Check out the old stuff, its fun. PS what is "Christafari"? Rastafari is a far cry from Christian Beliefs.
Gotta go, havnt listened to Reggae in a while, lets see, Heatbeat first ....

Intesting timing on this thread... the last thing I played late last night -- well, early this morning -- was "Exodus". I hadn't listened for a while and forgot just how good this piece of work is. As good as anything in any genre. Also, check out Yellow Man's "Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt". And, the soundtrack to "The Harder They Come". And, the film, too. Unfortunately, almost all of my really good stuff is on LP and I am sadly between tt's for the time being.

Hi, Hotcorocket. I've wondered about your user name. Is there a Reggae connection, or is it romanji for Hot Croquet (nihon style of course)?