Life Style – Barrington Levy (1983)

“Originally released in 1983 ‘Life Style’ is probably the most sought after and one of the best Roots Reggae albums by Barrington Levy. Born in 1964 Barrington Levy started his career at the age of 15.He became famous early with his hits produced by Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes on the ‘Roots Radics’ Riddims. Recorded at Channel One, Arranged & Produced by Alvin ‘GG’s’ Ranglin ‘Life Style’ is reissued on vinyl for the first time.”
Sounds of the Universe
Barrington Levy
YouTube: Barrington Levy’s Life Style (1983 Full Album)

Leroy Smart

“A master of love songs and roots material, Leroy Smart has been on the reggae scene since the early ’70s. He was raised in Kingston’s Alpha Catholic Boys Home and began recording in the early ’70s. Smart worked with such producers as Gussie Clarke, Joe Joe Hookin, and Bunny Lee while gaining fame for a flamboyant performance style, exceptionally anguished delivery, and penetrating vocal manner. Smart‘s smashing voice often seemed about to collapse from anxiety and earnestness mid-song. He has continued to maintain his popularity, never scoring any crossover or international hits, but retaining his pull with the notoriously fickle Jamaican audience.”
allmusic
YouTube: Pride And Ambition b/w Version, Badness Don’t Pay b/w Version. The Fittest Shall Survive + Dub. LEROY SMART + THE WAILERS – Mother Liza + version, Wreck Up My Life

I Roy – Trust No Shadow After Dark (1979)

“The late, great I Roy will forever be remembered for his phenomenal work for producers like Gussie Clarke, Lee Perry and Bunny Lee. Or his association with the Channel One studio. Or his famous feuds with Prince Jazzbo, which were recorded and released in a series of very entertaining records. Or maybe even for the tragic end of his life: when I Roy left this world he was suffering from ill health, was homeless and had just found out his son was killed in prison. Being the legend he was, all material recorded by the man is definitely worth checking out, but in all fairness: his greatest work was captured by other producers and he won’t be remembered for his output for Joe Gibbs. I Roy didn’t record much for Joe to begin with, a few good tunes here and there and an album produced by Bunny Lee in 1979 (which is pretty good, Johnny Clarke sings the melody parts) and that’s it. That said, this recording from 1975 is quite a gem. I Roy sounds upbeat and seems well at home riding the awkward stepping riddim, which updates the Meditations’ ‘Woman is like a shadow.’ Laughing, growling and toasting his way through the track, this makes for one of the finer obscure I Roy records out there. It’s one of those overlooked recordings that turn out a catch when you find it and makes you wonder why it isn’t featured on more compilations out there. In the case of I Roy the answer to that question might be because his back-catalogue of hits is just too large and this isn’t one of them. Don’t let that bother you, though. It makes it all the more worthwhile to track this 7 inch down. …”
Pressure Beat (Audio)
YouTube: Trust No Shadow After Dark

Hugh Mundell ‎- Tell I A Lie / Jah Music (1982)

“… For his next album, Mundell abandons the Rockers sound and vibe altogether, choosing instead to record with producer Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes and the mighty Roots Radics band at Channel One. Junjo Lawes rules the sound system circuit in the early ’80s, with a huge militant sound laid down by the Roots Radics. Lawes and the Radics are on a mission: to take the popular roots reggae sound, speed it up and play it harder. No apologies. Harder. Faster. Stronger. Lawes’ incendiary sound launches a new generation of toasters straight to the top of the charts. Unfortunately, this musical shift is accompanied by a thematic change as well, as the lyrics become less serious, less impactful, and at times border on ridiculous. Many roots artists are not willing, or are not able to adapt to this revolution in sound, however, Mundell is ready, willing, and able. …”
“GREAT TRIBULATION”: The Life and Times of Hugh Mundell
YouTube: Tell I A Lie / Jah Music

Uplifters – Gallas Trap (1978)

“But while we’re at it, we have to round it out with another gem from the Narrows catalog, the haunting “Gallas Trap” by Uplifters. A rare one released only on 12″ in Brooklyn from Narrows’ former Linden Blvd HQ, it’s more killer early 80s sound laid down at Channel 1, back out now on a 7-inch.”
Reggae Fever

“Blindfolded, leading out to the gallows trap
Never know the minute nor the hour
The last drip of blood will drop
Blindfolded, leading out to the gallows trap
Never know when, no, no
Brutality will ever stop

Some wicked think they are racing for the top
And I know them haffi get a drop
Some are climbing up a sipple wall
And I know them come to get a fall

Majority down and they fear no fall
Majority down and I open each them to Jah call

Blindfolded, leading out to the gallows trap
Never know the minute nor the hour
The last drip of blood will drop
Blindfolded, leading out to the gallows trap
Never know when, no, no
Brutality will ever stop

Some wicked think they are racing for the top
And I know them haffi get a drop
Some are climbing up a sipple wall
And I know them come to get a fall

Majority down and they fear no fall
Majority down and I open each them to Jah call

Blindfolded, leading out to the gallows trap
Never know the minute nor the hour
The last drip of blood will drop
Blindfolded, leading out to the gallows trap
Never know when, no, no
Brutality will ever stop

Never know when, no, no
Brutality will ever stop
Cah when brutality will ever stop
It down to the drop
When brutality will ever stop…”
Jah Lyrics

Discogs

YouTube: Gallas Trap/Bad Boy

Lacksley Castell – Morning Glory (1982)

“Classic 1982 set from the late lamented youth singer Lacksley Castell produced by Robert Palmer for Negus Roots, recorded at Tuff Gong and Channel One with members of The Revolutionaries and We The People and recently digitally mixed and mastered at Mafia & Fluxy by Gussie P. Features the classic roots anthem Mr. Government Man.”
Dub Vendor
Discogs
YouTube: Morning Glory | 12″ Negus Roots 1982 (Full Album)

Jamaiel Shabaka – I Am That I Am (1986)

“It was a record. It’s always a record. A few months ago, while on a visit to the best unsung record shop in Los Angeles, Mono Records, owner John pulled an intriguing LP off his oh-so-coveted shelf of not-yet-priced acquisitions. He wanted to show me a reggae record he didn’t know anything about, lost—but not so lost, as I would soon discover—in a huge collection of radical jazz he had just purchased. Credited to one Jamaiel Shabaka, it sounded both heavy and definitely different. Its intricate artwork read Land of the Rising Sun, and its back-sleeve notes only added to the mystery: Recorded and mixed at studios such as Hit City West (L.A.), Channel One and Music Mountain (Jamaica), engineered by four different people including legendary singer/producer Sugar Minott. …”
Jamaiel Shabaka cut his teeth with legend Sun Ra before recording the mysterious reggae LP The Land of the Rising Sun
YouTube: Jamaiel Shabaka – I Am That I Am 12″

Gregory Isaacs – Mr. Isaacs (1976)

“The Cool Ruler is not known primarily as a cultural roots singer. Instead, his bread and butter has always been a particular brand of seductive lover’s rock, always delivered at languid tempos in a reedy, not-particularly-attractive voice. So the largely political content of Mr. Isaacs, while not unprecedented, was still something of a departure from the norm when it was originally released in the ’70s on the Jamaican Cash & Carry label. It succeeds for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the rock-solid playing of the Revolutionaries. But Gregory deserves credit for understanding that trenchant political statements are sometimes most effective when delivered with the least amount of drama. The lines ‘I was given as a sacrifice/To build a black man’s hell and a white man’s paradise’ are all the more biting when sung in Gregory’s cool, lilting tenor-lesser interpreters would have clenched up and emoted; he lets the words speak for themselves and offers a vocal counterpoint instead of hammering the message home. ‘Story Book Children’ is sweet and wistful; ‘Handcuff,’ like ‘Sacrifice,’ simmers with quiet outrage. And there are a couple of love songs, too, just so you don’t forget you’re listening to the Lonely Lover. Excellent.”
allmusic
YouTube: Mr. Isaacs 32:41

Wailing Souls – Very Well / Very Well Version (1978)

“Wailing Souls’ ‘Very Well’, all-time epic roots reggae, and as impassioned a song about repatriation as ever sung. This 12-inch reissue replaces the B-side ‘Fire Coal Man’ from the original release with a full extended dub of ‘Very Well’!”
Reggae Fever
YouTube: Very Well / Very Well Version

Various Artists – Mojo Rock Steady (1994)

“Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd ruled the ska age, but as tempos slowed and the style downshifted into rocksteady, Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label came to the fore, pushing Studio One aside. Revenge was delivered by virtually every other producer on the isle, beginning in the mid- to late ’70s as Studio One’s gorgeous rocksteady melodies were resurrected in the new rockers style. With the demise of the Skatalites, Roland Alphonso and Jackie Mittoo set up shop at Studio One with the rhythm team of Joe Isaacs and Brian Atkinson. Under the Soul Brothers moniker, this unit laid down myriad scintillating instrumentals and phenomenal backings as ska evolved into rocksteady. …”
allmusic

“The Sound Dimension have recorded some of the most important songs in Reggae music; songs such as Real Rock, Drum Song, Heavy Rock, Rockfort Rock, In Cold Blood – all classic songs that have become the foundation of Reggae music, endlessly versioned and re-versioned by Jamaican artists since the time they were first recorded to the present day. As the in-house band at Studio One in the late 1960s, The Sound Dimension also played alongside everyone from The Heptones, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths and more. Similar to their US counterparts The Funk Brothers at Motown and Booker T and The MGs at Stax, The Sound Dimension recorded on a daily basis incredibly catchy and funky tunes matched by a seamless musicality. …”
Soul Jazz Records

YouTube: The Sound Dimension – Mojo Rocksteady b/w Version, Gaylads – I Am Free, The New Establishment – Rockfort Rock, Roland Alphonso – Take Me, Hot and Cold – The Soul Brothers, alton ellis & the soul vendors – whipping the prince, Roland Alphonso & The Soul Vendors – Rock and Sock