Max Romeo’s career spanned the early days of ska through rocksteady to fiery roots reggae with a political conscience, peaking in the mid-’70s.

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Protoje is flying the flag for old-skool reggae music from Jamaica, with tunes like this tribute to sound system culture, Big 45.

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The Melodians sealed their place in music history with their biblical anthem Rivers Of Babylon – even though most people know it best by Boney M. I’d rather listen to this song, Sweet Sensation, than either version.

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Like everyone else I know* I discovered Bob Marley when the live version of No Woman, No Cry became a huge hit in the summer of 1975. Then I dug deeper and discovered this tune from five years earlier.

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Dub maestro Elijah Minelli takes an ancient English folk song, A’Soalin’, and rearranges it as a 21st century reggae tune.

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Here’s a tune from the early days of reggae by Nora Dean, who earned herself a place in the niche genre of “naughty” reggae, best known for her saucy hit Barbwire (In His Underpants).

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Back when punk and reggae were rebel bedfellows, I discovered this deep cut – thanks to Johnny Rotten. I still can’t find out much about it.

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Culture’s debut album Two Sevens Clash was a landmark release back in 1977. Joe Gibbs and I-Roy teamed up on the 12-inch version.

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Here is my ultimate reggae playlist – drawn mostly from that golden period for classic roots reggae in the mid-Seventies but stretching back to the earlier eras of rocksteady and ska in the mid-Sixties, and edging into the dancehall era of the early Eighties.

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