Back to 1981 for a topical take on the perils of dangerous diseases by Anthony Fairclough and Erroll Bennett, aka Papa Michigan and General Smiley. (more…)

Madness were the only all-white band in the Two-Tone family and put the fun factor into the updated ska sound. This was their first top ten hit. (more…)

Black Uhuru could have been the successors to Bob Marley & the Wailers as the kings of reggae. Their early work, with Sly & Robbie at the controls, remains flawless. (more…)

Early hit by Barrington Levy, recorded when he was only 15 and released in 1979, five years before his huge crossover hit Here I Come changed the face of reggae. (more…)

Reggae and Punk were natural partners, linked by their outsider credentials, exemplified by Coventry band The Specials and the Two-Tone explosion of 1979. (more…)

The Bodysnatchers were an all-female seven-piece ska revival band from London and The Boiler was the chilling centrepiece of their live performances. (more…)

Not just the best live reggae album but arguably the best live album of all time, Live At Counter Eurovision 79 captures Misty In Roots at their devotional,  political and philosophical finest (more…)

The Selecter started out with this self-titled instrumental on the flip-side of Gangsters by The Special A.K.A. (soon to be shortened to The Specials) in 1979. (more…)

Linton Kwesi Johnson’s imagined letter from Brixton Prison to his mother back in Jamaica, describing how a young black man was fitted up and beaten by the British police, is so heartbreaking I still find it hard to listen without weeping.

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A reggae obscurity, this hymn to marijuana lives up to its title both lyrically and in a production swathed in dub effects – all echoes and strange sounds. (more…)