Laurel Aitken With The Skatalites

If a story of a music as expansive as Jamaica's can be told over four CDs, then TOUGHER THAN TOUGH is as close as you'll ever likely get. Bookended by the unrefined charm of the Folkes Brothers' 1960 "Oh Carolina" and Shaggy's 1993 dancehall adaptation of the same tune, this collection attempts to chart the music's diversity and development through ska, rock-steady, reggae, and dub, to dancehall and ragga.

Various Artists - Deep Ska - 80 Original Ska Classics (1999) {4CD Set Proper Records PROPER BOX4}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 728 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 461 Mb
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© 1999 Proper Records | PROPER BOX4
Ska / Reggae / Rocksteady / Roots Reggae

This compilation should have been subtitled "Duke Reid: The Early Years," as the four-CD box set is drawn exclusively from the great producer's archives. Half the set, interestingly enough, comprises instrumentals, the great majority courtesy of the Skatalites, although Baba Brooks and Drumbago are also well represented. Even a few U.K. groups get to strut their stuff; the Pyramids, Rico Rodiguez' All Stars, and Blue Rivers & the Maroons all put in an appearance. And so boogies, big band swing, and R&B surge out from the grooves, as hit after instrumental classic stream by, interspersed by the vocal tracks.

Charting Island’s rise from its very origins in to the modern age, War Ina Babylon not only provides a fascinating insight into the changing sound of Jamaican music over the past 40 years, but also brings together some of the greatest ska, rock steady and reggae recordings of all time.