Juno Recommends Reggae Classics April 2020

Review: This is a super new 7" from Japan's Rock A Shacka. It finds the Chosen Few tackle reggae cuts from The Stylistics and The Moments and the results are so sweet they'll have your mouth watering. "My Thing" hits a gorgeously soul drenched bullseye between dub, reggae and lovers rock, largely thanks to the gorgeous vocal up top. The gently swaying drums and guitar riffs only heighten the soothing effect. "Children Of The Night" goes slower, with more effects and fatter bass to sink deep into as the horizontal grooves encourage you to lay back and gaze at the stars.

Review: For their latest missive, Rock A Shaka have decided to offer up a new pressing of The Chosen Few's early '70s classic "I Love The Way You Love", a slab of languid, soulful sunshine recorded at a time when reggae as we know it today (rather than rocksteady or ska) was still a nascent musical form. While the original vocal version has featured on a number of the Jamaican band's albums over the years, the accompanying flipside "Version" by producer Prince Tony Robinson AKA The Groove Master has previously been frustratingly hard to find. It's worth picking this up just to get it, as Robinson's additional musical flourishes - think Tommy McCook style sax, fluttering flute solos and harder rhythm guitar - lift the band's fine riddim to even higher heights.

Review: Hot on the heels of their fine compilation of classic Prince Buster tracks and productions, "Roll On Charles Street", Rock A Shacka delivers a tidy "45" featuring two of the collection's most potent cuts. On the A-side you'll find "Islam", a driving but punchy classic from 1964 that should be familiar to all but the newest ska fans (the vocal refrain, "my people, my people, do you not wanna go", is the killer hook). Over on the flip it's all about Don Drummond's "Sudden Attack", a Prince Buster-produced gem from the same year which like the A-side features all of the original Skatalites band as back-up. This is an altogether cheerier dancefloor number which boasts a suitably heavy rhythm and some suitably firing horns.

Review: Rock A Shaka's "Prince Buster Classics" series of seven-inch singles has served up some scintillating Ska of late, mixing tracks from the great man with ones he produced for other artists. The latest "45" in the series is more straightforward and simply gathers together two of the Ska pioneer's greatest cuts. First up on side A is 1966's "I Won't Let You Cry", a super-sweet fusion of mid-tempo ska rhythms, dewy-eyed soul vocals from the man himself and nods towards the American rhythm and blues style that so inspired him. That rhythm and blues influence comes to the fore on flipside "I'm Sorry", a loved-up, organ-rich number that features some of Buster's most heartfelt vocals.