Various: The Reggae Collection

Reviewed by GRAHAM REID


Herald rating: * * * * *

It's summer so it must be reggae time. There is a swag of such collections out there but this double disc has a great virtue -- it is locally compiled. So here Che Fu (Fade Away), Trinity Roots (Little Things), DLT (2 Story Speakers), Rhombus (Clav Dub, Onward) and Katchafire (Giddyup, Collie Herb Man) sit alongside classic old tracks (Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop, Peter Tosh's Don't Look Back, Desmond Dekker's Israelites) and great singles (Grace Jones' My Jamaican Guy, Musical Youth's Pass the Dutchie, Bob Marley's Trenchtown Rock). Add Jimmy Cliff's Harder They Come, newer stuff from Ben Harper (With My Own Two Hands) and Shaggy (Oh Carolina, In the Summertime) and mix in Toots' Beautiful Woman plus a few other neglected gems and you've got an excellent, locally focused collection for the beach 'n' barbecue days ahead.

(Universal)