BARRINGTON LEVY Vinilo y CD

Review: For the label's latest essential two-disc trawl through the archives of Jamaican music culture, Doctor Bird has decided to take us back to the late 1970s and the dawn of dancehall - then a kind of harder, more upbeat take on reggae rather than the drum machine-powered rhythmic powerhouse it became. The Volcano Dancehall Albums Collection features a quartet of full-length excursions produced by early dancehall hero Henry 'Junjo' Lawes: Barrington Levy's influential 'Bounty Hunter', 'Weh Dem a Go Do' by young deejay/toaster Cocoa Tea, and a pair of sets by fellow patois proto-rapper Charlie Chaplin ('Sound System' and the superb 'Dancehall Rockers'). Throw in a handful of essential bonus cuts (including the full 12" version of Barrington Levy's take on Horace Andy favourite 'Skylarking') and you have an indispensable collection of formative dancehall classics.

Review: Legendary dancehall and reggae artist Barrington Levy started out with a fine run of albums in his early years, and then switched to serving up a steady and solid stream of singles. Some of the most famous ones include "Even Tide Fire a Disaster" and "I'm Not in Love", as well as "You Have It" which is presented here as a nice extended version. It features a pained vocal over a fat and dumpy groove with some tropical percussion and warming chords to help oil the mood. GG's All Stars step up on the flip with a version that is heavy and lazy in all the right ways.