Dr Bird Vinilo y CD

Review: 1975 was the year that dub music originator King Tubby teamed up with the Observer All Stars, a production outfit helmed up by Winston 'Niney' Holness. Together, Tubby and Holness handled a barrage of killer remixes of formerly wildly popular units in the mode of reggae, including famous songs by Dennis Brown, Ken Booteh, Delroy Wilson and Sang Hugh. This was one of the earliest albums to attract international interest in dub music beyond the Caribbean, with many other key players in the scene never before having enjoyed a proper release at the time. Now this showcasing of dub's peak in terms of melting-pot inventiveness gets a first-time CD issue.

Review: For their latest deep dive into the history of Jamaican music, Dr Bird has decided to deliver two key albums from the formative years of dancehall, both of which were produced by King Jammy and - remarkably - have never made it to CD before. Disc one boasts Sugar Minott's 1979 set Bitter Sweet, a super-sweet and hugely enjoyable collection that added traditional roots reggae style vocals and instrumentation to rhythms and grooves that provided the bedrock of the dancehall sound (for proof, check 'Give The People' and 'Not For Sale'). Over on CD2, it's all about Johnny Osbourne's 'Reggae On Broadway', a more weighty and low-slung affair that nevertheless proved influential to a whole generation of dancehall enthusiasts. 'Lend Me Your Chopper', 'Reggae On Broadway' and 'Folly Ranking' are particularly potent.