favourite roots reggae albums of the past 12 months or so

S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
ok, this is partly a straw poll just because i'm interested and partly to help me on a piece i'm writing at the moment.
personally, i'd go for jah cure's freedom blues, morgan heritage's full circle, anthony b's black star and i wayne's lava ground - they're all quite different and distinctive and quite important in their own ways.
while bashment dancehall gear may have been a bit slow this year, we've been spoilt for choice wrt to this stuff, so much to the point that it's actually tricky to whittle the contenders down to just three or for.
anyway, give it a go.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
The only "new" roots album I've heard in the last 12 months is "World In Trouble" by Ranking Joe. :eek:

But I would think that Jah Cure and I-Wayne would be the most interesting to write about.
 
G

gabriel

The Heatwave
i wayne - lava ground
sizzla - soul deep (i know this is neither 100% roots nor reggae, but it's amazing still)
damian marley - welcome to jamrock (again, not strictly roots reggae)

the turbulence album 'songs of solomon' was good as well

not a big fan of jah cure or morgan heritage (also, weren't most of the tunes on freedom blues old - i.e. not from the last 12 months?)

finally, a great compilation roots compilation - universal message (vp). greensleeves are bringing out a 2 CD 'reggae one drop anthems' album in 2 weeks as well. gonna be wicked.
 
S

stelfox

Beast of Burden
yeah, i'm skewing this piece for a mainstream audfience - it's got to be, so they won't know or care that a lot of the jah cure was old, the album release date is the important factor.
it's funny, i sort of think of morgan hgeritage as the masters at work of reggae - the heavyweight champions who might not be your favourites at any one time, but who always come up with the goods and are incredibly accessible, too.

john, i've messaged you.
 
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matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
xiquet said:
finally, a great compilation roots compilation - universal message (vp). greensleeves are bringing out a 2 CD 'reggae one drop anthems' album in 2 weeks as well. gonna be wicked.
Click to expand...

is that universal message 3?- if so, seconded.
richie spice- spice up your life is ok.
 
E

ewmy

Genre Addict
Does Bitty McLean "On Bond Street" count? I love that, but I'm not sure enough of my reggae sub-genres.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
ewmy said:
Does Bitty McLean "On Bond Street" count? I love that, but I'm not sure enough of my reggae sub-genres.
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oh gosh! forgot that one- is it 'new'? well its bitty singing new lyrics over old treasure isle rock steady rhythms- so a bit of both!
 
G

gabriel

The Heatwave
matt b said:
is that universal message 3?- if so, seconded.
richie spice- spice up your life is ok.
Click to expand...
i think so yeah, though was never aware of universal message 1 and 2 so always forget it's a series. it's the one with tunes like living in love, hungry, ain't gonna see us fall, blood again and so on

stelfox said:
yeah, i'm skewing this piece for a mainstream audfience - it's got to be, so they won't know or care that a lot of the jah cure was old, the album release date is the important factor.
Click to expand...
fair enough! who's this piece for?


ewmy said:
Does Bitty McLean "On Bond Street" count? I love that, but I'm not sure enough of my reggae sub-genres
Click to expand...
well it's not roots reggae at all (at least the tunes i've heard) as it's lovers' rock lyrics sung over rock steady rhythms, but it probably can be called 'one drop' (not sure if this term was around at the same time as rocksteady or came later during the reggae era). terminology, terminology!
 
B

boomnoise

♫
i would concur with jah cure's freedom blues and morgan heritage's full circle. tho i have to say i'm very uncomfortable with jah cure now i've read up on him. is he guilty of rape or not?
 
V

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
I guess i'm four years late but Lava Ground has been getting constant plays from me... Any similar things out there? He has only that one album so far I think?
 
D

droid

Guest
The Alborosie is OK. Haven't given it a good listen yet. Some good Berlusconi bashing lyrics.
 
G

gabriel

The Heatwave
i've heard a few tunes from the sizzla album that are really good, but haven't heard the whole thing yet. someone told me it was excellent though.
 
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