The Wailing Souls - Wild Suspense (MOV/ Island Mango)
The Wailing Souls lovely “debut” international album from 1979 ( they previously recorded some singles and album for Studio One and a catalogue of classic essential singles at Channel One)
I just love the distinctive voice of Winston “Pipe” Matthews, great to have this back out on LP
On the subject of The Wailing Souls I stumbled upon this fantastic in depth review of the group and their 1981 Wailing album (also re issued later by Trojan as Face The Devil)
Whilst looking for something else, stumbled upon this (“dont watch that watch this…”)
You bet, some great Pacifica infused reggae acts here. Dub was strong through the 90s and a lot of artists grew out of that, many of the current reggae/roots acts lead back to the likes of Salmonella Dub. Tiki Taane is a really interesting musician always trying different things. Shapeshifter (drum and bass) is another terrific live act, great energy.
Song and harmony is such a strong feature in Pacific cultures, blend that with all the other diverse range of musicians we get at jazz schools etc and you get some very cool sounds.
Lee Scratch Perry - Disco Devil Vols 1,2,4 & 5 (Studio 16)
Colin Young who is an audio restoration specialist - See Why Audio - specialises in restoring and transferring from rare vintage vinyl.
Has done work for different labels and genres but also happens to be a committed Reggae fan and is building a great archive of Reggae music restored to HiRes digital.
Bought direct from Colin, here are 4 volumes of Lee Scratch Perry Disco Devil Series restored and transferred by him from almost impossible to find, in clean condition and affordable prices, original LSP prime period Black Ark recordings.
Each volume has 5 or 6 priceless original 12" Discomixes, very inexpensive and fantastic value too. Colin says he doesnt do this for money but out of love of the music and to make it affordable
Really cool. Are these available in any digital format? Sorry for the blasphemy 
I thought i was quite knowledgeable in roots reggae but i have to admit i never heard of that album. The claim on the label website - If you only ever buy one roots reggae release in your life, this should be it - is probably overstated though
Well it is a pretty essential album, check it out 
How is the mix compared to the Blood & Fire release? I had this one 2 x vinyl back in the days (Blood & Fire) and thought it sounded fabulous.
I have the B&F too, cant really add anything further than what I already said about the VP set. IMO its better
Since i’m already here let me recommend one of the best (if you not the best) roots reggae albums made outside of the roots reggae era.
Rohan Lee - For the Poor (2000)
It features a cracking backing band from Belgium, where i had the pleasure to see them perform live when the album came out. We had a chance to hang out with Rohan, who had quite some issues with travel visa’s so the exposure of the album was quite limited. Unfortunatly i think he has not made any album ever since, which is quite a pity. His singing is top notch!
Just stumbled across Aston Barrett, definitely the ticket for calming down after a day on the road.
And having a read of this whilst I listen
Just had to post this shot of a brilliant piece of graffiti art I spotted in Brighton this morning on a visit to my nearby Audio-t store
Jamaican Trombone legend Don Drummond
Steel Pulse gig tickets for Christmas off my daughter (hopefully it goes ahead), very happy!
Love Hugh Mundel’s Africa must be Free. Beautiful voice amazing lyrics.
And my other absolute favourite
My best mate since 1969 died a couple of weeks back, and a few of us have been doing our nuts in trying to remember an old reggae single he played in 1977 or thereabouts. The lyrics included these lines:
Let them go if you want them to prosper
Let them go or you’ll bring them disaster.
and
The youth of today is the man of tomorrow.
We all think it was possibly called The Youth Of Today, but no one is absolutely sure, and no one can remember the artist at all. Any ideas?
Many thanks.
Very sorry to hear about your friend. “The Youth of Today” was a reggae song by Musical Youth (better known for “Pass the Dutchie”), but it wasn’t released until 1982, and doesn’t contain the exact lyrics you quote.
Another candidate is “Youth of Today” by punk / reggae band Bad Brains. It contains the line “The youth of today is the man of tomorrow,” however it wasn’t released until 2012 (although it’s possible it was a cover of an earlier song).
