Best Reggae Albums of all time?

It's not the best album "of all time" - but Gorrilaz had a good and credible go at a dub album with 'Gorillaz vs. Space Monkeyz".

Can't pick a single "best" disc, but these days, it's between five: Cornell Campbell, I Shall Not Remove; The Congos, Heart Of The Congos; Horace Andy, Dance Hall Style; King Tubby, Dub Like Dirt; and Lee Perry, Ape-ology. Subject to change at any time, tho.

heart of the congos is properly overrated imo. its all a bit too one-note for me.

two sevens clash is definitely up there.

one-note in terms of the mood i mean.

Agreed on the Congos. I just don't hear it.
My favorite is still Funky Kingston, followed by Two Sevens Clash, African Herbsman, Early Recordings 1971-1979 (Itals), Marcus Garvey and yes, The Harder They Come soundtrack.

yeah me neither. seems too austere. top marks for consistency but its all too samey and doesnt sound as inspired as all the 'pet sounds of reggae' reviews make it out to be.

finally watched Rockers the other night, it's pretty dope. so amazing to see someone play drums in a movie and they're ACTUALLY PLAYING DRUMS.

I feel the same about "Marcus Garvey", I admire it but I don't play it much (xp)

... like "Pet Sounds"!

nice point Vicious Cop! Marcus Garvey is tremendous but not an everyday listen.
Black Uhuru-Anthem is probably my fave reggae record of the 1980's; LKJ - Tings an' Times my fave from the 1990's.
and did anybody mention King Kong Compilation? the second or third reggae record i ever bought is still up there with the harder they come, in my book

i play pet sounds quite a bit! marcus garvey is a great album (better than congos and the dub version is good too) but its not as immediately/obviously pleasurable in the way 2 sevens clash is.

so it's only a matter of time before Heart of Congos returns to being underrated.
I like Daniel, Esq's list.

Don't get the one note complaints about the Congos at all (Marcus Garvey I get a little more).

I'm not going to even pretend that I can choose one record, but the Congos are def. in my top ten.

Yeah each song on HOTC--bar maybe 1 or 2--has a distinct identity/personality in my mind. Maybe it's hard to get past the falsetto? I mean that seems like one of the few reggae albums where the "one note" criticism is least valid.

Augustus Pablo's King Tubby's Meets Rockers Uptown is probably my fave these days.

Yabby U, "King Tubby's Prophesy of Dub"

While both those are quite good albums, I tend to prefer reggae with vocals.

Yes, I was trying to avoid posting dub albums

Wayne Smith - Youthman Skanking

Hugh Mundell - Africa Must Be Free by 1983,
Jacob Miller - Who Say Jah No Dread,
Keith Hudson - Playing It Cool & Flesh of My Blood,
Barrington Levy - Englishman, Bounty Hunter, Shaolin Temple
Horace Andy - Dance Hall Style
Lacksley Castell - Morning Glory
Hugh Mundell/Lacksley Castell - Jah Fire
Linval Thompson - Rocking Vibration

Those are all albums i love from start to finish. Classics in my world.

i like heart of the congos, war ina babylon, two sevens clash, and black uhuru's showcase

Flesh Of My Blood is one of those records that the reputation of kind of overstated it's greatness. It's a good record, but it's not the best Hudson record by a long shot and aside from his poor vocals it's no where near as oddball as people make it sound.

i love Hudson's vocals though. I agree the reputation was offputting. When it was first repressed I passed on it but have grown to love it in the last year.

I very nearly put Entering the Dragon and Class & Subject in my list too. :)

Maybe I should have said unusual rather than poor. They are def. an acquired taste. I tend to think they work better on the dub records (Brand, Nuh Skin Up) then on the originals.

Keith Hudson's vocals are the reggae equivalent to Vini Reilly or Shaun Ryder for me. It's usually something i wouldn't enjoy but the feel of the music and the honesty in the vocals really hit with me.

Anyway that's a good list. Mine would probably look like this (picking actual albums or collection released at the time and focusing mostly on the seventies):

Barrington Levy Shaolin Temple
Big Youth Screaming Target
Burning Spear Social Living
Dennis Brown Wolves & Leopards
Dr. Alimantado Best Dressed Chicken In Town
Gregory Isaacs Extra-Classic
Johnny Osbourne Truths And Rights
Mighty Diamonds Right Time
The Congos Heart of the Congos
The Gladiators Trenchtown Mix Up

just put on Trenchtown Mix Up after reading your list. that is a great album. i haven't listened to it nearly enough.

Big Youth Screaming Target

oh yeah good one!

This thread is reminding me I need to get more Barrington Levy. haha I think what initially made me averse to him was, before I even heard his singing, seeing a photo of him wearing a Dr Seuss hat.
Trenchtown Mix-Up would be in my revised Top 5. Albert Griffiths doesn't have as good of a voice technically as some others, but he's still such a great singer.
Ctrl+F "Justin Hinds"=text not found :(((

I had a Barrington Levy Best Of for a while and only liked a few tracks for some reason. His output from 79-82 or so with Junjo/Roots Radics/Scientist is all strong. I'm glad i took the time to go back and investigate full albums instead of writing him off on a weak Best Of collection.

Top 5 not mentioned yet
1. Twinkie Bros - Countrymen
2. Justin Hinds - Travel With Love
3. Bim Sherman - Tribulation (comp, so cheating here a bit)
4. The Royals - Pick Up the Pieces
5. Israel Vibration - The Same Song

Bim Sherman's totally cheating!

I love Pick Up The Pieces, but 1) as harmony groups go, they pale a touch compared to others on my list and b) I think the dub version to their best record is better than the vocal set (wholeheartedly recommend the awesome Pressure Sounds set with this as the centerpiece.)

This has been on my want list so so so long. :(

http://www.roots-archives.com/release/2134

Lots of great stuff not appearing here. No Sugar Minott. No Freddie McGregor. No Abyssinians. 1 Heptones and I-Roy mention.

Possibly controversial opinion: Cables >>> Carlton & the Shoes.

Been on mine forever, too, Alex.
See, that Royals dub set ("Dub Pieces", right) is okay, but everytime I hear a track from it I just want to hear the original. You're right, as a harmony group, there's many who are better. But I've always heard it more as a Roy Cousin's album. I usually skip the tracks where he doesn't sing lead.

"See, that Royals dub set ("Dub Pieces", right) is okay, but everytime I hear a track from it I just want to hear the original."

Really? But the dubs are so great! Also great Prince Far I and I-Roy bits on the CD, but I guess that shouldn't count since I guess they aren't on the original dub album.

https://ssl.kundenserver.de/enter-the-dragon.com/images/bobby%20bobylon.jpg

I love how I am now making this argument after giving dudes a hard time for picking vocal-less dub album just a second ago. That said there are quite a few vocals on these dubs.

xp I know! How does that record not get one mention!?!?

i saw a reissue of his the other day, i think on vp?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kjI35ixCL._SS500_.jpg

Sugar Minott - Ghetto-ology and the Wackies Dancehall Showcase 1/2 would be my favs but Sufferers Choice has Uptown Ghetto which I love.

Mr McGregor is a different record than Bobby Bobylon, isn't it? The latter is on Studio One, Heartbeat did a deluxe-y version a year or two ago.

my favourite reggae album isnt really an album though, its the first vol (though vol 2 would do fine too) of the hearbeat studio one comp.

Top ten comps off the top of my head:

Rebel Music
Best of Studio One
More Pressure
Open The Gate
Build The Ark
That Wailers Six CD Upsetters Box Set
VP Channel One Story 1 & 2
Recent Joe Gibbs 2 CD thing on VP seems pretty complete
Yabby U Jesus Dread
Sufferation