Best Reggae Albums of all time?

Not fair! (neither is that Maytals I reckon), and Garvey's Ghost is pretty weak as a dub album.

Prince Far I - Heavy Manners
Culture - Two Sevens Clash
Lee Perry - Roast Fish Collie Weed and Corn Bread
Horace Andy - In the Light
Jimmy Cliff - The Harder they Come

(hey, anyone notice that the intro to song 10 on In the Light is totally hip hop-y?)

What about those Soul Jazz comps? Studio One, etc., anyone heard that stuff, I'm curious. Soul Jazz always does a nice job with packaging and details, not to mention some fine musical taste...

If not, then I'd go for "Survival". Obviously Bob Marley anyway. No one comes close.

Well, if I really wanted to piss the R&B people off I could have voted for whatever contained "Dreadlock Holiday" or "Haitian Divorce" :-)

An album is an album.

Also: nice to see Geir choosing my least favorite Marley album (Survival).

Unmentioned so far:
Augustus Pablo: Original Rockers
Augustus Pablo: East of the River Nile
Tapper Zukie: Man Ah Warrior
Tapper Zukie: Tapper Roots
Jah Lion: Colombia Colly
U-Roy: any compilation of his early stuff
and the undeservedly obscure (no one ever seems to mention it) British reggae classic Vivian Weathers: Bad Weathers

#1 IMHO!

Rasbawa from Benin has one of the best tunes I've ever heard, called "Pourquoi", which off the album "Aledjo". He was huge in Benin, but I don't know if he is distributed anywhere in Europe, because he certainly isn't in Canada.

Culture's "Cumbolo" is remarkable, as well as "Two Sevens clash".

Don Carlos' "Raving Tonight" is very chilled out

"African Herbsman" is still a favorite of mine

i got the bunny wailer album blackhearted man. its boring.

police and thieves only has one great song - the title track. the rest of it is a bit directionless. great cover though.

reggae albums apart from a few are quite hit and miss for me. id rather just have a compilation of the best singles from each year by and large.

I love reggae, but I don't think I've ever sat and listened to a whole album that wasn't a compilation.

Not really an albums genre. Johnny Clarke's "Rockers Time Now" is a good album.

"Not really an albums genre"

right, although i do like dub albums more than reggae albums. i wanna get a lot of the virgin front line albums but am wondering how good they will be now. but its hard to get all the singles and hits from each year as albums are easier to get than singles.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t254/DJ-Dub_Roots/5009.jpg

http://www.elrockers.org/2/discography/records/bigimg/africa_dub_big.jpg

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).

That Yabby You collection is monumental, and probably the straight up heaviest music I've ever heard. I passed up a decent vinyl copy a few years back and still sometimes wake in a cold sweat...

Funny that I have Jesus Dread disc1 playing right now.

Not quite sure about heaviest has had some reasonably heavy moments but there are much heavier things I've heard.

the recent Deeper Roots comps are where it's at re: Yabby You

Did anyone else pick up the 3 CD Yabby You Dread Prophecy set? It's really great, with 30 tracks you can't get anywhere else. Extensive liner notes, but stupidly it does not include the recording dates for the tracks! I know with all the ganja the exact dates of those records can be hazy, but the other comps managed it.

The RYM list I linked above is nice, but I wouldn't include comps. Conquering Lion at 16 sounds about right. Burning Spear's Social Living (Marcus' Children) -- be sure to get the Blood & Fire version with the two bonus tracks -- and Keith Hudson's Playing It Cool, Playing It Right usurp the usual choices of Marcus Garvey and Flesh of My Skin - Blood of My Blood. I pretty much agree with those choices. Speaking of Blood & Fire, I miss their deluxe treatments and attention to detail and art. Among many candidates, a nice two-fer of Horace Andy's Dance Hall Style and Exclusively would be great. They really belong together in a set, being the same session, but different approaches.

I have the Deeper Roots and Jesus Dread comps - had no idea there was 30 more tracks that's crazy

To be clear, it's 10 previously unreleased tracks and 30 tracks never previously on CD.

10 previously unreleased tracks are mostly variations of released tracks IIRC. Jesus Dread is better IMO.

Sure, Jesus Dread is more concentrated goodness. But it's missing a lot. I do wish they'd just release everything, but that just isn't being done with reggae artists, and is probably impossible for most due to the chaotic nature of varied long-gone labels and missing masters, etc.

Here's a summary of my past month's listening: http://fastnbulbous.com/choice-summer-choons-2016/

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1212496385/playlist/0FyhuiLuajEwSoYavrxmfw
All-Time Favorite Reggae Albums: http://fastnbulbous.com/reggae/
RYM list: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Fastnbulbous/all_time_favorite_reggae_albums/

nice, i will enjoy digging through that!

The albums I spotlighted are:

Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus – Dadawah, Peace & Love (Trojan/Dug Out, 1974)
Noel Ellis – Noel Ellis (Summer/In The Light, 1983)
Keith Hudson – Playing It Cool & Playing It Right (Joint/Basic Replay, 1981)
Bob Andy – The Music Inside Me (Jigsaw, 1976)
Horace Andy – Dance Hall Style/Exclusively (Wackie’s, 1982)
Junior Delahaye – Showcase (Wackie’s, 1982)
Alton Ellis – Many Moods Of Alton Ellis (Makasound, 1980)
Lacksley Castell – Morning Glory (Negus Roots, 1982)
Mikey Dread – World War III (Heartbeat/Dread at the Controls, 1980)
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Dread Beat An’ Blood (Frontline, 1978)
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Kaya (Tuff Gong/Island, 1978)
Third World – 96 Degrees in the Shade (Mango, 1977)
Ijahman – Haile I Hymn (Mango/Jahmani, 1978)
Pablo Gad – Hard Times (Form, 1980)
Steel Pulse – Handsworth Revolution (Island, 1978)
Leroy Brown – Prayer Of Peace (Color Barrier) (Makasound, 1976)
Althea & Donna – Uptown Top Ranking (Frontline/Virgin, 1978)
Peter Broggs – Rastafari Liveth (RAS, 1982)
Winston Jarrett – Wise Man (Tamoki Wambesi, 1979)

Can never have too much Bullwackie's.

Wayne Jarrett – Bubble Up (Showcase Vol. 1) (Wackie’s, 1982)
Love Joys – Lovers Rock (Reggae Style) (Wackie’s, 1982)
Love Joys – Reggae Vibes (Wackie's, 1981)

100% repping for Alton Ellis - Many Moods of https://www.discogs.com/Alton-Ellis-Many-Moods/release/2802422

I mean, look at the album credits:

Backing Vocals – The Heptones, Johnny Clarke
Bass – Boris Gardner*, Leroy Sibbles, Lloyd Parks
Drums – Carlton "Santa" Davis, Sly Dunbar
Guitar – Bingy Bunny, Bo-Peep*
Lead Guitar – Ranchie McLean*, Rick-a-Backa*
Organ – Ansel Collins, Winston Wright
Percussion – Alton Ellis, Bongo Hermann*, Skully*, Sticky*
Tenor Saxophone – Headley Bennett*
Trombone – Vin Gordon
Trumpet – Bobby Ellis

Contributing factors: I bought a sealed copy in DC last year and tonight decided to break the seal. The band sound so good on every track. Reminds me that Arise Black Man is an incredible compilation.

Bit of filler on the second side, so maybe not exactly what i'd put in a top 10 list or anything.

Heh, you're probably thinking about his cover of "Loving You." But yeah, it sounds great.

RIP Bunny Wailer at 73. He had suffered a few strokes in recent years.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Bunny_Wailer_is_dead

Oh man! This is very sad indeed. RIP Bunny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYPEsP05VJc