Best Of Music - Reggae And Ska - Various Artists

Advantages: A brilliant collection of one of the greatest ever ska bands
Disadvantages: your own faveourites might be missing.

...The Selecter are one of the best, and yet understated Ska Bands of the late 70's and 80's. They have a unique sound that is quite different from other ska music that was around at the same time such as one of the most famous ska bands 'The Specials'. The Selecter combine the off-beat sound of two-tone ska with the unique and brilliant voice of Pauline Black to create a great outcome. If you have not heard of the sound of Ska it might be described as English Reggae, originating in coventry. Another famous Ska band are Madness. Up beat, happy and 'dancable'. The band have been inspirational to many famous modern artists such as Gwen Steffani, and were invited to tour with No Doubt as support. Basment Jaxx have also covered the famous hit 'On My Radio' as an album track. This album is a 'best of' collection and comrises of all... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: 95 pukka reggae tunes !
Disadvantages: Its 40 squid so not so great if your skint !

...I was immensely chuffed to find "Tougher Than Tough..." as I had been looking for a compilation which included all the classic tunes that I heard as a kid and still hear at places like Notting Hill Carnival. One of these is "Greetings" by Half Pint (you might know it :- "Greetings from Jah I bring, to all raggamuffin..."). Other classics are "Night Nurse" by Gregory Isaacs, "Ring the alarm" by Tenor Saw and "Under Me Sleng Teng" by Wayne Smith. Basically it includes every significant reggae moment from early Prince Buster and Ken Boothe to Shabba Ranks et al. Before continuing i should probably mention that it is a four cd compilation that cost about £40. Having said this it comes with a booklet which details the complete history of reggae music. In addition you would be hard pushed to find all of THE classic tunes anywhere else, so... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average off topic

Advantages: Great album
Disadvantages: Might blow out speakers due to excessive rocking out

...There have been a couple of Sublime tribute albums floating around for awhile, but this is by far the best one. Of course you can never out do Bradley Nowell, the king. But what you can do is get a bunch of friends together and jam to all of the greatest song of Sublime in rememberance. Jack Johnson starts off this tribute with a melodic version of "Badfish" and transcends the song into "Boss DJ". Then other greats such as Michael Franti from Spearhead, Fishbone, No Doubt, The Ziggens, G Love, Ozomatli, Pennywise and Los Lobos give their versions on songs like "What I Got", "Date Rape", " Doin' Time", "Pawn Shop", "Paddle Out", "Greatest Hits", "April 29th 1992". Avail does an awesome twist with "Santeria" by adding a more punk feel to it. This album is full of alot of great ska, punk, rock, and reggae all in the style of Sublime.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful