Looking for more oldschool Reggae!

steffeeh

New member
Any tips on any great oldschool bands with a lot of music from around 1965-1979?
I mostly prefer the lofi quality, but good quality might work as well.
I also prefer pure Jamaican, not any English skinhead-reggae etc.

Currently listening to:
The Aggrovators
Augustus Pablo
Bob Marley & The Wailers (obvisously)
The Congos
Culture
Delroy Wilson
The Ethiopians
The Heptones
Horace Andy
Jimmy Cliff
Junior Byles
Junior Murvin
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes
Lee Perry & The Upsetters (good of Reggae imo!)
Max Romeo
Toots & The Maytals
The Melodians
The Paragons
Phyllis Dillon
Slim Smith
U-Roy

Thanks. :)
 
You've got a great list started there. Anything from Studio One would probably suit you, and you may want to get ahold of some compilations from Trojan Records. Speaking of UK roots reggae, I wouldn't dismiss the genre out-of-hand; there's some great music that came out of both the Jamaican and Caribbean ex-pat community, as well as the local English youth influenced by them. It goes a lot deeper than The Specials, the English Beat and Selector, which are great bands in and of themselves (but I understand probably not what you're looking for). I notice you have Marley and Culture on your list, but not Third World. Great band, and one of probably the three most popular acts in Jamaica during the roots/pre-Dancehall Slackness era. You may also want to check into some dub artists, and also some of the awesome international roots reggae groups like Ton Ton David (France, I believe), or Alpha Blondy, Tiken Jah Fakoly, and Lucky Dube (all from various places in Africa). There's even some pretty decent ska and reggae coming out of Japan now. I've been into roots reggae for years, and I'm always finding-out about someone I hadn't heard of before. Believe it or not YouTube is a great place to look...

GJ
 
Last edited:
So going through my music collection the following names jump out:

Anthony B
Apache Indian
Aswad
Black Uhuru
Buju Banton
Buju Banton And Anthony
Burning Spear
Capelton
Chaka Demus & Pliers
CJ Lewis
Club Safari
Cocoa Tea
Curley David
Dawn Penn
Dennis Brown
Desmond Dekker
Dillinger
Dobby Dobson
Earl Sixteen
Ernie Smith
Fitzroy Sterling
Freddy Mcgregor
Georgie Fame
Gregory Issacs
Ijahman
Jackie Robinson
Jah Cure
Jimmy Riley
John Holt
Junior Delgado
Junior Tucker
Ken Boothe
Lee Scratch Perry
Levi Roots
Lorna Bennett
Lou Thomm
Marcia Griffiths
Marshall Williams
Millie
Peter Tosh
Radio Reggae
Rico
Sly And Robbie
Starkey Banton
Steel Pulse
Sugar Minott
Susan Cadogan
Taffari
The Dynamites
The Mohawks
The Police
The Soulettes
The Tamlins
Tyrone Taylor
Early UB40
Australian Aboriginal band 'No Fixed Address' were proponents of Reggae in the late 70's/early 80's
 
I don't like Third World that much, they sound too clean for my taste. I like that fuzzy "cheap gear" soundquality, or how I should put it.
Yeah I know I have a friend that is very into Reggae and everytime he wants to show me something it more or less only exists on YouTube. :) (except records of course)
Thanks for the bands BC and GJ, will check them out!
 
studio one, channel one, treasure isle

Bitty mcclean, silvertones, heptones, alton ellis, slim smith
 
Last edited by a moderator:
There is a great compilation of British Reggae called "Don't Call Us Immigrants." Some more obscure stuff from Jamaica on "Children of Jah." Both are somewhat rare/out-of-print, but _well_ worth the time invested searching if you find them. Trojan has an incredible number of box sets, but if you like (as the OP mentioned) "that edgy/'out-of-tune'/distorted" sound, you'll want to pick-up their "Producers" set and check-out Niney the Observer. Or, just about anything pre-1989 from Lee "Scratch" Perry (his more current material is not usually worth the dollar-bin price you will pay for it). "African Herbsman," the compilation of Perry-produced Wailers material, is particularly good at showcasing the talents of Bob, Peter, and Bunny, along with that of the eccentric and one-and-only Perry...
 
Another one for those interested in the roots of Roots Reggae-- Get a compilation CD called "First Class Rock Steady." Rock Steady was an intermediate form that evolved from Ska music, and is basically Reggae without the Rasta/social/political content. Although there are artists like Desmond Dekker and Honey Boy Martin who seemed to pre-figure some of that material with songs like "The Israelites" and "Dreader than Dread." Definitely worth a listen.
 
Last edited:
Check The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari. This is the roots of the roots as one would say. A bunch of seniors from Jamaica. Their concerts were... mystic.

Also you can set your eyes on New Zealand. Fat Freddy's Drop in particular. They might add some other flavours but most of what they do is simply amazing.
 
Back
Top