Various

Here we go again – another musical education for reggae lovers and novices alike – Soul Jazz do the business and build your studio one library into a modern wonder of the recorded world.

Scorned by know nothing snobs for years, lovers rocks as a genre. Beloved of the denizens of smoking blues dances, “the place where the real music was always played”, as Oxman’s excellent liner notes so accurately indicate. Hitherto obscure joints like The Sharks ‘How could I live’ and Mad Lads ‘Ten to one’ impressions’ rub up against Jackie Mittoo’s mighty “Reggae Magic”. Alton Ellis does over Rosco Gordon, the mighty Heptones revisit Barbara Mason, the woefully undervalued and underrecorded Doreen Schaeffer hits on Boz Skaggs. As ever there’s delicious rarities to champ down on – Myrna Hague, Basil Daley, Albert Tomlinson all smoulder under the needle once again. Sex on wax.