Heavyweight Sound: A Blood and Fire Sampler (Blood & Fire, 1995)

A relative new kid on the block, the British Blood & Fire label has admirably taken on the task of re-issuing hardcore '70s dub, roots, and toasting.  And thank goodness for that; otherwise, it would be much more of a pain to find great albums like Horace Andy's In the Light and Burning Spear's Social Living.  These albums provide 4 of the best tracks on Heavyweight Sound: Andy's funky, rocking "Problems" and "Problems Dub" and the heavy roots of Burning Spear's "Marcus Children Suffer" and "Marcus Say Jah No Dead."  The rootsy, old-fashioned dubs -- Keith Hudson's "Black Heart" and "Black Right" and Yabby U's "Rock Vibration" in particular -- have a nice sound, but this compilation shows the limits of Blood & Fire's arsenal.  Trying to draw engaging tracks from a catalogue of only 8 or so albums can be difficult, and so Blood & Fire only partially succeeds in drawing listeners in.