Roots of Reggae Volume 2: Rock Steady (Rhino, 1996)

Amazingly, all but one of the 17 tracks on this collection were Top 5 hits in Jamaica between 1966 and 1970. This, combined with the superb information provided in the liner notes, make for a solid background on the precursor to reggae as we know it, rock steady. Although there are so many hits here, I hadn't heard more than half of these songs before (not that I'm an expert in rock steady by any means). As it turns out, the one I had heard are the ones I like the best on this album, namely the Techniques' great falsetto melody "You Don't Care," the Melodians' "Swing and Dine," the Paragons' "The Tide Is High" (later made famous worldwide by Blondie), and the definitive rock steady tune, the appropriately named "Rock Steady," by Alton Ellis & The Flames. Also intriguing are The Jamaicans' "Baba Boom (Ba Ba Boom Time)," Bob Andy's remake of the irresistibly poppy "Games People Play," and Prince Buster's humorously gimmicky "Judge Dread," which basically consists of a judge sentencing rude boys to "400 years!" over a rock steady beat. Just about all of the songs here similarly rely heavily on either catchy rhythms or catchy vocal melodies, a la '60s American soul music. Especially if you're into reggae already, it's valuable to know where the sound you love so much came from; think of this as an audio history book.