The title Ska Bonanza conjures up images of Hoss, Little Joe, and Hop Sing skanking up a storm on the Ponderosa, but that would be silly, wouldn't it? I mean, I picture Hop Sing as more of a lovers rock man. Anyway, this two-disc re-release of a Studio One ska retrospective gathers an impressive amount of material from the formative years of reggae. If you're just a casual ska fan (like me, if you consider me a fan at all), this may not be the album for you. Forty-four tracks in a row might make your eyes cross, particularly since about half are instrumentals. Also, you won't find a lot of well-known ska standards like Desmond Dekker's "007 (Shanty Town)" or "Israelites," The Skatalites' "Eastern Standard Time," Justin Hinds' "Carry Go Bring Come," Alton Ellis' "Dance Crasher," The Maytals' "Pressure Drop," or the Ethiopians' "Everything Crash." In fact, perhaps the only recognizable tune to the ska novice would be the Wailers' "Simmer Down." But if ska is your bag, baby, you've stumbled upon a "bonanza" of early work from the Motown of Jamaica. Dramatic instrumentals like "Nimble Foot Ska," "Man in the Street," and "Salt Lane Shuffle" play alongside fun, freewheeling vocal tracks like "Arte Bella," "Turn Me On," "Stop Making Love" (which adapts the Four Tops' "It's the Same Ol' Song"), and the sexually suggestive "Push Wood" (not to mention the equally suggestive "Sugar Bag"), providing a hardcore ska lovers dreamland. Still, there's little to distinguish this re-packaging from the original early 1991 release. While other Studio One re-releases from Heartbeat emerged in 2006 with a plethora of alternate takes and bonus cuts, this one adds only three additional tunes, all on the second disc (Disc two, incidentally, was released on its own in the mid-'90s as Go Go Ska, while Disc one was issued as Streets of Ska.).