Great Reggae for Whitey

Reggae is a niche musical taste, I know very few people who are into it but I can't understand why more people don't like it. Its such an authentic genre of music that to a large part has stayed out of the mainstream and that alone has to be reason enough to check it out...

Yabby You. JESUS DREAD 1972 - 77

This is a major down tempo fat bass line fest. Some reggae can put you into a coma but this makes you want to sing along and dance, its not fast, but its catchy and despite being recorded over 30 years ago it sounds fantastic. Ever wondered where Massive Attack got their sound and lyrics from? Check these albums out and any album by another reggae legend Horace Andy.

Burning Spear. MARCUS GARVEY.

Burning Spear have some great vocals and most of their songs are songs of praise done beautifully with driving bass lines and floating vocals. This is the album to buy if you want to try getting into real reggae and I know its around as I bought it in Melbourne 3 years ago. One the thing most people don't know about reggae is that most of it is actually gospel music sung by those who believe in a god called Jah (a once ruler of Ethopia) and who therefore belong to a group known as rastafari. This is their religious music and the real stuff, like the guys on this list are great artists and have made some fantastic records. If you can get any of these on vinyl its well worth it, the analogue recordings from the 70's reproduce on vinyl superbly...music for serious listeners!

Linval Thompson. RIDE ON DREADLOCKS 1975 - 77

Linval Thompson is my favourite reggae man. This album is not too dub-heavy meaning you won't get 21 versions of the same song played in every which way possible without vocals, that can be a downfall of reggae as it becomes tedious and boring very fast. Linval is very down tempo, laid back and heavy with thick bass lines - a real slow-your-heartbeat album.