Czarface/MF Doom - Czarface Meets Metal Face [honorable mention]

:-) 

MF Doom - MM..Food?: 7 (B+)

 

Linton Kwesi Johnson - More Time [honorable mention]

 :-)

Yabby You - Chant Down Babylon Kingdom [a/k/a Walls of Jerusalem]: 8 (A-)

 

Also sometimes known as Yabby You Meets King Tubby. The original 11 or 12 tracks (depending on the release) are great. But it is now prohibitively expensive in that version. The only modern alternative is to buy a two CD set with a second CD that is basically a bunch of ephemera/crap. Unlike the recent  Scientist dub reissues, which have a second set of good songs. So I'm skipping this.

Augustus Pablo - King David's Melody [honorable mention]

 :-) [Listened to the "deluxe" version on VP from 2016]

Moses Sumney - Grae

 :-(

Augustus Pablo - This is Augustus Pablo [a/k/a Rebel Rock Reggae] [honorable mention]

 

Alternate cover/title [posting covers to allay any future confusion on my part]:

Yabby You - Deliver Me From My Enemies: 8 (A-)

 

Extremely rare case where the bonus tracks make the original issue not worth buying. I would give the original release a 7 (B+). Of course neither the original release or the reissue pictured above are available for anything approaching a reasonable price, so this will not be going on the shelves.

Augustus Pablo - Eastman Dub [honorable mention]

 :-)

Niney the Observer - Presents Soul Syndicate Dub Classics: 8 (A-)

 

Yabby You - Jesus Dread 1972-1977: 2.5 stars

 

There appear to be a couple dozen people in the world who consider this a "cornerstone of roots reggae," probably because Steve Barrow told them to. This is what happens when music cults get too insular. More than half of these tracks are "versions" -- so you will hear the same song literally three or four times in a row sometimes. And there are only slight variations. Unbelievably repetitive. I don't care what people say - they are not listening to this; or if they are, they are doing so mindlessly as background music. More likely, they are playing it once or twice, probably stoned out of their minds, calling it the coolest thing ever to increase their own estimation of themselves, and then never pulling it off the shelf. I'm so glad I could play this before wasting money on buying it. I listened to the entire thing a couple times, and then winnowed out the extra versions and the songs that are on other comps, and listened to that a couple more times. [Broke grading/posting/listening protocol because this set pissed me off so badly.]

Creation Rebel - Starship Africa [honorable mention]

 :-) [Also, from AllMusic: "Historic Moments, Vol. 2 is little more than a bonus-tracked reissue of Starship Africa....] [Later purchased as part of the High Above Harlesden box.]

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon III: The Chosen: 8 (A-)

 

Digital only.

Yabby You - Dread Prophecy

 :-| [One of those terrible box sets which has a third disc of mostly crap you would never want to hear. Should have been a single disc collection. Single listen only, but I gave this its own entry anyway.]

Jacob Miller - Who Say Jah No Dread [honorable mention]

 :-) [Same songs twice. And many of the songs sound the same anyway. Ie, it sounds like the same song played about 12 times. Not sure why a small number of people think this is among the greatest reggae albums of all time.]

Mama Sissoko - Soul Mama: 7.5 (high B+)

 

One of those Bandcamp-only jobs where it's selling for $25.

Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death: 8 (A-)

[Upped way up from honorable mention after Skinty Fia opened me up to the band]

Del the Funky Homosapien - No Need for Alarm: 7.5 (high B+)

 

Bartees Strange - Live Forever

 :-|

Staff Benda Bilili ‎– Effacer Le Tableau [honorable mention]

 :-)

Faust - IV: 7.5 (high B+)

 

I'm shelving this as one of the few acknowledged krautrock classics. Like having Selling England by the Pound for prog.

Kokoko! - Fongola [honorable mention]

 :-)

Supertramp - Crime of the Century [honorable mention]

 :-)

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Road to the Riches: 7.5 (high B+)

 

Would buy it, but it's out of print and going for $50 or so used, which is ridiculous. It's not that good.

Bktherula - Nirvana [EP]

 :-|

Phoebe Bridgers - If We Make It Through December [EP]

  :-| [Digital only]

Scarface - Greatest Hits: 7.5 (high B+)

 

I don't buy greatest hits at this level.

Backxwash - Deviancy [EP]: 8 (A-)

 

Bringing physical distribution to a new height of stupidity. This one is only on digital and cassette.

Mr. Lif - Sleepyheads: 7.5 (high B+)

 

Augustus Pablo - Classic Rockers: 8 (A-)

 

Review is for the above 1987 original version. When it was re-released on CD, they added the track "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown," from an album everyone should already have. They also swapped "Love Won't Come Easy" by Leroy Sibbles for "Just as Long" by Horace Andy, and added six really not as good songs (two of them dub versions of the same songs, right after the main ones). In other words, they ruined it. The original vinyl is ridiculously expensive, otherwise I'd buy it. The main track I miss is "Earth wind and fire," which is outstanding. The CD cover looks like this:

Even the cover is notably inferior. What a waste.

Mr. Lif - I Heard It Today: 8.5 (high A-)

 

Various Artists - Beserkley Chartbusters, Volume 1 [honorable mention]

:-) [Can't quite get to B+, certainly the Jonathan Richman songs alone are, but I could be underrating it.]

Skip James - The Complete Early Recordings: X

 

These 18 early recordings are all he did in his prime. They are in many different compilations. Totally outside my bailiwick, and not seminal enough (although obviously seminal) to put on the shelves or grade.

Breaking Circus - The Very Long Fuse [EP] [honorable mention]

 :-)

Girls Against Boys - House of GvsB: 9.5 (high A)

 

Girls Against Boys - The Ghost List [honorable mention]

 :-)

Girls Against Boys - Freak*on*ica [honorable mention]

 :-)