Pain in My Belly

Prince Buster's fourth U.K. album followed in the footsteps of the earlier Fly Flying Ska by combining a selection of his own recent hits ("Faith," "Have Mercy," "Blackhead Chinaman") with an impressive round-up of productions — the Maytals' "I Love You So" and "He Is Real," the Skatalites' "Super Charge," Don Drummond's "Ska Town" and more. Overall, it's a less dramatic album than Buster fans might have become accustomed to — Tommy McCook's easy listening rendering of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," and Eric "Monty" Morris' "Those Teardrops" are especially lightweight fare. But Buster's "Ska School" — a precursor, of course, of the later hit "Musical College" — and Don Drummond's "Ska Town" are both high energy skankers, while the opening collaboration with the Maytals, "I Got a Pain," is an unimpeachable Buster classic.