Dubbing Right Tracks

It doesn't get much more old-school than this: reggae and ska legends Justin Hinds, Noel "Skully" Simms, Winston "Sparrow" Martin, and Johnny Moore backed by a crack team of young musicians from the famous Alpha Boys School (the Kingston secondary school where much of the reggae aristocracy matriculated at various times throughout the 1960s and 1970s), delivering a joyful program of ska, reggae, rocksteady, and mento. Lead vocals are traded off among the headliners, and a few rock-solid instrumental tracks are scattered throughout the program as well. This could have been a predictable exercise in tired nostalgia-mongering, but the mood is so upbeat and the playing so sparklingly energetic that it instead comes across as a joyful celebration of Jamaica's musical traditions; even when Justin Hinds is trotting out such potboiler material as "On the Last Day" and "Army Man," he makes the music sound, if not brand new, at least fresh and exciting. Sparrow Martin offers a long-overdue tip of the reggae hat to the Clash with a fine cover version of "Revolution Rock," and his traditional take on the mento song "Linstead Market" is a real treat as well. Very highly recommended.