Customer Reviews

From Dubplate to Download: The Best Of Greensleeves Records

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I wanted to be the first to review these 2cd compilation just to big up Greensleeves records and to tell everyone how wicked this set is. 40 wicked tunes, all in the top 10 on the charts during their time, no fillers on this album. Big Up Greensleeves for providing this 1979-1982 set of when dancehall was in its purest form. Hit's like 'Shine Eye Gal', 'Firehouse Rock', 'Another One Bits the Dust', 'Gunman', 'Look How Me Sexy', 'Spar Wit Me' and that's just the first cd! If you're a fan of 80's dancehall or lover's rock don't hesitate to pick this one up. And it's only the price of a regular cd! Respect to Greensleeves!

A superb collection of early "dancehall"/late roots rock. The dancehall aspect is more in the production (emphasis on drum and bass) than in the music, which is still very much 1970s roots reggae.
I bought this a year ago, and I still enjoy it as much as the first day I listened to it. All these songs were hit records in the late seventies/early eighties in the Kingston and London reggae scene. Most of them are Henry 'Junjo' Lawes productions (that's him on the cover) at Channel One with the Roots Radics, but there are also some great Linval Thompson productions.
A lot of Wailing Souls, Barrington Levy, Yellowman and a lot of dj tunes. Michael Prophet's "Gunman" is followed by Toyan's version "How The West Was Won". There are four versions of "I'm Not Getting Crazy" by Don Carlos. Jr Delgado's "Love Tickles Like Magic" borrows Black Uhuru's "Satan Army Band" riddim.
All tracks are great and you will recognize many riddims, perhaps the most heavy of all: the heavenless riddim given the Junjo treatment on Triston Palmer's "Entertainment" (extended with an answer version of Jah Thomas & Toyan").
I hate to be one of these people that urges you to "buy this" but this one you will not regret buying.

Awesome compilation. Really nice tracks here that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Mellow and grooving Reggae, from the best years of Reggae when the sound was unique and refined, before it became influenced by electronic, rap, and hip-hop. I wouldn't normally consider this Dancehall, since it sounds nothing like the aggressive, Nazi Reggae dancehall of today. I guess this what they played in the dancehall, when dance was nice, and dancehall was synonymous with reggae. This is really good stuff, and accessable for those who are new to Reggae and want something besides Bob, Wailers, Steel Pulse...etc. You don't need to be a reggae aficionado to appreciate this one.

I ordered BIGGEST DANCEHALL ANTHEMS and received, instead, FROM DUBPLATE TO DOWNLOAD . I've looked at other sites and it seems Greensleeves has discontinued BIGGEST and replaced it with DUBPLATE. Download of BIGGEST from amazon has excellent sound quality though. I usually end up listening to reggae from the 60's or 70's, but this album is impressive . If you like the Wailing Souls songs from this disc, check out their VERY BEST OF...After 15 or so years, i still listen to it regularly.

A great collection of dancehall vibes from an era where dancehall was dancehall. The sound is clean, crisp, and original...and the one drop never sounded so sweet. Today's dancehall is heavily influenced by American hip- hop, straying away from the Jamaican sound that makes reggae so great. Definitlely a great buy, especially for those who want to get introduced to late 70's/early 80's dancehall reggae.
My top 5 tracks on this jawn:
1. Michael Prophet- Gunman
2. Yellowman- Morning Ride
3. Wailing Souls- Kingdom Rise, Kingdom Fall
4. Don Carlos- I'm Not Crazy
5. John Holt- Ghetto Queen

This collection is important but much slower and surely earlier than critical dancehall tracks that changed the dancehall scene dramatically like "Ah Who Se Me Dun" bu Cutty Ranks, "Batty Rider" by Buju Banton, and "Murder She Wrote" by Chaka Demus and Pliers. Although much more commercial hits, these are closer predecessors and the essential roots of todays current dancehall tracks.

Yellowman's tracks, in my opinion, were the only true "dancehall" tracks on this CD I could relate to.

Good CD, but for early dancehall closer to what you enjoy today, go get the early VP Records "Strictly the Best" Volume's 1-5.

Gil

this is a good pick for those who love reggae music, and there are some early dancehall and chat tracks. But mostly its late 70's, early 80's reggae singers. To put Barrington Levy, John Holt and Johnny Osbourne on a 'strictly dancehall' comp seems ignorant...Still, i'd chek'et out.