Bob Marley & The Wailers- Soul Rebels (1970) MP3 & FLAC

"I'm a capturer, that's what they say, soul adventurer, night and day."

Soul Rebels, The Wailers' first long player, often gets lost in the shadow of all the iconic albums that followed it; however, if you haven't heard Bob Marley's early collaborative efforts with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, then you are in an awakening. Darker and more rough-hewn than later Wailers' albums, Soul Rebels catches band and producer at a formative juncture in the development of Reggae as a distinct genre because these were among the first recordings to carry this music beyond the shores of Jamaica. Massively underrated, but no less essential than the later albums.

Junior Murvin- Police & Thieves (1977) MP3 & FLAC

"Police and thieves in the streets, oh yeah! Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition."

Many will already be familiar with the title track of Junior Murvin's debut "solo" album, as The Clash recorded "Police & Thieves" less than a year later for their eponymously titled debut. While The Clash's Punk-Reggae interpretation is memorable, Lee "Scratch" Perry's Dub-informed production and Murvin's unparalleled vocals make the original version truly definitive.  If your knowledge of Roots-Reggae begins and ends with Bob Marley, you are in for a revelation because Murvin brings an entirely different vocal style to these songs. While Marley's vocals add Rock and Folk influences to the Caribbean mix, Murvin seems to be channeling the ghosts of 1960s Motown and R&B, but these comparisons do neither artist any justice. If you want to understand why Police & Thieves is widely considered one of the essential Roots-Reggae albums, listen to Murvin's prophesying falsetto roaring through Perry's trademark heavily reverbed production, creating a dark and intense musical template for these tales of social unrest and spiritual reckoning.