Chris Blackwell's Island Records may have kicked off the Seventies with an impressive stable of reggae talent, but by the end of that decade Richard Branson's Virgin label had managed to sign some pretty legendary roots rockers of its own.
For while Island had a chap called Robert Nesta Marley leading a rasta pack which included the like of Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Third World and Black Uhuru, Virgin subsidiary Front Line was home to Gregory Isaacs, The Mighty Diamonds, U-Roy, Johnny Clarke and the Twinkle Brothers. A prime example, if ever there was one, of the record buying public benefitting from a little healthy competition.
This four CD, 86-track collection complete with 48-page booklet boasts most of Front Line's highlights from the last quarter of a century, with material from more than 25 of its artists.
Hard to single out just a few, but the dubby delights here include Gregory Isaac's languid soul tones on the like of 'Black Liberation Struggle' and 'Native Women' - he'd moved to Mango by the time the hugely essential 'Night Nurse' was released in 1982 - The Abyssinians' sweet falsetto harmonies on 'Jah Loves' and 'This Land Is For Everyone' and the scratchy, violin-tinged ska beauty of The Paragons' 'Tide Is High' - covered by Blondie in 1980.
Elsewhere there's U-Roy's fantastic, royalty-baiting 'Chalice In The Palace', I Roy's lilting 'Tribute To Marcus Garvey', Althea And Donna's eternally popular 'Uptown Top Ranking' and the brassy brilliance of Tapper Zukie's 'MPLA' and 'Oh Lord' - with the immortal lines "cricket, lovely cricket" and "he bowl and it's a six".
Things get a tad patchy by CD four, with Sly Dunbar's novelty, syn-drum peppered version of the Sesame Street theme, a dubbed up rendition of the Twinkle Brothers' take on the Jim Reeves' classic 'Distant Drums' and the lacklustre closer of The Mighty Diamonds' 'Bodyguard'. But hey that's just being Mr Picky from Fussyville, Choosyshire. 'The Front Line Box Set' is an essential purchase for any discerning music fan who doesn't think that reggae begins and ends with UB bloody 40!
