| Sometimes,
you find the best music somewhere in the
dusty corners of a record shop. Or in a
virtual dusty corner of a website.
Sometimes, the best material is way back
in the popularity polls. Or at the download
charts of a legal mp3 website.
Sometimes, the best vocalists are the
least known. And here is where Jah Woosh
(Neville Breckford) enters.
He's quite an extraordinary man. During
the 1970's, he was one of the first Toasters
("Reggae Rappers") to gain
popularity in the UK. Over there, his music
was released on albums rather than singles
which was kind of special, too.
It was a time wherein there was lot's of
development going on, as King Tubby and
others cultivated the art of DUB engineering
and the DJ's created their own kind of
discipline, too.
Drum and basslines, combined with heavy
effects and heartical chanting became the
dominant sound in the dance and arguably
that has continued until this very day.
The Best Of JAH Woosh contains 24 tracks
from that era. The music is hard: echo's and
reverbs galore as DJ's chanted over Reggae
music heavily mixed in DUB Style.
I Roy, Tappa Zukie, Jah Stitch and many
others were dominating the Jamaican
dancehalls as they developed what would
later become the inspiration for a style
called "Rap".
And Jah Woosh was there, too. His voice,
strong like iron, could ride the
heaviest Roots riddims.
So no, there is not really any reason why
Jah Woosh is not as known as let's say Tappa
Zukie or Big Youth.
The music on this album will convince you
of that. And the price is no excuse not to
get it.
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