Doctor Bird

Review: Regarded by dub lovers as a seminal collection, this three CD epic has been unavailable for a quarter of a century. It draws together three hugely important dub albums and includes seven previously unreleased tracks from the band's heyday from 1950 to 1975. Promoter, producer and DJ Arthur "Duke" Reid was a master of this form and a hero in Jamaica: his sound ruled the local dance halls and much of it was engineered by Errol Brown. You can hear his skills in all of the tracks here - the subtle keys, the sliding hi hats and the rolling drums all exude a perfectly inviting warmth.

Review: The latest must-have double feature from the Doctor Bird archives focuses on the pioneering work of Jamaican producer and vocalist Clancy Eccles, one of the first wave of young rocksteady artists to achieve international success in the late 1960s. The first disc focuses on his work as a self-produced solo artist, backing the fantastic 1969 LP "Freedom" - a soulful, slow-burn treat - with a handful of B-sides and lesser-known singles recorded in the same period. Disc two offers up the instrumental album he produced for regular backing band The Dynamites, "Fire Corner", plus a wealth of tracks Clancy produced for toaster King Stitt and other leading Jamaican vocalists of the period, most of which have never been available before on CD.

Review: It would be fair to say that Lee 'Scratch' Perry's work with The Full Experience, a female vocal trio comprised of Aura Lewis, Pamela Reed and Candy MacKenzie, is not among his best known material - in part because only limited amounts of it was ever released in the late 1970s. This brilliant anthology from Doctor Bird does its best to fill in the gaps by gathering together Full Experience tracks from various largely little-known releases, including a clutch of cuts that have never before appeared on wax. Highlights include the dancefloor-focused disco-reggae sweetness of "Disco Fits", the super-soulful "Ice Cream", the Congoes-esque "Young Gifted & Broke" and the brilliant 12" mix of "Disco Devil", which is based on Perry's fine riddim for Max Romeo's "Chase The Devil".

Review: Doctor Bird's latest must-have archival release showcases some of the best work from Sonia Pottinger, a pioneering female producer from Jamaica who had a hand in some of the finest reggae to emerge during the 1970s and 80s. Nominally, the focus is two sought-after albums from vocalist Sonya Spence, 1978's "In The Dark" and 1981's "Sings Love", both of which offer a particularly loved-up, soulful and glassy-eyed set of songs. You'll find both albums back to back on CD1, with disc two focused on some of Pottinger's other productions for female vocalists and artists. In truth, the collection is worth buying for this disc alone, which offers a great introduction to Pottinger's wider body of work.

Review: This double CD set draws together some of the most lauded, late 1970s productions from Linval Thompson, a roots, dub and dancehall stalwart whose music - and the artists he worked for - was championed by Trojan Records. On CD one you'll find two key albums: fine 1977 solo set "I Love Marijuana", whose dub-wise roots rhythms were laid down by a backing band including Wailers member Aston "Family Man" Barrett and Sly & Robbie, and the much more dubbed-out and intoxicatingly heavy "African Princess" (1978) by leading Jamaican toaster Big Joe. Disc two boasts the dub/early dancehall fusion of Trinity's similarly inclined 1979 classic "Rock In The Ghetto" as well as eight rare (and exceptionally good) extended mixes plucked from various Thompson-produced releases.