Can't Stop the Dread (High Note Roots 1975-1979)

The High Note label, owned and operated by producer Sonia Pottinger (a rarity in the almost entirely male reggae music scene), released a prodigious stream of singles throughout the 1960s and 1970s in a variety of styles, but the best songs were always those in a roots-and-culture style – sufferer’s anthems, songs of political protest, and Rastafarian doctrinal disquisitions by artists both famous (Justin Hinds, Delroy Wilson, Leroy Smart) and obscure (Aston Whittaker, The Survivors). This excellent two-disc compilation presents a generous selection of tracks in that style, from the heartbreakingly sweet “How Can I Get Over” by the Chantells to Leroy Smart’s admonishing “Too Much Grudgefulness.” On “Winey Winey” the Kingstonians take decadent dancehall denizens to task, and on “Wipe Your Weeping Eyes” Justin Hinds and the Dominos offer spiritual uplift. Several of these songs are presented in extended discomix style, with dub mixes appended to the original vocal versions.