The legendary Fashion Records set the standard for 1980s UK reggae, bringing into its small but prolific studio a steady stream of A-list artists who were after that Fashion sound: clean and neat but not too slick, heavy but danceable and with a great horn section. Many of Fashion’s biggest hits were light-hearted fare in the standard early-dancehall style, but the label also produced a significant amount of roots-and-culture material, highlights of which are gathered in this collection: the Nyabinghi-flavored “Babylon System” by Neville Morrison, Freddie McGregor’s sturdy “Know Jah,” and Alton Ellis’s “Rise Black Man” are all great examples of this particular strain of Fashion’s output.

– Rick Anderson