Intensified cover
Released

This 1968 album doesn’t include all of Desmond Dekker’s biggest hits — “007 (Shantytown)” isn’t here, for example — but it does offer “It Mek,” “Rude Boy Train,” and the immortal “Israelites,” the song that catapulted Dekker to fame outside of Jamaica and brought international attention to themes of Rastafarian religious belief for the first time. The Aces’ tensile rock steady groove is fully on point throughout this album, and it’s an essential document of a very exciting time in the development of Jamaican music.

Rick Anderson

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