Various Basic Replay
Basic Replay has already re-issued most of the cuts here, originally recorded years or decades […]
Basic Replay has already re-issued most of the cuts here, originally recorded years or decades ago. But this compilation not only puts these tracks on CD (for the first time, in most cases), it also gives a nice cross-section of the label’s efforts. The breadth includes everything from the echo-y dub splendor of King Culture’s “Nice Up the Session Version” to Courtney Melody’s fantastic dancehall vocals on “Black Liberation.” Ackie opens the disc with the gunshot-laced “Call Me Rambo,” and Prince Jazzbo closes with “Replay Version,” a bone-deep groove for all its electronic eeriness. The album’s range means it sometimes sounds a little scattershot, but the tracks are so good that the collection almost always hits the mark anyway.