Boom Shack-a-Lack
(originally released in 1985 and reissued in 2002 with two bonus tracks) finds the young
Junior Reid
coming into his own as a mature vocalist, in the last stages of developing the style that would serve him well later as a member of
Black Uhuru
. It also finds producer
Prince Jammy
and
the Hi Times Band
at the peak of their powers, generating powerful no-frills
dancehall
grooves that give
Reid
both room to maneuver and plenty of structural solidity. Those shared strengths all come together most powerfully on
"Big Timer,"
with its spare instrumentation and subtly dubwise mix, while
"Drink Me out Royalty"
unfortunately plays up
's abiding inability to sing consistently in tune (a problem which would, thankfully, ameliorate over time). Of the bonus tracks,
"Old Time Something"
is a two-and-a-half-minute triviality, while the
disco
mix of
"Boom-Shack-a-Lack"
takes what had been simply a solid piece of
reggae
and spins it out into a treatise on post-roots
dub
science. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson