Latest Review: Magic Lantern – High Beams

Long Beach’s Magic Lantern have finally gone and released a new sonic document after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. Eagerly anticipated by those who have been biding their time waiting for the band to get on with their uber limited cassette only and CD-R releases (their Self-Titled CD-R was limited to 30), “High Beams”, the band’s latest opus [...]

Johnny Osbourne – Come Back Darling

Back in January of this year the good people at Trojan (of the record persuasion, not prophylactics) reissued Johnny Osbourne (and the Sensations) 1969 gem, “Come Back Darling”. The original album was produced and released by Winston Riley on his then newly formed Jamaican label, Technique Records. This new release includes 2 discs with a total of 61 tracks, and while I’m often skeptical about Trojan’s all-too-common practice of shoving dozens of relatively unknown songs on their reissues (many of which rightly deserve to remain in obscurity), these 49 ‘Bonus’ tracks well deserve to see the light of day again. The extra material, taken from Winston Riley’s sessions with a number of artists in the years surrounding the original release of “Come Back Darling”, creates a reminder of just how amazing music coming out of Jamaica at the time was.

This release has been dubbed Rocksteady at its finest, and confusing as it can be with all the throwing around of Reggae subgenres like “Ska”, “Bluebeat”, “Rocksteady” and “Dancehall” just know this; soulful jams and funky organ-led instrumentals are abound. While I recommend this for any fan of Reggae music, if one really needs the security of a reference point I would compare it to the work of artists like Alton Ellis, Desmond Dekker and John Holt.