This Is Desmond Dekker

by Jo-Ann GreeneBy 1969, Desmond Dekker & the Aces needed little introduction in Britain, having already shot their way into the U.K. Top 15 two years earlier with the rocksteady masterpiece "007 (Shanty Town)." Regardless, This Is Desmond Dekker was determined to bring the artist to the attention of anyone who thought he might be a one-hit wonder. The album was the Jamaican star's international debut, and was rather confusingly titled The Israelites outside of the U.K. The 12 tracks within were culled from Dekker & the Aces' three Jamaican sets -- 1967's 007 (Shanty Town), the following year's Action!, and (to muddy the waters) 1969's The Israelites (and that latter album should not be confused with the 1975 Cactus release of the same title, which is an entirely different set again). All three of these records were released on the Beverley's label, and each was basically a hits collection, rounding up the group's recent island smashes, which This Is Desmond Dekker then boiled down to a "best of the best-of." And so fans were treated to a flood of such rocksteady classics as "007," "Rudy Got Soul," "It Pays," "Sabotage," and "Unity," with numbers like "Mother Pepper," "Shing a Ling," and "Music Like Dirt" (aka "Intensified Festival") skanking boldly into the new reggae arena. Incidentally, back home, "Unity" had garnered Dekker second place in the prestigious 1967 Independence Festival Song Competition, which he'd win the following year with "Intensified Festival"; that song was released under the title "Music Like Dirt" in Britain. Every number on this set was worthy of inclusion, but a dozen tracks only scratched the surface of the prolific band's masterpieces, ensuring that, in later years, dozens of compilations would fill in the many gaps left by this set. However, as introductions go, this was a doozy.