Action!

by Alex HendersonDesmond Dekker was as important to 1960s reggae as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Sam Cooke were to R&B, and no discussion of early reggae would be complete without some mention of his work. First released as an LP and reissued on CD in 1996 (with four bonus tracks), Action! is essential listening for even casual reggae fans. Reggae has been called "Jamaican R&B," and in fact, that's pretty much what it is. One cannot miss Cooke's influence on "Sabotage," "Young Generation," "Personal Possession," "Mother Young Gal" and other late-1960s gems he recorded with his group the Aces. The best-known song on the CD, however, is "007," also known as "Shanty Town." With its reference to Jamaica's rude boys, the song took a look at violent crime in Jamaica's poor ghettos and became one of the biggest reggae hits of the 1960s. Although the sound quality isn't great by late 1960s standards (let alone digital 1990s standards), the importance and vitality of these recordings cannot be overstated.