A SKA LEGEND, 09 Sep 2008
You cant knock Desmond Dekker. A great voice lovely song's. It's at a bargain price. Rude Boy you wont stop moving your Feet. If you don't own it. Treat yourself. They dont get much better than this.

Buoyant and tuneful reggae, 22 Jun 2006

This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek, The Israelites and You Can Get It If You Really Want that were huge hits in the UK. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.


BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 10 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 03 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

A SKA LEGEND, 09 Sep 2008
You cant knock Desmond Dekker. A great voice lovely song's. It's at a bargain price. Rude Boy you wont stop moving your Feet. If you don't own it. Treat yourself. They dont get much better than this.

Buoyant and tuneful reggae, 22 Jun 2006

This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek, The Israelites and You Can Get It If You Really Want that were huge hits in the UK. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.


BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 10 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 03 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

Missing tracks, 25 Mar 2008
Desmond Dekker is a star, so this review is no reflection on his work. I recommend this album but be aware that there are 16 tracks listed in the product description that are NOT on these 2 records! Amazon have been informed, but the tracks are still listed on the product information.

While he's generally classed as a ska artist, Dekker's biggest hits, which he recorded with producer Leslie Kong, were prime examples of rocksteady and early reggae. But what hits! "Israelites", "007 (Shanty Town)", "It Mek" wrapped the cool riddims around some glorious pop music to become international hits, all led by Dekker's high distinctive voice. To be fair, when you get past the prime period, not everything here is USDA, but most of the tracks here are juicy enough to get you salivating. And when he was great, Dekker was up there with the giants; all these years later, the best still sounds wonderful. --Chris Nickson

A SKA LEGEND, 09 Sep 2008
You cant knock Desmond Dekker. A great voice lovely song's. It's at a bargain price. Rude Boy you wont stop moving your Feet. If you don't own it. Treat yourself. They dont get much better than this.

Buoyant and tuneful reggae, 22 Jun 2006

This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek, The Israelites and You Can Get It If You Really Want that were huge hits in the UK. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.


BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 10 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 03 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

Missing tracks, 25 Mar 2008
Desmond Dekker is a star, so this review is no reflection on his work. I recommend this album but be aware that there are 16 tracks listed in the product description that are NOT on these 2 records! Amazon have been informed, but the tracks are still listed on the product information.

The first international reggae star, 03 Mar 2005
Bob Marley is by far the most famous reggae performer there has yet been, but even he probably owes some of his success to Desmond Dekker (born Desmond Dacres), who blazed the trail for reggae music in the sixties.

Desmond began his recording career in 1963 with Honour your father and mother. He had a long run of hits in his native Jamaica, many of them going to number one, eventually scoring internationally as well.

He made his debut in the UK charts in 1967, when 007 (inspired by James Bond, of course) made the top twenty. It seemed to be a one-off until, in 1969, Israelites went to the very top of the UK charts and also became a top ten American hit. It meik (a UK top ten hit) and You can get it if you really want (a number two UK hit in 1970) consolidated his reputation. Between those hits, Desmond had a minor UK hit with Pinckney girl.

The international hits dried up although Israelites was re-issued in 1975 and again made the UK top ten. A follow-up (Sing a sad song - not included here) made the UK top twenty. By that time, other reggae performers had emerged, foremost among them being Bob Marley.

So this collection contains the important international hits of Desmond Dekker, together with the best of his other recordings. It would take a lot more than a single CD to include all his Jamaican hits, but this is enough for most people.

Far I, 12 Nov 2004
Having seen Desmond radiating sextagenarian cool on last New Years Eve's Hootenanay, I determined to check out his back catelogue, knowing just Israelites and 007. It seems he has a plethora of sweet tunes to serenade the world with in his sweet falsetto and this is one album that any Reggae fan should check out.

A SKA LEGEND, 09 Sep 2008
You cant knock Desmond Dekker. A great voice lovely song's. It's at a bargain price. Rude Boy you wont stop moving your Feet. If you don't own it. Treat yourself. They dont get much better than this.

Buoyant and tuneful reggae, 22 Jun 2006

This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek, The Israelites and You Can Get It If You Really Want that were huge hits in the UK. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.


BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 10 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

BOUNCY, MELODIC REGGAE, 03 Dec 2003
This compilation covers some highlights from Desmond Dekker's career that goes right back to the 1960s. It is not comprehensive but contains some of his greatest hits like It Mek and The Israelites that were huge hits. It also displays a variety of styles like ska, rocksteady and bluebeat. My favourites include the aforementioned tracks plus You've Got Your Troubles, Shanty Town, I Believe, Problems and The More You Live. Best Of is a very enjoyable album of tuneful and bouncy songs from one of the greatest Jamaican masters. Another great one is his Greatest Hits collection that I highly recommend.

Missing tracks, 25 Mar 2008
Desmond Dekker is a star, so this review is no reflection on his work. I recommend this album but be aware that there are 16 tracks listed in the product description that are NOT on these 2 records! Amazon have been informed, but the tracks are still listed on the product information.

The first international reggae star, 03 Mar 2005
Bob Marley is by far the most famous reggae performer there has yet been, but even he probably owes some of his success to Desmond Dekker (born Desmond Dacres), who blazed the trail for reggae music in the sixties.

Desmond began his recording career in 1963 with Honour your father and mother. He had a long run of hits in his native Jamaica, many of them going to number one, eventually scoring internationally as well.

He made his debut in the UK charts in 1967, when 007 (inspired by James Bond, of course) made the top twenty. It seemed to be a one-off until, in 1969, Israelites went to the very top of the UK charts and also became a top ten American hit. It meik (a UK top ten hit) and You can get it if you really want (a number two UK hit in 1970) consolidated his reputation. Between those hits, Desmond had a minor UK hit with Pinckney girl.

The international hits dried up although Israelites was re-issued in 1975 and again made the UK top ten. A follow-up (Sing a sad song - not included here) made the UK top twenty. By that time, other reggae performers had emerged, foremost among them being Bob Marley.

So this collection contains the important international hits of Desmond Dekker, together with the best of his other recordings. It would take a lot more than a single CD to include all his Jamaican hits, but this is enough for most people.

Far I, 12 Nov 2004
Having seen Desmond radiating sextagenarian cool on last New Years Eve's Hootenanay, I determined to check out his back catelogue, knowing just Israelites and 007. It seems he has a plethora of sweet tunes to serenade the world with in his sweet falsetto and this is one album that any Reggae fan should check out.

Missing tracks, 25 Mar 2008
Desmond Dekker is a star, so this review is no reflection on his work. I recommend this album but be aware that there are 16 tracks listed in the product description that are NOT on these 2 records! Amazon have been informed, but the tracks are still listed on the product information.