Destroys the Invaders (With Roots Radics)

Released the same year he was working with Black Uhuru and fellow dub producer Scientist, Prince Jammy's 1982 effort Destroys the Invaders borrows Scientist's love of space noises and quirky, themed albums -- in particular, Scientist Meets the Space Invaders. Plenty of laser beams are added to Jammy's usual minimal dub but if Scientist tried to freak out his audience with alien sounds and dark forces from beyond, Jammy prefers capturing the vastness and mysteriousness of space by remaining stretched-out and restrained. Even if this isn't his most memorable album it's thematically sound and offers one solid groove after another. The band is the rock-solid Roots Radics, the studio is King Tubby's legendary Channel One, and the art work prime Tony McDermott, the man who did so many of the Greensleeves label's classic covers. Three years after this release, Jammy would arguably create ragga by producing the entirely digital "(Under Me) Sleng Teng" for singer Wayne Smith. This is a solid, pre-drum machine effort from the man and a lot more satisfying than the long wait it took to get reissued -- 25 years -- would lead one to believe. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi