Various - Under Mi Sleng Teng - The Dawning Of Digital Reggae

at last, a full exploration of that joyously inventive and seemingly spontaneous musical genre, digital reggae - which almost literally appeared from nowhere in 1985 with wayne smith's seminal, classic 'under mi sleng teng' (from which the title of tis compilation is taken) on the greensleeves label. the recording, which consisted of little more than smith's voice set to sounds generated by a casio music box (including a bass riff taken from eddie cochran's 'something else' that was literally found in the programming by producer prince jammy) took jamaica by storm and generated over two hundred cover versions within the next six months. as a result, from 1985 to 1995 digital reggae ruled the roost, with everyone from new upstarts to seasoned old hands trying their hand at it. this is the first compilation of the genre ever put together in the uk, and collates some of the biggest hits of the digital age. as well as 'sleng teng' there's also tunery from sugar minott, tiger, frankie paul, half pint, u roy, foxy brown, black uhuru, culture, ugly man, nicodemus, dennis brown and a host of others.