Yet another crucial release from the guys at ‘Blood & Fire’, Blazing Horns showcases one of the finest musicians of his time, Tommy McCook, best remembered as the founder member of the Legendary Skatalites. Tommy was born in Havana, Cuba in 1927, his mother and family returned to JA when he was 11 years old. Tommy left an unmistakable mark on the course of Jamaican music. The first nine track of this reissue are taken from the original ‘Blazing Horns’ LP from 1979, which was produced by Vivan Jackson (aka Yabby U) and released on the short lived label known as Grove Music. As these tracks were recorded at King Tubbys, the listener is treated to that distinctive Tubby sound, comprising of dark dub styling and fantastic horn arrangement. The title track, which is an absolutely essential tune, opens the album and we are treated to an excellent extended dub mix, originally entitled ‘No Water’ and released on Grove Music as a 7” cut.

Tracks 10 and 11 are stand alone tunes, track 10 was originally released on Groove Label as a B-side of a 12” and track 11 is a Bunny Lee produced cut. The reminder of this reissue is made of up a Glen Brown LP, which first appeared on a white label pressing in 1977, but never saw the light of day. Tommy blows over some classic Glen Brown riddims, such as ‘Everyday Sax’ on the ‘Slaving’ riddim and ‘Harry Meets Tommy’ on the ‘Dirty Harry Riddim’.

The whole reissue has a laid back and jazzy feel, its hard to pick out individual killa tracks, but some essentials are ‘Blazing Horns’, 'Lambs Bread', 'Glorious Lion' and 'Harry Meets Tommy'. Musicians on the album include the likes of Sly & Robbie, Ansel Collins (keyboards), Bobby Ellis (trumpet), Clinton Fearon and Albert Griffiths (guitars).

Without a doubt this come very highly recommended, enjoy!

JumpUp. (I picked up a copy from Blood & Fire for a fiver!)

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