Aint No Sunshine Riddim – Various Labels

A dark, echoing roots groove runs through this one, with Augustus Pablo’s “Thunder Clap” cutting the heaviest figure of the bunch and Horace Andy, Jah Lloyd, Dr. Alimantado and Jacob Miller all finding their own angle on the same mournful frame. The title theme goes back to the early Studio One cut on Coxsone Dodd’s original 1970 “Ain’t No Sunshine” riddim, and this 1970s set feels like one of those loose, label-crossing excursions where the tune keeps mutating as it moves from Horace Andy’s lament to Alimantado’s sly “Oil Crisis” and Miller’s “False Rasta. ” Pablo’s version is the obvious anchor, but the whole thing sits nicely alongside the tougher rockers side of his catalogue, with the bass and space doing as much talking as the singers.