Big Ship Riddim – Thompson Sound

Three cuts, one tight little snapshot of early-’80s reggae: Barrington Levy’s “True Love, ” Freddie McGregor’s “Big Ship, ” and the Roots Radics Band’s “Storming The Death Star” all ride Thompson Sound’s 1983 work with that heavy, propulsive feel the era did so well. Levy’s tune leans on his high, slippery phrasing, while McGregor’s “Big Ship” is the obvious anchor here, a song that already had enough melodic weight to travel far beyond the session itself. Then the Roots Radics close the circle with “Storming The Death Star, ” all muscular bass and stern studio discipline, the sort of instrumental cut that reminds you how much of this period was carried by the band as much as the singers. Coming in 1983, this one sits right in that fertile post-roots, pre-digital stretch when Thompson Sound was still digging deep into the sound system era’s rougher edge.