The house band of Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee was formed in the mid-1970s by some of Jamaica’s most prominent and musically expressive session players. The shifting core line-up spun off from the Soul Syndicate and thus typically featured Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and Tony Chin on guitar and Bernard ‘Touter’ Harvey on organ. Carlton ‘Santa’ was the main drummer, but Carlton Barrett of the Wailers band and ‘Benbow’ Creary were sometimes featured. Most crucially, on bass, Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett shifted to Fully Fullwood (and occasionally, Earl ‘Bagga’ Walker), until Robbie Shakespeare took over, becoming the bandleader. The band was responsible for the popular ‘flying cymbal’ style that took Jamaica by storm, and you can hear it in abundance on this killer dub set from 1975, its excellent cuts of Cornell Campbell and Johnnie Clarke material mixed at King Tubby’s studio—a must for all serious fans of dub.
