The baldhead-dread singer, “The Don”, Leroy Smart, neglected by major labels, straddles the entire spectrum of Reggae, from roots to dancehall, demonstrating a distinctive weird only-in-Jamaica vocalizing, a lament well suited to romantic and religious obsessions.

Given that the music had been shunned by radio both inside and outside Jamaica, Jamaican record stores established a distinctive way of doing business. In the atypical Jamaican reggae outlet, there was the store, a place for the customer to stand, and then a counter that the proprietor and a turntable (or sound system) would stand behind. The owner would play snippets of records of his choice or records that customers requested. This is how one would make a decision about what to buy, let alone that you could just hang around and listen.
In the Boston area, this kind of retail was, as might be imagined, decidedly independent. I can’t remember how we found out about these outlets but sometimes they required a trip into Boston’s African-American enclaves such as Roxbury around Dudley Station or the South End of Boston. Those trips always bring to mind the Linton Kwesi Johnson song, “Come We Go Dung Deh”.
continue article here: Pop Matters: Vinyl Archeology
