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Various Artists - Trojan Rude Boy Box Set - Disc 3 (1976)

Track listing:
  1. Tougher Than Tough (Rudie In Court) Derrick Morgan 2:24
  2. Set Them Free Lee Perry & The Sensations 2:29
  3. Don't Blame The Children Lee Perry & The Sensations 2:27
  4. Court Dismiss Derrick Morgan 2:54
  5. Dreader Than Dread Honeyboy Martin & The Voices 2:36
  6. Judge Dread In Court Derrick Morgan 4:10
  7. Some Of Them A Bawl (Aka Having A Bawl) The Pioneers 2:59
  8. Stop The Violence The Valentines 3:06
  9. Curfew Bobby Aitken & The Caribbeats 2:39
  10. Ratchet Knife Amiel Moodie & The Dandemites 3:03
  11. Johnny Too Bad The Slickers 3:10
  12. Johnny Gunman Jackie Edwards 2:19
  13. Rudie's Medley Peter Tosh & The Soulmates 3:14
  14. You Can't Win The Slickers 2:31
  15. Cool Down The Untouchables 2:51
  16. Hooligan Change Your Style John Holt 3:53
  17. Simmer Down John Clarke 3:15

Notes

Jamaica's independence in 1964 started in motion a complex series of interrelated cultural changes, one of which, the migration of thousands of Jamaicans from the country to the city of Kingston, led to massive joblessness in the city. Nothing is more desperate than an angry young man with no job, no money, no future (and thus no attainable dreams), and tons of time on his hands, and by the long, turbulent summer of 1966, the rude boy (as such young men were named) phenomenon was at high tide. Drawing iconic style and identity from spaghetti Westerns and James Bond films, the rude boys were on an unavoidable collision course with the Kingston police, and a remarkable series of records documenting the exchange began appearing in 1966 just as ska was beginning to morph into early rocksteady. This delightful three-disc, 50-track box set collects a number of these rude boy anthems, including enduring classics like the Heptones' "Gunman Coming to Town" (with its odd William Tell intro), Desmond Dekker's "007 (Shanty Town)," Alton Ellis' "Cry Tough," the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad," and Lee "Scratch" Perry's "Set Them Free." A good deal of the rebel righteousness and outsiders' view that came to be identified with reggae in Jamaica really starts with these tough little tunes, which represented a very public forum on the relative merits -- pro and con -- of the rude boy stance. A well-chosen set, full of wall-to-wall classics.