If you’re a connoisseur of pre-reggae Jamaican music, this wee package will make your day, if not your year. This compilation collects hits as well as rare & previously unreleased ska tracks produced by Duke Reid. If that name means not-much to you, don’t worry about it - simply put, these tunes could be produced by Marlon Brando and Ska All Mighty would still be a rollicking, virtually essential good-time platter. (For the uninitiated, ska, simply put, is a form of pop from Jamaica that was a predecessor to reggae.) Such a deal: 19 tracks [!], where you get instrumentals like a reggae-ifed "Spanish Eyes" featuring the gorgeous, lush sax of Tommy McCook; "Sailing Along," the irresistible, rough-and-tumble soul-jazz/reggae combo of Earl Bostic’s "Honky Tonk" and the "Theme From Peter Gunn" by the tremendous Skatalites (with whom Lester Bowie, Steve Turre and David Murray would record in 1994); "Why Should I Worry" by Justin Hines & The Dominoes, which highlights the influence of American doo-wop vocal groups on Jamaican music; the manic throb of the Jah Wobble-meets-Motown bass line of Lynn Taitt’s "Independence Ska," which also features a Ben Webster-ish tenor solo. Ska was/is a lot more than "mere" dance music or a hopped-up-on-bennies version of reggae - as evidenced on this disc, ska is an unpolished, cheerfully lop-sided intermingling of Caribbean rhythms, rhythm & blues, doo-wop, jump-blues, jazz and rock & roll that’ll get your feet tapping absentmindedly and a grin on your kisser. (Music snobs of any stripe need not apply.)