Mento Madness

Names like Lord Composer & The Silver Seas Orchestra, Harold Richardson & The Ticklers and Lord Messam & His Calypsonians mightn’t mean much here but in Jamaica they’re the stuff legends are made of. Cited as a key influence by Bob Marley, the early ’50s Mento scene had a definite punk rock feel to it with dozens of bands emerging overnight from the Kingston ghettos. An obvious labour of love, this 18-track trawl through reggae’s embryonic past is made even better by musicologists Steve Barrow and Paul Coote’s sleeve-notes.