Various Artists - Total Reggae: Greensleeves (VP Records)

Forty tracks, one for every year in the existence of the label, or as they summarize it themselves: "From Alimantado to Alborosie!". In the extensive liner notes, John Masouri takes us on a journey through time: from the earliest days as a small record store in West Ealing run by Chris Sedgewick and Chris Cracknell (casually known at Greensleeves as the two Chrises) over the move to Shepherd's Bush (immortalized in music by Ranking Joe in his 'Step It Down Shepherd's Bush') and ending in the fusion with VP Records. It was mostly the first disc of this double compilation album that attracted our attention, as the  track list contains quite a few firsts: back in 1977 'Where Is Jah' by Reggae Regular was the first 7 inch on the label, Dr. Alimantado's 'Chant To Jah Jah' may be from 'Born For A Purpose/Sons Of Thunder', but in 1978 his 'Best Dressed Chicken In Town' was the first album that was distributed by Greensleeves, and The Wailing Souls' 'War' was the first in the meanwhile legendary 12 inch series on the label. We're not going to recount the whole history here, but hopefully we won't have to convince you of the fact Greensleeves has co-written entire chapters of reggae history either. Here's hoping for another 40 legendary years!