Customer Reviews
Heartbeat Strikes again.... - By: Jonathon Hawkes, 07 Oct 2008 
Have to agree with the first reviewer regarding the sloppy way this has been put together. I've dozens of Heartbeat CD's & while I'm loathe to criticse people that do such valuable work, this is not the first time a rather slip-shod attitude has been apparent on an re-issue.
What makes the whole 'Jah Promise' episode even more bizzare is that there is a perfectly good take of it issued on 'The Best of Studio One' last year by......Heartbeat!
Anyway, if it needs saying 5 out of 5 for the music (any reggae fan needs this LP), considerably less for this re-issue. However, if you don't have this record already, it is still worth a purchase, as the music is so great.
A wasted opportunity....... - By: TCH, 06 Sep 2008 Straight off the bat I have to say Johnny Osbourne's "Truth & Rights" is without doubtin the top 10 reggae albums ever but this 'expanded' CD reissue really doesn't do it justice. To quote Honest Jon's Records on the subject, "Talk about an open goal, with so much great Johnny Osbourne at Brentford Road still un-revived, this comp is a miserably wasted opportunity. Honestly, pretty pathetic -- but still, a few extras & (dodgy) extendeds...". Couldn't put it better myself but it gets worse on track 4; 'Jah Promise' one of the best tracks on the album there is an audible tape glitch 1:18 minutes into the song (sounding like the source tape momentarily being rewound). This is utterly disgracefulin a CD that claims to be "remastered from the original tapes" with no caveat emptor about sound quality (sound restoration has come such a long way that such glitches can easily be eliminated) & marketed at a full price. Honestly Heartbeat Records really needs to tighten up their act since their last Studio One compilation "The Gladiators: The Studio One Singles" had an incorrect tracklisting (which I believe has now finally been corrected). It is a real shame with the supremely rich Studio One catalogue to choose from that Heartbeat are so hit-and-miss with some of their stuff being admittedly brilliant (eg. the "When Rhythm Was King" compilation) but other stuff so slip-shod (eg. the "Six The Hard Way" compilation, a real dog's dinner that one) & doubly a pity now it seem that the UK based Soul Jazz label appears to have given up issuing Studio One product perhaps thinking the well is dry (in which case they'd be wrong).
