Two CD 'Deluxe Edition' in a cardboard gatefold sleeve that collects Ray's best-known '50s and '60s singles, such as 'What'd I Say', 'I've Got A Woman', 'Georgia On My Mind' and 'Hit The Road Jack'. The man's originality and infectious feeling bleed through on each of these 40 tracks. Ray Charles was a genius in interpretation of many genres, from Gospel to Country to Blues to R&B to old-fashioned Big Band singing. He is an artist of the highest order and this collection is outstanding in terms of his line of work. Greatest Hits. 2007.

Jack Dangers and company's continuing Tino project get a mini-showcase with Tino's Dub Select, selecting tracks from Tino's Breaks, Vol. 5 and Tino's Breaks, Vol. 6: Hallowe'en Dub. The title of the latter should give away the general spooky holiday-themed nature of the collection, as do song titles like "It's Halloween Dub," "Vampire Circus Dub," and "Lochness Monster Dub." Plenty of drop-ins from weird Halloween records and sources -- howling wolves, demonic cackles and the like -- make this a good soundtrack for pumpkin carving, as does the monstrous bass unsurprisingly on display throughout. Tino's work isn't really advancing the barriers of dub any -- the blueprint laid down by Lee "Scratch" Perry and many others is followed well enough on many tracks -- but then again, there's no sense that this is the goal. Dangers has proven himself enough of a dub fanatic over the years and Tino is, in ways, a chance for him to relax and groove away from the Meat Beat Manifesto name. The sly jazz-pop beats of the "It's Halloween Dub" and the semi-loungey percussion jams of the "Vampire Circus Dub" keep things from being one note, and suggest odd alternate pasts of sound -- a world where Esquivel recorded in Jamaica. Where there's a bit of a newer edge introduced, the results are pretty sharp -- "Kick It Dub," besides having an amusing drum-instruction start, plays around with the abbreviated power of early jungle/hardcore efforts without completely exploding. "Monster Dub" similarly hints at 2-step while still staying within the established genre. ~ Ned Raggett