Ska icon Prince Buster changed the face of Jamaican popular music by helping give birth to the form in the late 1950s by blending Caribbean cadences with a rhythm-and-blues backbeat, its rhythmic emphasis shifted to the afterbeat rather than the fore. 'National Ska: Pain In My Belly' is a killer various artists compilation that Buster produced in 1964 for Blue Beat Records in Britain, its blistering contents featuring Toots & The Maytals, Eric 'Monty' Morris, and the Prince himself, as well as the pivotal musicians Don Drummond and Tommy McCook, who would shortly form the Skatalites. Essential listening for all true ska devotees!

TRACKS:

SIDE A
1. Prince Buster & The Maytals - I Got A Pain
2. The Maytals - He Is Real
3. Tommy McCook - Cast Your Faith To The Wind
4. Prince Buster - Faith
5. The Ska Busters - Georgia
6. Prince Buster - Have Mercy

SIDE B
1. The Maytals - I Love You So
2. Eric Morris - Those Teardrops
3. Prince Buster - Chinaman Ska
4. The Skatalites - Super Charge
5. Don Drummond - Ska Town
6. Prince Buster - Ska School