Rico Rodriguez was famously adopted by the ska revival movement in the late 1970's, playing with The Specials and eventually releasing two albums under his own name on the 2-Tone label. Prior to that, by the time he recorded the excellent 'Man from Wareika' for Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1976, Rico was already a 15 year veteran of the the UK ska and reggae circuit. The US release of the album made history by becoming the only reggae LP to be issued on Blue Note Records. A dub version of 'Man from Wareika' was released in 1977, though this has been tough to track down in recent years. In 2016 Island did the right thing and reissued both albums as a double CD with 14 bonus tunes from the period - it's a highly recommended set.
Rico - 'Man from Wareika'
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