This collection should have been a 5-star, slam-dunk. The music is fantastic. The only (minor) quibble is the lack of the original "Java", not just the 80's remake. This is really a remarkable collection.

So why not 5 stars? The package. Specifically the information. 1st complaint: the ridiculous discography that starts with 1975 and only lists compilations on Greensleeves/Shanachie. Why bother printing it if it's going to be so selective? Maybe under the heading "Also available from (us)", but to call it a discography is lame. The second complaint is that in light of the amazing liner notes from the likes of Pressure Sounds (whose 2 Pablo collections are righteous) and Blood & Fire the credits are quite skimpy: no dates or labels or even version information are listed consistently, why? I mean even Trojan usually lists more information. The booklet does feature some nice essays about the man, but little about the music itself.

So, really it's 5 stars for the music 3-4 stars for the package for a 4.5 star collection that should have been a 6-star+ box.

Even with its "faults," it would be foolish to give this amazing mystical music anything less than five stars. With that in mind, a few comments for potential buyers of this box set:

What needs to be realized right away is that approximately 40% of all tracks are vocal tracks, so if you prefer Augustus Pablo as a dub/instrumental master, you should realize that this collection has lots of vocal tracks (all of them very good, by the way) however I prefer to program it to play just the non-vocal tracks.

CD 1 is, I believe, the best one. It provides everything you need to appreciate the heavenly heavy, magical brilliance of this unique music.

CD 2 is also quite good, not quite as perfect as CD 1.

CD 3 I don't like. I never appreciated Mr. Pablo's "new dub" computer/drum machine sound. It just doesn't move me. Therefore, I have improved my box set by replacing CD 3 with my own CD of selected tracks from "East of the River Nile" and "King David's Melody," tracks that do not appear in the box set...and so have created my own "better" box set.

CD 4: the "rare" tracks, is great, a pleasure to hear, slightly better than CD 2 and almost as good as CD 1.

CD 5: the DVD. I LOVE IT, even though it is RIDICULOUSLY SHORT, it's still a rare blessing to see three videos of this mysterious master in concert. All three live videos are very, very good. The final selection on the DVD, an interview, is interesting to watch, however, sub-titles might have been nice, because I can't understand about 95% of what's being said, due to the heavy Jamaican accents.

Overall, I'm extremely happy I purchased this box set.

A beautifully constructed box set highlighting some the of the finest music created in the 20th century. Augustus Pablo is simply quite simply the finest musician in reggae music; this mesmerizing box set is a dream come true, with rare tracks previously available only on rare LPs---

I love this set and I adore Pablo's music--the only quibble I have is with the DVD which is frankly of a home video quality. Who cares? I don't own a TV anyway...

So quit reading this review anyway and buy this box set.