Disc 1:
1. Words - Anthony Davis & Lee Perry
2. Vampire - Devon Irons & Doctor Alimantado
3. Babylon Falling / Version - The Heptones / Upsetters
4. Mistry Babylon / Version - The Heptones / Upsetters
5. Garden Of Life - Leroy Sibbles
6. History - Carlton Jackson
7. Sons Of Slaves - Junior Delgado
8. Open The Gate - Watty Burnett

Disc 2:
1. Talk About It / Yama-Ky - The Diamonds
2. Cherry Oh Baby - Eric Donaldson
3. Rainy Night In Portland - Watty Burnett
4. Ruffer Ruff / Ruffer Dub - Horace Smart / Upsetters
5. Nickodeemus - The Congos
6. Know Love - The Twin Roots
7. City Too Hot - Lee Perry
8. Bionic Rats - Lee Perry
9. Bad Weed - Junior Murvin

In the Bible, they blew horns and the walls of the city crumbled. That is more or less the mood of Open The Gate. There was a time when this compilation, along with Arkology and Build The Ark, were the three "must have" Scratch collections. As of 2004, Trojan has deleted this epic collection, so it will be a bit harder to find (although much of this material has been included on subsequent Trojan sets). The music here represents the Black Ark at its finest: powerful, groovy, and earth shaking. All of these songs are absolute killers, with extra-special mention to the spine-tingling "Vampire" by Devon Irons and Dr. Alimantado, the apocalyptic "Babylon Falling" by The Heptones, Eric Donaldson's Black Ark version of his big hit "Cherry Oh Baby", The Diamonds' wonderful "Talk About It", and Watty Burnett's thundering "Open The Gate". Essential listening.

« Back to the Compilations index