Lui Lepke - Late Night Movie (2024 Reissue) Lui Lepke

The close of the 1970s witnessed a dramatic change of both style and substance of reggae music, with the spiritual and political themes that had dominated the roots era throughout the preceding years supplanted by a dynamic new sound that primarily focused upon more down to earth issues.

The new ‘dancehall’ sound was chiefly championed by raw, youthful music-makers whose recordings dominated the Jamaican musical landscape over the years that immediately followed. Among the most successful of these ambitious newcomers was DJ Lui Lepki, whose moniker revived that originally used by a notorious 1930s New York gangster, reflected the brash new attitude of these aspirational young guns.

Lepki’s musical breakthrough came in late 1979, when his debut single, ‘Can't Take Me Landlord’, shot to the top of the Jamaican music charts, with this success swiftly followed by further big sellers, notably ‘Love Ina Jamdown’, ‘Mek You Lie To Me’, ‘Custom Officer’ and his 1981 smash, ‘Late Night Movie’, which provided the title of his debut long-player, issued early the following year.

An instant best-seller, the LP has remained unavailable on CD for 17 years with this expanded version also including the DJ’s 12” single tracks, which also feature fellow reggae royalty in Barrington Levy, Eek-A-Mouse and Cornel Campbell. In addition, the second disc on the set collects some of the biggest Joe Gibbs productions from the dancehall era, many of which feature on CD for the first time.