Some of the best first wave ska music is available in reissue collections on labels like Trojan and Studio One (Now owned by Heartbeat Records). The Rough Guide to Ska Music is also a decent compilation.

My favorite ska collection is a three disk collection The Best of Ska which has 56 beautifully remastered classic songs from both the first wave era and second wave 2 Tone era. I copied the song list from Amazon:

1. One Step Beyond - Madness
2. A Message To Rudy - The Specials Featuring Rico
3. Three Minute Hero - The Selecter
4. Double Barrel - Dave And Ansel Collins
5. Liquidator - Harry Johnson And The All Stars
6. Sea Cruise - Rico
7. I Can See Clearly Now - Pauline Black
8. The Israelites - Desmond Dekker
9. Guns Of Navarone - The Skatalites
10. Free Nelson Mandela - Special AKA
11. Im In The Mood For SKA - Lord Tanamo
12. Monkey Man - The Maytals
13. Let Your Yeah Be Yeah - The Pioneers
14. Skinhead Moonstomp - Symarip
15. Lets Do The Rock Steady - Bodysnatchers
16. Train To Skaville - The Ethiopians
17. Bonanza Ska - Carlos Malcolm
18. On My Radio - The Selector
19. The Prince - Madness
20. Jamaican SKA - Byron Lee And The Dragonaires
21. Ghost Town - The Specials
22. Carolina - Rico
23. Missing Words - The Selecter
24. Long Shot Kick The Bucket - The Pioneers
25. Monkey Spanner - Dave And Ansel Collins
26. Red Red Wine - Tony Tribe
27. 007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker
28. Doctor **** - Lee Perry
29. Free Man - The Ethiopians
30. Im So In Love With You - The Techniques
31. The Tide Is High - The Paragons
32. Baby Come Back - Pato Banton
33. You Belong To My Heart - Lord Tanamo
34. Gansters - Special AKA
35. Don De Lion - The Skatalites Featuring Don Drumond
36. James Bond - The Selecter
37. Too Much Too Young - Special AKA
38. You Can Get It If You Really Want - Desmond Dekker
39. The Selecter - The Selecter
40. Sweet Sensation - The Melodians
41. Return To Django - The Upsetters
42. Mantovani - The Swinging Cats
43. The Feelings Gone - The Apollinaires
44. Rat Race - The Specials
45. The Dog - Harry Johnson And The All Stars
46. Hurry Up - Lord Creator
47. Lets Jump - The Maytals
48. Yea Yea - The Riots
49. Monkey SKA - Derrick Harriot
50. Girls Town SKA - Baba Brooks
51. Get Up Edina - Desmond Dekker
52. The Whisper - The Selecter
53. FBI (I Spy For You) - The Untouchables
54. Stereotype - The Specials


I'm not too crazy about third wave bands like the Bosstones because the players are nearly as good or rooted in the Jamaican music tradition as the first and second wave ska players.

^^^

You should check out the Japanese Ska scene. Bands such as Japonicas take the Ska tradition full circle and pay homage to the instigators. The Toasters are one of the more traditional sounding 3rd wave bands.

I agree on the Toasters. The Toasters are techincally 3rd Wave but I've always thought of them as more of a second wave band because Rob Hingley's British roots and his love of the 2-Tone label. The Toasters formed in 1982 which puts them right on the cusp of the 2nd and 3rd wave.

I've been meaning to check out the Japonicas and will do soon. My problem is there's too little time and too much music out there.

I came across an an old 3rd Wave ska band Maroon Town on my AltNet music service. They released one album in called One World in 1994 and were never heard from again. The All Music Guide doesn't even carry a bio of the band, so I have no idea of where they're from or any other history of the band.

A Message To You Rudy is definitively my fav ska song.

You should check out the original Message to Rudy by Dandy Livingstone. It's on the Trojan Originals box set.

I love the Specials even if a lot of their stuff is derivative. Each member of the band is an a great player with muscular musical chops. They're one of the better live bands I've seen and nobody can beat them for audience partcipation in the show.

Thx for that. ;)

yeah yeah, i got all those bands on my ipod

real nice selection Gavin B.

Toots and the Maytals for some good old school ska and reggae

Lets face it, pretty much all 'ska-punk' is absloutley appalling.

Edited for accuracy