The new release from 007, You Only Drop Once, is a more serious recording than their previous effort, Studied Rudeness, but that does not mean that this recording takes itself more seriously. 007’s first CD had in its mix of both studio and live tracks (some with obscure or funny commentary) had an offhand feel to it. On You Only Drop Once, the band digs in and comes closer to the rock steady sounds of Jamaica in the early 1960s. The harmonies come closer to the Caribbean doo-wop of such bands as the Abyssinians and the Wailers, but with a little more rasp. The guitars give a steady skank rhythm over the melodic bass lines and organ fills as the drums accent with sharp rimshots and high hat. All this is awash in the trippy echo that was the hallmark of the recording studios where bands such as Skatalites practiced their grooves.

Nothing is too heavy, here. It’s an upbeat party set with a more obscure but no less compelling set of songs, including Toots and the Maytals’ “Johnny Coolman,” Desmond Dekker’s “Rude Boy Train,” and the classic accusation of Lee “Scratch” Perry, “The Upsetter.” 007 plays it all with a less-is-more feel that lays clear the debt the Jamaicans owed the Meters and Fats Domino.