Customer Reviews

More great ska rarities - By: Laurence Upton, 19 Aug 2007
Before reggae there was ska & rocksteady, indigenous musical forms that had evolved from the imported rhythm & blues & jazz styles prevalentin Jamaica from the fifties onwards. The Trojan Ska Box Set had gathered 50 representative tracks from the period up to 1966, including some very well known big sellers.

A number of the leading artists appear again on Vol. 2: Don Drummond, Lee Perry, Lord Tanamo, Baba Brooks, the Skatalites, Owen Gray, Roland Alphonso, Tommy McCook, Desmond Dekker, Justin Hinds & the Dominoes, the Maytals, Lyn Taitt & others, with well known & less well known examples of their art, including some appearing on CD for the first time.

Occasionally they appear to have been mastered from less than pristine vinyl copies but if this is the best available, bring it on. Details are skimpy - many of the composer credits are listed as "unknown" & there are no dates for any of the recordings, which is an irritation, but as this is music to be danced & listened to rather than studied academically, we'll just have to live with it.