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- Artist:
Various Artists - Release Date: October 26, 2004
- Type: Collection (various artists), Box set
- Genre: Reggae
Review
The history of Jamaica's music is a fascinating one, and seldom has a nation's pop music been so celebratory, political, and concerned with civil rights, all rolled into an upside-down one-drop rhythm that is as recognizable as it is pervasive. Part mento, part African drums, part American jazz, soul, and R&B, part a Marcus Garvey-derived treatise on human rights and repatriation, Jamaica's reggae is pop music with clear revolutionary goals, intent on dancing in the face of Babylon while forthrightly chanting it down. This four-disc box set from Trojan covers "the golden years" of reggae (1960 to 1975), cutting off just as Bob Marley's Island releases were about to take Jamaica's music all over the world. Arranged chronologically, beginning with some mento and ska sides, building through the rocksteady and early reggae years, and climaxing in the rise of roots reggae in the mid-'70s, This Is Reggae Music hits most of the historical high points, including Jamaica's entry into the international pop market with early hits like Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop" (arranged by the venerable Ernest Ranglin) and Desmond Dekker's "Israelites," following these up with key tracks from Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come soundtrack (including Cliff's own "Many Rivers to Cross," the Maytals' "Pressure Drop," the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon," and the Slickers' immortal "Johnny Too Bad") and some early reggae gems like Marley's "Duppy Conqueror" (produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry), the Heptones' "Hypocrite," and Cliff's "Vietnam." The final disc finds reggae poised to take over the world (on the wings of one Bob Marley), and includes essential tracks like Delroy Wilson's "Better Must Come," Zap Pow's bit of reggae-meets-Stax, "This Is Reggae Music," Slim Smith's stunningly beautiful "The Time Has Come," and the concluding song, the classic Jack Ruby-produced "Marcus Garvey" by Burning Spear. Committed reggae collectors will have most of these sides, but it's nice to have all these songs in one package, and as a capsule history of the early years of reggae, one that hits the corners hard and fast, Trojan has done the trick. Again. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Iron Bar | Traditional | (2:17) | |
| Fat Man | Derrick Morgan | Derrick Morgan | (2:21) |
| Rough and Tough | Stranger Cole | (3:01) | |
| Music Is My Occupation | Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, |
(3:03) | |
| My Boy Lollipop (Lyrics) | Morris Levy, |
Millie Small | (2:01) |
| Penny Reel-O | (2:30) | ||
| Phoenix City | Roland Alphonso | The Soul Brothers, Roland Alphonso, |
(3:01) |
| Bongo Man | (3:11) | ||
| Rude Boy Gone a Jail | Clarendonians | (2:47) | |
| Rudy Got Soul | Leslie Kong, |
Desmond Dekker, |
(2:49) |
| Down by the Trainline | (2:46) | ||
| Cry Tough | Alton Ellis | Alton Ellis, The Flames, |
(2:16) |
| 007 (Shanty Town) | Desmond Dekker | Desmond Dekker, |
(2:33) |
| Take It Easy | Hopeton Lewis | (2:54) | |
| The Loser | Derrick Harriott | Derrick Harriott | (3:37) |
| Train to Skaville | Leonard Dillon | The Ethiopians | (2:51) |
| Ba Ba Boom | The Jamaicans | (3:19) | |
| Stop That Train | (3:16) | ||
| Rock Steady | Alton Ellis | Alton Ellis, The Flames, |
(2:39) |
| The Tide Is High | John Holt | The Paragons | (2:42) |
| True, True, True | Ken Parker | (2:13) | |
| Israelites (Lyrics) | Desmond Dekker | Desmond Dekker | (2:34) |
| 54-46 That's My Number (Lyrics) | Toots & the Maytals | (3:23) | |
| Everything Crash | Leonard Dillon | The Ethiopians | (2:31) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Do the Reggay (Lyrics) | Toots & the Maytals | (3:09) | |
| It Miek | Leslie Kong, |
Desmond Dekker, |
(2:33) |
| Engine 54 | Leonard Dillon | The Ethiopians | (2:38) |
| The Beatitude (Blessed Are the Meek) | Slim Smith, The Uniques, The Uniques | (3:11) | |
| Cuss Cuss | Lloyd Robinson | (2:33) | |
| People Funny Boy | Lee "Scratch" Perry | (2:36) | |
| Tighten Up | The Untouchables | (2:39) | |
| Return of Django | The Upsetters | (2:30) | |
| Shocks of Mighty | The Upsetters, Dave Barker, |
(2:47) | |
| Monkey Man (Lyrics) | Toots & the Maytals | (3:45) | |
| Long Shot Kick de Bucket | Earl Robinson, |
The Pioneers | (2:42) |
| Ride Your Donkey (Lyrics) | The Tennors | (2:03) | |
| Red, Red Wine | Neil Diamond | (2:55) | |
| Wonderful World, Beautiful People (Lyrics) | Jimmy Cliff | Jimmy Cliff | (3:10) |
| Pressure Drop (Lyrics) | Toots & the Maytals | (2:58) | |
| Don't Let Me Suffer | Gregory Isaacs | Gregory Isaacs | (3:31) |
| Rivers of Babylon (Lyrics) | Brenton Dowe, |
The Melodians | (3:24) |
| Liquidator | Harry J All-Stars | (2:53) | |
| Johnny Too Bad (Lyrics) | Delroy Wilson, |
The Slickers | (3:11) |
| Young, Gifted and Black [Jamaica Mix] | Nina Simone, Weldon Irvine | Bob & Marcia | (3:15) |
| Double Barrel (Lyrics) | Stephanie McKay, Winston Riley | Dave & Ansel Collins, Ansel Collins, |
(2:46) |
| Many Rivers to Cross (Lyrics) | Jimmy Cliff | (2:40) |
CD 3
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| You Can Get It if You Really Want (Lyrics) | Desmond Dekker | (2:38) | |
| Montego Bay | Jeff Barry, |
(2:24) | |
| Come into My Life (Lyrics) | Jimmy Cliff | (2:54) | |
| Pop a Top | Clancy Eccles, |
(2:18) | |
| Blood and Fire | Niney the Observer | (3:06) | |
| 400 Years | Clement "Coxsone" Dodd | Peter Tosh, The Wailers, |
(2:33) |
| Duppy Conqueror | Bob Marley | Bob Marley, The Wailers, Bob Marley & the Wailers | (3:45) |
| Vietnam (Lyrics) | Jimmy Cliff | Jimmy Cliff | (4:45) |
| Singer Man | Derrick Harriott | The Kingstonians | (3:02) |
| Groovin' Out on Life (Groovin' in Style) | Ken Parker | (2:48) | |
| Give Me Power | (3:17) | ||
| Small Axe | Bob Marley | Bob Marley, The Wailers, Bob Marley & the Wailers | (3:55) |
| Pomps and Pride | Toots & the Maytals | (4:33) | |
| Bongo Man (Lyrics) | Jimmy Cliff | (3:59) | |
| Let Your Yeah Be Yeah | The Pioneers | (3:07) | |
| Guava Jelly | Bob Marley | Johnny Nash | (3:16) |
| Black and White | Earl Robinson, |
Greyhound | (2:29) |
| I Feel Good All Over | Otis Blackwell, |
Horace Andy | (3:48) |
| Hypocrite | Leroy Sibbles, |
The Heptones | (3:04) |
| Stick By Me (And I'll Stick By You) | John Holt | John Holt | (3:14) |
| Cherry Oh Baby | Eric Donaldson | Eric Donaldson | (3:02) |
| African Herbsman (Lyrics) | Bob Marley | Bob Marley, The Wailers, Bob Marley & the Wailers | (2:24) |
CD 4
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Better Must Come (Lyrics) | Delroy Wilson | Delroy Wilson | (2:44) |
| Know Far I | (2:38) | ||
| A Place Called Africa | Junior Byles | (2:41) | |
| Trenchtown Rock | Bob Marley | Bob Marley, The Wailers, Bob Marley & the Wailers | (3:00) |
| One Love, One Heart | (2:47) | ||
| I Can See Clearly Now | Johnny Nash | Johnny Nash | (2:45) |
| This Is Reggae Music | Jim Capaldi, |
Zap Pow | (3:06) |
| Brand New Second Hand (Lyrics) | Clement "Coxsone" Dodd | Peter Tosh, The Wailers, |
(3:13) |
| Lively Up Yourself | Bob Marley | Bob Marley, The Wailers, Bob Marley & the Wailers | (2:52) |
| Stir It Up | Bob Marley | Johnny Nash | (3:05) |
| Money in My Pocket (Lyrics) | Dennis Brown, |
Dennis Brown | (2:32) |
| Funky Kingston | Toots & the Maytals | (4:56) | |
| The Time Has Come | Slim Smith | (4:24) | |
| Everything I Own (Lyrics) | David Gates | Ken Boothe | (3:45) |
| Westbound Train | Dennis Brown | Dennis Brown | (3:01) |
| Cool Iron | The Willows | (2:25) | |
| Justice to the People | The Upsetters | (3:15) | |
| S90 Skank | Keith Hudson, |
Big Youth | (2:51) |
| Black Man Time | Augustus "Gussie" Clarke | I-Roy | (3:40) |
| Bad Da (Lyrics) | Gregory Isaacs | (3:11) | |
| Run Come (Throw Away Your Stoney Heart) | Ras Michael, |
(3:34) | |
| Marcus Garvey | Burning Spear | (3:27) |
