A unique collection, which traces the development of West Indian music from the mid 50s Calypso and Mento, through Jamaican R&B to early 60s Bluebeat and the dawn of Ska. Includes some of the earliest recordings by a number of subsequent Reggae superstars, most notably Prince Buster, Jimmy Cliff, Derrick Morgan, Owen Gray, Clancy Eccles, Byron Lee and the 'Godfather of Ska' himself, Laurel Aitken. Many of these sides were massive Jamaican hits, most notably: "Boogie Rock", "Fat Man", "Easy Snapping", "Time To Pray"", "Little Vilma", "Dumplin's", "Oh Carolina", "Bartender", "Hurricane Hattie" and more. Greatly improved sound quality on many of these recordings.
M**N
not worth the money
brought it as i wanted some calipso and ska history in my libraray, as they advertise it as a history of. I was expecting it to go from way back in history to present styles and link the whole set of two cd tunes in a chronological order. Alsa it does not. all it is is a hash of 1930-40s tunes that are out of copyright they can rehash and flog on with little or no effort put into it. this album has nothing to do with SKA music in any way. its a lot of blues and mentos and calpiso, but 75% blues. As it happens i like old blues and old skool blues so yes it was okay to listen to and i did enjoy the tunes as i ove this old 1930s style and love the tunes and singers. for that its worth an easy five starts, but as it has nothing to do with ska it gets two starts knocked off and for the cost i paid it loses another star as it misses its advertised target or ska music background. if you realy realy want to stretch it you can say that some of these tunes were recorded in the caribean or there was someone that went there for a holiday that starred in the band, but nope it has very little else to do with SKA hisortry. if you want old skool blues buy this album, if you want calipso or mentos still buy this album, just remember that the stars on it are long dead, quite possibly their grand children are passed to!!
A**S
Musical Roots
This is a really great package for anyone interested in the musical roots of Ska. Many of the tracks were completely new to me and although they ranged in both artistic and sound quality all were interesting. With artists like Lord Tanamo, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires and Bobby Kingdom & The Blue Beats the range of music over this 2 CD set is fantastic. Well worth the money, even if you aren't an aficionado. Recommended.
Q**S
Better out there
Disappointed
B**E
great collection of tunes put together to add to my ...
great collection of tunes put together to add to my ever expanding collection of early ska/bluebeat/rocksteady.Buy it you wont be dissapointed
L**.
very fast
Cheap and very fast very good produce !!!! 21/20 All the best A+++ Cheap and very fast very good produce !!!! 21/20 All the best A++
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
2 months ago