This, my friends, is a bona fide banger.
Set aside your knowledge of reggae for a second, if you can. Imagine being 15 again. It's summertime 1969, and the sounds of rocksteady are just starting to simmer down. It's been less than a year since the Maytals taught us how to do the reggay. You take a couple quid down to the nearest stockist, and you see this on the racks. Twelve tracks, for the same amount you'd pay for a couple of 45s? You're sold.
And what a lineup! On the A side, it's Jimmy Cliff, Symarip, Dandy Livingston. On the flip, Lee Perry's Upsetters, Tony Tribe, Boris Gardiner. Both sides showcase Desmond Dekker and the Pioneers. Can you imagine hearing this all together for the first time? This isn't a stack of singles playing on a jukebox; it's the best value compilation you're probably ever going to buy.
55 years on, I still encounter folks whose first experience with reggae was this comp. One of the first full-lengths released by Trojan, it's up there with "Flex Your Head" or "C86" or the "Easy Rider" soundtrack as the sort of collection that shapes lives. This version, expanded to twenty tracks in 2009 and featuring Max Romeo, the Ethiopians, and the Maytals, gives an even more robust view of the first year Trojan licensed a monster lineup of JA labels and producers for the UK.
No wonder reggae became the sound of working class youth in the early 70s. You take great art, you focus on getting it in as many hands (ears) as you can, as cheaply as possible, and nature takes its course.
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