Various ‎– Trojan 12" Box Set

Speaking of worth for your money this is pure Gold ! 36 & 2 = makes 72 7"es; and it is not the sheer amount of Regae Music, but the high level of quality collected here. Even for those of us (me included) who think of themselves as Reggae informed, there is tons of unknown stuff in here. You must have lived in Jamaica for most of the 70ies and 80ies to be in touch with all the material here, cause i am sure that nearly all of the Trax here were Big Tunes and played countless times in Dances and on the Radio at a time. We find two different kinds of Tracks here, melodic Pop Tunes, astonishingly nearly all the time sung in real english and nearly never in Patois. Back then the recording business was different and producers always hoped for international success and that was never ever a Song in patois for decades, but those that any english speaking person could understand. Okay we find a few DeeJay Counteractios here like Trinity's 'Three Piece Suit' (and ting). Even if many of the Vocal Tunes aren't that special from a todays view the Dubs and the instrumentals are always on point. The sheer power of a real Reggae Beat played from these big Studio Bands The Observers, Aggrovators, Crystalites or Upsetters with those fine Horn sections decorate the tunes so fine; just listen to the Brass accenting the sharp Trumpet on the fantastic Version of Three Blind Mice on CD 1. This is the biggest surprise for me. I have a version of that song, that is boring as hell compared to the one here by Leo Graham, That nursery rhyme about animals gathering to laugh about those three blind mice "never have seen anything more funny" is worth the price of this set alone. And you know you're in here for a treat. When the song is over those mighty Dubbers come into play and boy they had a lot to mix on these Boards and they do- the version of this tune is another Killer. Courtesy of King Tubby & Le Perry on the boards = Ahor !! I can't and won't anaylyze many other Tunes here, but overall those by well known artist's : Gregory, Dennis, Michael Rose, John Holt and even Bob Marley are thrown in once in a while for good measure, but usually with lesser known versions of their Tunes, the Big difference here is Denis Brown's stone cold classic "Wolves & Leopards" , Lee Perry's "Bionic Rats" and Michael Rose's "Clap The Barber" 3 all-time Highlights of Reggae Music. A very strange tune here is Ken Boothe Version of Susan Cadogan's Hit You're No Good. it is so funny to hear that song about a woman left by her man without caring for his family from a man's mouth; the other surprise is th use of a Waler's Backing Track, sounding as if it came right from a mid 70ies Bob Marley album. Wonder what Prince Jammy was thinking here and where he got those Riddims from. Definitely The Wailers, but i doubt they were in the studio at the tie this was recorded. Somehow this strange mixture works beyond the novelty factor. A Classic Rhythm with subtle Dub effex. Nuff bout the first 2 CD's material. CD 3 collects goodies from the 80ies and sports a lot of Roots Radddics stuff, which is definitely great, but many of these 12"es are already to be found on other Trojan 12" Collections. This is not really a manko though since even experts outside of the core market will find nuff essential stuff they haven't heard before and you cannot have enough versions of those Classics anyway. just look at the song titles yourselve - the second genration of Regggae singers is in full swing : Sugar Minott, Edi Fitzroy, Linval Thompson and Triston Palmer to name the most faous and talentd. Let's hope that Trojan stands this critical financial crisis of today and will be able to dig even deeper in the vaults on an Island that seems to have nothing else to do but produce music. Who bought all this records ? 200 new tunes are cut per week according to one statistic, and that is only new material. Since years re-releases come a dime a dozen and those vaults will supply the hungry market for more decades to come it seeems as long as someone is willing to buy these goodies.