Roots Archives Forum

Island Records 8CD boxset. Who is it aimed at with a £90 price tag?

CD1

1 Sound System Steel Pulse2 Funky Kingston Toots & The Maytals3 Bogle Dance Buju Banton4 Dreamland Bunny Wailer5 Lion Burning Spear6 My Boy Lollipop Millie7 Midnight Track Owen Gray8 Dearest Beverley Jimmy Cliff9 Jah Glory Third World10 Cover Me Ninjaman & Tinga Stewart11 Westbound Train Dennis Brown12 Two Sevens Clash Culture13 1865 (96 In The Shade) Third World14 Natty Take Over Justin Hinds & The Dominoes15 El Torro Roland Alphonso16 War Ina Babylon Max Romeo & The Upsetters

CD2

1 Mash It! (Parts 1 & 2) Owen Gray2 54–46 (Was My Number) Toots & The Maytals3 Forward March Derrick Morgan4 Israelites Desmond Dekker5 Miss Jamaica Jimmy Cliff6 We ‘A’ Rockers Inner Circle7 Easy Snappin’ Theo Beckford8 Sweet Reggae Music Barrington Levy9 007 (Shanty Town) Desmond Dekker10 Carry Go Bring Come Justin Hinds & The Dominoes11 African Worldwide Love Dillinger12 Herbsman Shuffle King Stitt & Andy Capp13 Wet Dream Max Romeo14 Hol’ A Fresh Red Dragon15 Roots Train Junior Murvin & Dillinger16 Confusion In A Babylon Niney The Observer17 What You Gonna Do On The Judgement Day Prince Far I18 Man From Wareika Rico

CD3

1 Double Barrel Dave And Ansel Collins2 S.90 Skank Big Youth3 Brother Noah The Black Shadows4 No More Teardrops Eric Morris5 Babylon’s Burning Max, Niney And Scratch6 Check Out Yourself The Cimarons7 Spanish Amigo Dennis Alcapone8 Laser Beam Don Carlos9 Ba Ba Boom The Jamaicans10 Jah Loves Us All Linval Thompson11 Tougher Than Tough (Rudie In Court) Derrick Morgan12 King Tubby’s Rockers Roots Radics13 Bammie Fe Fish Skin Flesh & Bones14 Better Must Come Delroy Wilson15 Loving Pauper Dobby Dobson16 The Dog Harry J Allstars17 Tenement Yard Jacob Miller And Inner Circle

CD4

1 Uptown Top Ranking Althea & Donna2 Cherry Oh Baby Eric Donaldson3 Green Bay Incident Lord Sassafrass4 Jam Down The Observer All Stars5 Happy Go Lucky Girl The Paragons6 Don’t Stay Away Phyllis Dillon7 Bangarang Stranger Cole Featuring Lester Sterling8 Return Of Django The Upsetters9 Herb Vendor Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace10 Curly Locks Junior Byles11 Mr. Babylon Little John12 Blood & Fire Niney The Observer13 Queen Majesty (Aka Minstrel And Queen ) The Techniques14 D.J.’S Choice Winston Williams15 Teach The Children Dennis Alcapone16 One Train Load Of Dub The Observers

CD5

1 Money In My Pocket Dennis Brown2 Move Out Of Babylon Rastaman Johnny Clarke3 Sound And Soul Johnny Moore4 Everything I Own Ken Boothe5 How Long Will It Take Pat Kelly6 Rastafari Chant Nyahbinghi Peter Broggs7 King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown Augustus Pablo8 Cn Express Clancy Eccles All Stars9 Rock Of Gibraltar The Congos10 Joggin Freddie Mcgregor11 We’re Gonna Love Jackie Edwards12 Stick By Me (And I’ll Stick By You) John Holt13 Aily And Ailaloo Max & Niney14 Temptation The Upsetters15 Back To Africa Aswad16 What Those Guys Are For Beenie Man

CD6

1 Marcus Garvey Burning Spear2 Hammering Cat Campbell3 Breakfast In Bed Lorna Bennett4 Night Nurse Gregory Isaacs5 Book Of Rules The Heptones6 Police & Thieves Junior Murvin7 Exodus Ernest Ranglin8 Rivers Of Babylon The Melodians9 Bredda Gravalicious The Wailing Souls10 Sinsemilla Black Uhuru11 Young, Gifted And Black Bob & Marcia12 Housewives Choice Derrick And Patsy13 Cokane In My Brain Dillinger14 Eastern Standard Time Don Drummond15 Party Time The Heptones16 My Jamaican Guy Grace Jones

CD7

1 Reggae Got Soul Toots & The Maytals2 Sweet William Millie3 Soldier And Police War Jah Lion4 Ballistic Affair Leroy Smart5 Dance Crasher Alton Ellis6 The Harder They Come Jimmy Cliff7 Fort Augustus Junior Delgado8 Dreadlocks In Moonlight Lee “Scratch” Perry9 Want Fi Goh Rave Linton Kwesi Johnson10 Free Speech And Movement The Royals11 Prodigal Son Steel Pulse12 Ride Your Donkey The Tennors13 The Russians Are Coming (Aka Take 5) Val Bennett14 Guns Fever Baba Brooks

CD8

1 What Is Life Black Uhuru2 Tease Me Chaka Demus & Pliers3 Welcome To Jamrock Damian Marley4 Oh What A Feeling Gregory Isaacs5 Take It Easy Hopeton Lewis6 Trouble You A Trouble Me Ini Kamoze7 Moving Up Luciano8 The People Ought To Know Sugar Minott9 My Conversation The Uniques10 Stop That Train Keith & Tex11 Pass The Kouchie The Mighty Diamonds12 On The Beach The Paragons13 Warrior Charge Aswad14 People Funny Boy Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters15 Hot You’re Hot Sly Dunbar

Well.... a good compilation for anyone who just started listening to reggae a couple of months/years ago and doesn't own THAT many albums as us crazy guys here

It's pretty much an update on their 4CD Set 'The Story of Jamaican Music', many many tracks are on both compilations.

Good release, but not really for me, especially not at that price (90 Pounds, 110 Euros, 140 Dollars).

But you gotta agree, there is some great music on these CDs.

I agree some great music. But again, who is it aimed at?

Casual/first time reggae buyers aren't going to shell out £90 to dip their toes in the reggae pond.

Hard core/experts will have it all, or most of what they want on it.

Collectors - oh yeah, those that buy everything no matter what format etc. So that's 6 sales then.

I know I sound cynical but with Island/Trojan and Sanctuary all now owned by Universal I just see it as yet another repackgaing of the songs over and over again, this time with the Anniversary of Jamaican independence to hang it on.

Sweet William Millie 3 Soldier And Police War Jah Lion 4 Ballistic Affair

Who complied this a deaf monkey?

how does sweet william feed into soldier and police war?

madness

From the official blurb:

"Compiled by Ramus (musical factotum at Chris Blackwell-era Island, Mango and Palm Pictures) and Paul ‘Groucho’ Smykle (dub producer who’s worked with PiL, Grace Jones, David Bowie, Jah Wobble, BAD and many more), ‘Sound System’ features 120 songs randomly programmed to ape the way a Sound System DJ might select his set on any given night. It features a wonderfully eclectic mix of R&B, mento, ska, blue beat, reggae, dub and funk and celebrates the incredible musical gift this small island has given to the world."

Yeah, right!

kevin wrote:From the official blurb:
/.../ ‘Sound System’ features 120 songs randomly programmed to ape the way a Sound System DJ might select his set on any given night.

Never heard about a sound system randomly pulling songs out of the box. At least none that I would like to re-visit.

Wow, there really are some ridiculous sequences here! I bet when they say "randomly programmed" they mean they lined the tunes up and hit Shuffle.

Max Romeo- Wet Dream, into Red Dragon- Hold a Fresh, into Jr. Murvin- Roots Train?
Couldn't be more jarring

It looks like maybe Universal came to their senses regarding the track sequence. The tracklist on their site has the same songs, but in a more coherent order. Still a little random, but nothing as bad as what is posted above.

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/rest ... 753387924/

Still a mess and the question remains 'Who is it aimed at with a £90 price tag?'

I think it looks like a pleasant listen. Unfortunately I only collect vinyl...

But to answer a lot of you guys questions: I was but a callow likkle youth back in '93(?) when I got bit by the reggae bug following a tussle with The Harder They Come sdtk. See, I had listened to Marley back in my high school days but I decided I wanted more. Saw The Story of Jamaican Music box set at my local big box with an astounding price tag of $70. I bought it and ate PBJs for the rest of the month. Didn't know about most of the tracks, but it was an education. And as my taste matured I began to question many of the selections! But that's another story.

Now...the question is, in this day and age of downloading (and I have no doubt this set will be available thru the usual online outlets within days of its release)...who in their right mind would shell out for this? Might make a great gift for special friends?