Editorial Reviews

Trojan Records released its first record, a Duke Reid production, in 1967 and, helped immensely by a distribution deal with Chris Blackwell's Island Records, the label did as much as anyone to help bring Jamaican music to an international audience. Now owned and distributed by Sanctuary Records, Trojan is celebrating its forty-year anniversary by releasing a series of discs with contemporary musicians working its vast back catalog as selectors, including this one, assembled by Guto Pryce, the bass player for Britain's Super Furry Animals. Pryce knows his stuff, and he's put together a wonderfully flowing set that balances deep dub pieces with bright, summery-sounding vocal tracks, and the end result is a smooth, easy glide into a world like no other. Highlights in this remarkably cohesive sequence include Horace Andy's bright classic "Skylarking," Augustus Pablo's haunting dub version of "Vibrate On" (which features the trademark Black Ark production sound of Lee "Scratch" Perry), Susan Cadogan's pulsing and shiny as a new penny take on "Do It Baby," and the definitive version of Bob Marley's "Kaya," tracked in 1971 with Lee "Scratch" Perry. The vibe throughout is bright and summery, and there are several Jamaican weed anthems included, which give Pryce's sequence the feel of a drifting drive down a coast highway at midday with the shades on and all the time in the world to make it back home. Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

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