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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a reggae bounty, December 2, 2007
This review is from: The Reggae Scrapbook (Hardcover)
Steffens and photographer Peter Simon, two long-time chroniclers of Jamaican music, have emptied their files into a deeply satisfying guided tour of reggae in chronologico-topical form. Simon's photography has been seen in such works as Reggae Bloodlines and Reggae International. As many readers of this magazine know, Steffens has written and lectured extensively about Bob Marley and reggae music and is also co-founder of The Beat. Reggae Scrapbook brims with the contributors' knowledge as well as their infectious love of the genre and the culture that produces it.
And their memorabilia is now ours, in handy facsimile form. Produced in the same vein as James Henke's recent Marley Legend, Reggae Scrapbook surveys reggae from origins to present and handsomely houses removable reggae artifacts by the fistful.
Page after page, Reggae Scrapbook delights. If you're like me, you'll get your hands on this and wonder whether to read it properly as one should with all books, from start-to-finish, or consume it giddily, turning at random for the treats. At one point, the Scrapbook opens to a splashy little 12-page magazine gummed to the page about the phenomenon of Jamaican dances. Page 43 contains an envelope with three gorgeous postcard-sized photo/illustrations of Haile Selassie. Fastened elsewhere in the book are concert handbills (pages 11, 91 and 129), two panels of peel-away stickers (page 81), miniature reproductions of singles in little white sleeves (pages 85 and 139), some of them autographed by the artists. (Among the latter is Cornell Campbell, who writes a sleeve note correcting a mis-identified 45 of "You're No Good.") Steffens and Simon, mighty repro men for the reggae generation, leave no dead space anywhere in this deluxe volume.
Lodged in a pocket inside the front cover is a dvd culled from the many hours of interviews Steffens has conducted over the years. Steffens likes to query for defining moments and he elicits fascinating replies. After a sound check one night, Joseph Hill narrates, with a riveting performative quality, his harrowing near-fatal encounter with Jamaican police. Luciano explains his decision to leave a high-profile concert in mid-performance in order to trod forward to the hills for sabbatical. Betty Wright gives a memorable explication of the charisma she witnessed of Bob Marley when she toured as opening act for the band in 1979. Judy Mowatt describes the pandemonium of the Wailers' epochal Zimbabwe concerts of 1980. The Wailers Band, Peter Tosh, the Heptones and Alton Ellis are the other interview subjects. The memories and insights are rendered with engagingly varied levels of formality.
The readings shift from overview to close focus. While not exhaustive, the narrative is invariably absorbing and inclusive of career surveys of seminal artists and many wonderful sidebars ranging from aspects of Jamaican culture to such things as a fable composed by Gregory Isaacs and a verbatim eyewitness account by Junior Reid of the shooting death of Hugh Mundell. The book weighs heaviest on artists from the 70s and 80s, although coverage of soundsystems, festivals and a few dancehall artists bring the subject forward to the now moment.
Steffens writes with authority and wit and a heightened ear for poetic utterance.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful chronicle, May 19, 2008
This review is from: The Reggae Scrapbook (Hardcover)
Jamaica is simultaneously an old country (a crucible of colonialism and slavery for 400 years) and a new country (only independent since 1962). Similarly, reggae is an old music, rooted in tradition (influences range from the griots of West Africa to the old testament) and a new, pathbreaking music (the originator of the term "reggae," Toots Hibbert (who wrote the book's forward), isn't old enough to collect social security, and what we know today as the "remix" was invented in a West Kingston ghetto). Jamaica isn't exactly a world power. But somehow, over 40 some-odd years, its music has spread from gullybanks and zinc shacks to the far corners of the earth.
If you get this book, you will understand why. Steffens and Simon are a "dream team" - a combination of the premier reggae critic and the top photographer. The book, which is conversational in tone, is jam-packed with interesting lore and arresting images of colorful people, places and memorabilia. It's a loving chronicle of a fascinating culture that the authors have been intensely involved with for 30+ years.
To top it off, the book includes a whole host of little "surprises" and a DVD that are themselves probably worth the price...
To be clear, the book has no pretensions of being a complete history of the music, so if you want (for example) a long exigesis of the skinhead/reggae association, as one reviewer mentioned, you'll need to look elsewhere. Rest assured that most fans will find the book enormously satisfying.
The bottom line: If you like reggae, you will love this book, and if you don't like reggae, you'll probably like it by the time you're through.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it if you are a serious reggae fan/aficionado, April 12, 2008
This review is from: The Reggae Scrapbook (Hardcover)
As someone who has been involved in the reggae music scene for over 30 years, I recommend this book to those who want a real feel of the reggae pulse from the Golden Years. This is an enormously entertaining and informative book, filled with information, color, and zest for the world it addresses. The book is the brainchild of Roger Steffans and Peter Simon, two of the greatest and most knowledgeable reggae warriors of all time who are not native to Jamaica, and it brings forth not only a lot of information, but reproductions of a lot of the letters, ticket stubs, colorful record labels, old bumper stickers, promotional materials, etc., etc., from the Third World creative juices that is the reggae scene in Jamaica. The pictures from Simon are unparralleled, as usual. The guy belongs in the Reggae Hall of Fame as the top photographer for the genre, if they ever come up with a Hall of Fame. Be aware that the book does not pretend to be a comprehensive look at anything or the last word on any given topic. Not every star is included, or every movement within the music documented. Lord knows these authors could have done this if they wanted to but the point of the book is to bring forth the vigor and color and richness of the reggae scene through the rich momentos that they had available in their collections. If they did not have the momentos, they did not include the topic/person in the book. What emerges from these two authors/reggae legends in their own right is a lot of interesting material/grist for anyone's regggae mill and some wonderful items that you have never seen and will enjoy thoroughly. The book will also bring back a lot of memories for a lot of readers. It sure did for me! This is a fun book for those who want to get totally immersed in the reggae world for a few hours, and it is so unique with its reproductions of, dare I say, informational and promotional paraphernalia that you will be going back to the book time and time again because of the entertainment and wonderment value. There are enough texts on the reggae music business/world at this point that another one would probably not be so special. This book is special because it goes where no book before has gone. It brings the true reggae culture and music business to your living room. In summation, your collection will be missing something without this book.
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