The Rough Guide to Reggae 100 Essential CDs (Rough Guide 100 Esntl CD Guide) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Steve Barrow (Author), Peter Dalton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rough Guide 100 Esntl CD Guide | Publication Date: November 1, 1999

Containing detailed reviews of 100 recordings, from The Skatalites to Sizzla, this guide covers the acknowledged classics and plenty of others that deserve to be.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The Rough Guide to Essential Reggae CDs is in some ways a micro-history of the music, a book that ranges from ska and rocksteady to ragga and digital rhythms through celebrating 100 of the best all-time albums. In our selections, we've followed other books in this series by picking (on the whole) just one CD for each artist, though we've had to break the rules for a few key figures - Duke Reid, The Skatalites, Lee Perry, Delroy Wilson, Yabby You - whose careers and albums take in several phases of the music. And reggae being what it is - a singles-driven and producer-driven market - we've opted for a good number of compilations.

Reggae aficionados might be surprised to see a few crucial names missing from our lists. A number of these will be down to taste, but there are some great artists and producers, sadly, who just don't have decent available recordings on CD. Justin Hinds is one such figure: his beautiful Treasure Isle recordings are unavailable at the time of writing because of a legal issue over publishing. Prince Buster currently has nothing from his vast catalogue available, except the excellent (but difficult to find) Japanese issue, King of Ska. We made an exception by including this. In general we have tried to select CDs that, in theory at least, are available in chain store reggae sections worldwide. Certainly they will be readily available at competitive prices through specialists like VP, Dub Vendor, Greensleeves Mail Order, or Ernie, as well as through many outlets on the Internet.

All the CDs selected in this book are, to the best of our knowledge, legally produced discs on bonafide labels. As will be seen, the Heartbeat label has over a quarter of the selections, principally due to their stewardship of the important Studio One catalogue; elsewhere, independents continue to lead in the re-issue and contemporary fields. The choices of CDs on the Blood & Fire label - associated with co-author Steve Barrow - was made by Peter Dalton, to avoid partiality; though for the record Steve did put his case for the Congos.

As fans of Jamaican music for the last thirty years, we found selecting just 100 essential reggae albums, to reflect this crucial and innovative music in all its phases, a real challenge. We hope that you enjoy our efforts, even if you don't always agree, and that this book will expand the collections and musical enjoyment of newcomers and long-time aficionados alike.

Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton

Product Details

• Audio CD: 208 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858285674
• ISBN-13: 978-1858285672
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,415,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Pop Culture
  • #87 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Music > Musical Genres > Popular

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impartial to a fault, May 10, 2001

By 

Neil Foxlee (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Reggae 100 Essential CDs (Rough Guide 100 Esntl CD Guide) (Audio CD)

The only reason I've given this four stars rather than five is because it stands in the shadow of the earlier, exhaustive and indispensable Reggae: The Rough Guide by the same authors. There is obviously a great deal of overlap between the two, with the new recommendations going to material (re)issued since the big Guide was published. Inevitably, this mini-Guide also lacks the latter's historical framework, but for concise, reliable and consumer-friendly CD coverage, there is nothing else on the market to compare.

Perhaps the best endorsement I can give for the mini-Guide in itself is that I already had about two-thirds of the recommended albums in my collection, and have rarely been disappointed by the ones I have bought since (mainly because I strayed outside my preferred kinds of reggae). If the book has a fault, it's that in their concern to be impartial, representative and up-to-date, the authors include a few recent albums which may, for all I know, be among the best of their kind, but which to these ears don't match up to the classics I (and I suspect they) know and love. With a new edition of the big Guide imminent at the time of writing, I would obviously recommend that as the first-choice buy, but for the less committed, you can't go far wrong with this.

(NB: as clearly stated in the introduction quoted above, the Guide recommends a number of CDs on the Blood and Fire label run by Steve Barrow, but these were selected by his co-author Peter Dalton to avoid bias. Anyway, the CDs in question are among the strongest recommendations in the Guide, and reggae lovers around the world owe a massive debt of gratitude to Barrow for the dozens of classic albums he has compiled over the years.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 100 Essential CDs, August 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Reggae 100 Essential CDs (Rough Guide 100 Esntl CD Guide) (Audio CD)

In the introduction to Regge: 100 Essential CDs by the Rough Guide, the authors (Blood and Fire's Steve Barrow, Peter Dalton) clearly state "The choices of CDs on the Blood & Fire label - associated with co-author Steve Barrow - was made by Peter Dalton, to avoid partiality" It goes on to say that Steve did argue for "Heart of the Congos", but who wouldn't? If you already own the Rough Guide to Reggae, this isn't essential, but the different format does make for a fun read. By selecting one essential record from each artist (the exceptions being two each for major figures like Lee Perry, the Skatalites, Yabby You, Augustus Pablo etc...), they do more than just give an album blurb. Almost every review includes a mini-bio of the artist that is highly informative. They also tell you the next best record in each case ie: the one they almost chose. This is a great book. Obviously not quite as comprehensive as the Rough Guide to Reggae, it is nonetheless an introduction to a wealth of great music.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A difficult task, but well handled., April 25, 2004

By 

M. MOTEN (pittsburgh, pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Reggae 100 Essential CDs (Rough Guide 100 Esntl CD Guide) (Audio CD)

That the Reggae volume of the "100 essential CDs" series needed two authors gives a clue to the difficulty in reducing Jamaican music to one simple list. While it begins and ends with Bob Marley's Legend for most listeners, Reggae music has grown so large in scope, variety and artistic motive that one term really isn't big enough to encompass it all. Frequent, sweeping changes in form, content, technology and public perception have resulted in sincere fans that see the music as something totally different than the next (equally devoted) enthusiast. What one loves about Reggae (and thinks it is for that matter) can often depend on when one was first exposed to it, and what was big at that moment. Take a 20 year old, 30 year old and 40 year old Reggae "fan" and ask them for a list of 100 "essential" discs; the results will likely have nothing in common.

Authors Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton make the best of a difficult task, explaining in their introduction that a lot of what could be considered for their book isn't even currently obtainable. Long the preserve of small, provincial, shoestring operations, when Reggae records go out of print, they go way out. From the start it's been a Dj - based form, with records and even master tapes recycled or even just discarded the moment a particular tune lost local popularity. The last few decades have seen valiant rescue efforts by labels big and small, but some things are simply lost forever to time, shortsightedness and regional economics. Taken in this light, the authors' decision to stick with what's readily available is laudable - they obviously hope that people will go get the stuff they love and have little interest in bragging about all the cool stuff they've heard that no one else can get.

Additionally hampered by Reggae's heavy dance/singles orientation, Dalton and Barrow do the best they can. On first viewing, their volume seems heavy on Dancehall and Ska while being desperately light on Dub, Roots and Lovers Rock. More careful thought reveals that most of the best stuff consists of singles found only on compilations, not all in print: Listing 75 compilation discs might not play for a modern audience raised on 75 minute cds all by one artist. Barrow and Dalton make up for the rough ride by cramming as much history into each review as possible, giving the beginning listener as well as the seasoned expert a larger view of Reggae music and culture that inspired it. The wealth of names, dates and places makes the Reggae volume well worth the time.