Customer Reviews

Trojan Box Set: Roots

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a soccer fan good ska, rocksteady and general forms of reggae are vital to my Saturday and this Roots compilation from Trojan pure hits the spot! Roundabout track 5 on the first CD you'll be aching for some herbal relief to enhance your music pleasures even more. By this stage you'll already heard the exceptional "Cool Rasta," "Rise in the Strength Jah," and "Rise Jah Jah Children." Just when you thought it couldn't get any better up pops "History" by Carlton Jackson, my speakers clearly aren't big enough!

The whole mood is one of mellow enlightenment; with the musical arrangements so clear you can almost touch the sandy beaches and clear blue skies of warmer climes. I can't believe some of these tracks are older than me!!!

To be honest I would pay this price for just one CD let alone 3!

Buy this and refuse to get distressed otherwise 'tings will go missing, Jah bless

Not all Trojan Box Sets are winners. I get the feeling sometimes with some of the Box Set releases that someone is cleaning out the basement at Trojan, dumping whatever they find onto three discs, slapping a vague title on it, and shipping it out. A lot of bad music gets mixed in with the good. The Roots Box Set is a definite exception. Most Reggae fans know that the birth of the "Roots" style (my favorite of the styles under the umbrella of Reggae: ie. Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, Dub, D.J., Dancehall, Ragga, etc.) came about in the very late 60's and flourished in the early 70's with a slower beat and lyrics focusing mostly on religious, political, and cultural concerns of the Jamaican artists/audience of the time. This is a fine collection of very strong material from that period (70's) with hardly any weak tracks. Many of the songs in the set I first heard as Dub versions from other collections and on a couple of the selections you actually get the original version followed up by the Dub version, a nice little bonus. Of course while the Roots era is far too vast a period for any compilation to be considered comprehensive, this is an excellent vehicle to exose yourself to some Roots music and it would make a proper addition to the collections of current Roots fans. Perhaps Trojan should consider a "Roots Part II" like they did with their Dub Box Set releases.

"Babylon a fall down" is one of those enduring reggae classics and one of the best reggae songs ever recorded and is sung by the Velvet Shadows and is on this collection. It is up there with the likes of By the rivers of Babylon and others. It has not been easy to find since I had it on another compilation a long time ago.

The biggest names of the Roots movement in Reggae is largely absent here which is fine with me, because this makes way for lesser known bands and singers, although many still are widely known.

Roots is largely, crucial, basic, reverent and rocking music so when we have so many of these one-off songs it makes one wonder what a whole album by the band may have sounded like. So, on 3 sequenced disks, that's a lot of statement to take in one sitting in such a manner. Usually, serious statements on a CD by one band might be sandwiched between some lighter messages like when you listen to Bob Marley's Exodus, yeh, that song is intense but then there are lighter touches like "3 little birds" on there; but here, basically every song is rendering some sort of serious Rasta reggae statement, whether it be on Africa, Emperor Haile Sellassie or whatever and back before Black Uhuru brought in seven minute songs. Most all of these are just your single sized songs, 2 or 3 minutes usually.

Just one interesting note, the song on here, "African People" by the Jay Boys is just a reworking of the song "Cherokee Nation" made famous by I believe Mark Lindsey and Paul Revere and the Raiders but with of course different and more applicable words. Likewise Delroy Wilson's "Adisabab" is indeed none other than a reworking of the classic "House of the rising sun." Apparently, the copyright rules are sorted out in regards to these songs.

Sometimes, I ponder if some songs line up strongly, but then again, this is the foundation music for much of what was to come later. Very enjoyable and it was hard to find other reviews of this CD because these box sets have a lot of music to listen to. Rather than singling a few songs out, it is good to hear them as they come. After all, one whole CD by some groups can easily last me a week.

yes i really like this set, but i have to tell the potential buyers that the tracklisting is a mess: "I Man A African" by the Sons of Selassie isn't on it, although it's supposed to be song 2 on disc 1; and on disc 3 "African Dub"" is just another version (not a dub version) of "Rejoice Jah Jah Children". Then there was one more track that was listed wrongly, can't remember which. Anyway, this set is essential because of the song "History" (the 8-minute discomix, btw); also "Rejoice Jah Jah Children", "Brother Noah" and "African People"... If you don't own these tracks already buy without hesitation.

A few songs in this set are ok. Many, however, are either mediocre, blah, or bad. A few are rap songs, and a few are retakes on old hits. I was fooled by the high rating given by the other reviewers. Ciao, amigos.