Customer Reviews

Trojan Box Set: Seventies

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Trojan has offered many box sets of countless themes. However, a good deal of them are tailored towards showing off the "Trojan sound" of raw, underground, and groundbreaking reggae that was well loved by UK reggae lovers. Not that this is a bad thing. But overall, the widespread appeal can be limited (although that doesn't detract from the quality of the music).

The Seventies box set is different though. Here you have a bunch of really smooth, sweet-sounding covers of 70s pop radio hits. So "sweet", you may actually forget that you're listening to reggae! But this isn't your watered-down pop reggae performed by one hit wonders. You have your perennial reggae superstars like Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, The Gaylads, Max Romeo, Ken Boothe and Derrick Harriott.

Some stand out tracks (out of the 50) are "It's Too Late" (the Carole King tune) which sounds like it was written for the reggae beat it's mated to; the dub-heavy "Solitary Man"; "Close To You" by Yvonne which just sounds simply amazing; "One Bad Apple" which was an Osmond tune (but this version sounds cooler); and my personal favorite (maybe because I'm a WVU girl) is "Country Roads" by Toots & The Maytals that may just be the greatest reggae cover ever.

So don't let the Trojan label "scare" you off; even people who have never heard any other reggae than Bob Marley in their life have loved these tunes. Get prepared to sing along!

It sounded like a fun set of songs: reggae versions of 70s pop hits. It's so much more than that. It's the best thing you've ever heard. It will rob you of your higher mental functions and make you froth on the floor. Let it harness itself to you and then bother you!

Whether you're a fan of seventies AM radio pop or post-rocksteady reggae (or ideally both!) this is a really wonderful listen. Ska, Rocksteady & Reggae have always paid tribute to rock and soul with a bounty of cover versions. This particular collection has artists from Toots to Judy Mowatt (of Marley's I-Threes)paying homage to the sounds filtering down to Kingston via U.S. powerhouse AM stations in the early to mid 1970s. It's great to hear funky reggae'd versions of Bread, Lobo, Gilbert O'Sullivan (!), etc. Max Romeo doing The Partridge Family's "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" is surreal!! As with all of the Trojan Reggae Box Sets, the sound and liner notes are stellar! Get 'em all!!!!!