Customer Reviews

Trojan: Reggae Rarities

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

 

 

Three discs. 44,48,52 min. each approximately. Sound is good. This particular box set was chosen by the fans of Trojan Records. As such there are a lot of surprises for both the long-time reggae lover and the uninitiated. It's hard to believe that this is the 50th box set from Trojan. Made up of songs from the late sixties to the late seventies,there is a broad spectrum of artists. Fifty tracks by fifty artists means many different musical styles. Songs like Suffer Me Not to Rose Garden to It's Your Thing to Ain't That Peculiar are just some of the things you'll hear. The arrangements range from typical small groups to highly arranged horn backing. Should this be your first purchase? Probably not. This is aimed a bit toward long-time Trojan/reggae listeners. That said,there is still a lot to recommend here. The overall feel of this set is one of generalities,not one area of reggae music that other box sets fulfill.

Worth it just for the 1st disc. Discs 2 and 3 only have a few tracks that appeal to me, but all still good music. "Touch Me Baby", "Lonely Man", "Keep On Trying", "Ramblin' Man" and "Su, Su, Su" are all solid, but my favorite is "It's Your Thing". Great rendition of this one in particular. Gets the 4th star because of the cheap price.

There's a very good reason these are "rare" - because these tracks wouldn't have seen the light of day when they were made.

Where do they dig this stuff up from?

At a stretch, there's only 7 tracks worth listening to on CD #1 and 7 more on CD #2. (I deleted 20 garbage tracks from those two CD's)

CD #3 doesn't even have ONE track worth keeping. Absolute crapola recorded in the UK during the early 70's by amateur wannabe reggae "artists" trying to sound Jamaican. Somebody totally clueless must have put this together; it's absolutely diabolical as a "Box Set".

But even a broken clock is right twice a day and there's a very special track on CD #2 - an absolute killer classic that made me close my eyes, smile and say YES!!! "Horns of Paradise" - What a killer tune!

So out of about 50 tracks I deleted 36 and kept 14 - and only ONE track is a killer tune.

Absolute Shame on Trojan! Shame!!!!