Duff Review: "Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc" (plus Trojan Reloaded)!

Trojan Records/Sanctuary Records Group/BMG
Heavyweight vinyl picture disc LP
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Of all the This Is Trojan 50! releases coming out this year celebrating the label's golden anniversary, the Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc seemed like the most sensible one to pick up, since I felt compelled to partake in this significant milestone somehow ("The Story of Trojan Records" book by Laurence Cane-Honeysett comes out in October and I'll probably buy that, too). I've been collecting Trojan comps--the vast majority of them nothing short of excellent--since the early 1990s (some of my favorites include The Trojan Story, The Trojan Story Volume II, The Story of Trojan Records, Rebel Music, Reggae Chartbusters, Club Reggae, Blow Mr. Hornsman, Freedom Sounds, Music Is My Occupation, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd - Musical Fever 1967-1968, and Clancy Eccles And Friends - Fatty Fatty 1967 - 1970). Having said that, the downside of being along for the ride for several of Trojan's five decades has been seeing many of the same classic cuts packaged, go out of print, and then be repackaged over and over and over again.

The Trojan 50 box set (priced at $135 in the USA and containing six CDs, four LPs, two 7" singles, and some label merch) is quite beautifully designed and contains a veritable treasure trove of Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae; but unless you're new to the genre (and if you are, by all means buy this, since you'll own some of the greatest music ever recorded) or an obsessive Trojan collector that has to have everything, you already possess the majority of these songs. Being a sucker for vinyl and picture discs (and Trojan vinyl can be hard to come by in the states--on a recent trip to New Orleans, I picked up a pretty beat up copy of the phenomenal 1969 Reggae Chartbusters comp because it was the first copy I'd ever seen in all my many decades of crate digging and it contains Dandy Livingstone's awesome "Reggae in Your Jeggae"; fortunately, the surface noise doesn't distract too much and I paid less than $10 for it!), I'm pretty pleased with my purchase.

The selection of tracks on the Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc--all UK top 10 chart hits back in the day--is unquestionably spectacular. Of all the late '60s/early '70s Trojan classics here (Desmond Dekker and The Aces' "Israelites," The Pioneers' "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah," Harry J All Stars' "Liquidator," Ken Boothe's "Everything I Own," The Upsetter's "Dollar In The Teeth," John Holt's Kris Kristofferson cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night," Althea and Donna's "Uptown Ranking," Susan Cadogan's "Hurt So Good," Dave and Ansel Collins' "Double Barrel," Bob and Marcia's "To Be Young Gifted and Black," and Nicky Thomas' "Love of the Common People"), the only cut I was unfamiliar with (and am glad to have) is Sophia George's relatively late (1985) but great top #7 UK hit, "Girlie Girlie." This is a record you can put on at house party and just let it play.

As part of its celebrations, Trojan is releasing new music again through its new imprint Trojan Reloaded (the first 7" dancehall single on this label is "Real Reggae Music" from Reggae Roast Soundsystem, featuring Tippa Irie, which is available in the US on August 10, 2018--and their excellent digital Murder EP is out now). Here's hoping that this move creates lots of opportunities for some new reggae classics to be born...

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NYC Summer 2014 Ska Calendar #11

Rico-That Man is Forward!

Saturday, June 28, 2014 @ 8:00 pm

Lacey Allure's "Rock N Roll Girlie Show" with Beat Brigade, The Purslaines, The Pests, and The Cuts

Bar Matchless
557 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

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Sunday, June 29, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Sly and Robbie with The Taxi Gang and Bitty McLean

B.B. Kings Blues Club and Grill
237 West 42nd Street
Manhattan, NY
$20 in advance/$25 day of the show
All ages

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Sunday, June 29, 2014 @ 12:00 pm

Groovin' in the Park w/Beres Hammond, Chronixx, Air Supply, Marcia Griffiths and John Holt, Bob Andy, and Judy Mowatt and many more!

Roy Wilkins Park
Merrick and Baisley Boulevard
Queens, NY
$59.99 (kids under 12 are free)

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Sleepy Wonder (Thievery Corp), Geometric Echoes, Dub is a Weapon

Drom
85 Avenue A
Manhattan, NY
21+

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Saturday, July 12, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rude Boy George (playing from 7:00-7:30 pm)

Maplewoodstock
Memorial Park
Maplewood, NJ
Free
All ages

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Friday, July 28, 2014

The Frightnrs, Ticklah, Natasha Diggs, 100dBs

The Gemini Scorpio Loft
200 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Tribal Seeds, New Kingston, The Expanders

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show

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Saturday, August 23, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Slackers

Departs from Circle Line Pier 83
West 42nd Street and the West Side Highway
Manhattan
$30/21+

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Friday, August 29, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

Mrs. Skannotto

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show

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Harry J RIP

According to the Jamaica Observer, the great reggae producer Harry J (AKA Harry Johnson) passed away this past Wednesday at 68 from complications related to diabetes. (The Associated Press also has a brief obituary, which you can read here--and Billboard has an in-depth piece here.)

Like many ska fans of my generation who were in high school in the first half of the 80s, I first heard (and loved) Harry J's music via The Special AKA's "Too Much Too Young" EP--side two, of course, features a super-charged cover of "The Liquidator" in its "Skinhead Symphony" (which also included The Pioneers' "Longshot Kick de Bucket" and Symarip's "Skinhead Moonstomp"). But as soon as I picked up one of my first (and stellar!) Trojan compilations, Monkey Business, I heard the real deal and was a Harry J fan for life (if you can find it, one of the best compilations of his work is Return of the Liquidator: 30 Skinhead Classics 1968-1970).

I've borrowed the Harry J bio from AllMusic and posted it below (there's also a great entry on Harry J in Mike Alleyne's "The Encyclopedia of Reggae")--and you'll also find some videos of some of his songs and productions, including Bob and Marcia's "Young, Gifted, and Black" (one of the first reggae tracks to use strings, according to "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae") and The Heptones' sublime "Book of Rules."

Our condolences go out to Harry J's family, friends, collaborators, and fans worldwide.



















This bio on Harry J is from AllMusic:

Harry Johnson, or Harry J as he's better known to fans around the world, was a prolific producer of top-notch reggae, and continues to run one of Jamaica's most legendary studios. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1945, after leaving school Johnson worked as an insurance salesman. Interest in music, however, led him to schedule time at Studio One in 1968 to record the vocal group the Beltones. The resulting single, "No More Heartaches," was a hit, the first of many. Lloyd Robinson's seminal -- and much versioned -- "Cuss Cuss" arrived the following year, as did a slew of sizzling instrumentals from Johnson's studio band, the Harry J All-Stars. Their first, 1968's "Smashville," mashed up the sound systems, but it was the phenomenal success of "Liquidator," a number that stormed into the Top Ten of the British chart in late 1969, that cemented his reputation. The British reggae label Trojan promptly handed Johnson his own imprint, Harry J, and a slew of the All-Stars' instrumentals saw release. Although none of them repeated "Liquidator"'s success, the songs went down a storm with the skinhead crowd. Of course, the instrumentals were actually backings of vocal cuts, spiffed up by soloing organs or brass, and those vocal numbers were exciting plenty of attention, too. During these early years, Johnson oversaw excellent singles from the Cables, Winston Jarrett & the Flames, Joe White, Bob Andy, and Marcia Griffiths. When the latter two artists joined forces in duet, Johnson's fortune was made, with Bob & Marcia's cover of "Young, Gifted and Black" sailing into the U.K. Top Five, with "Pied Piper" following it up the chart. 

With the money amassed from those two hits, Johnson opened his own 16-track Kingston studio on Roosevelt Boulevard. A series of masterful albums emerged across the rest of the decade, all overseen by Johnsonhimself. The Heptones' Book of Rules and Cool Rasta, I-Roy's Crisus Time and Heart of a Lion, Zap Pow's Revolution, the Melodians' Sweet Sensation, Delroy Wilson's Last Thing on My Mind, Dennis Brown's So Long Rastafari, and Sylvan Morris' Cultural Dub and Jah Jah Dub sets are just some of the highlights. The Wailers recorded their first four albums for Island at Harry J's, with Burning Spear and Augustus Pabloamong the many other top-drawer artists who set up shop there. However, it was a young emerging singer who returned Johnson to the U.K. pop chart at the end of the decade. Sheila Hylton first hit with "Breakfast in Bed," and her follow-up, "Bed to Big Without You," was even bigger. In the new decade, the producer was working mainly with DJs, overseeing excellent material from Charlie Chaplin, Uglyman, and Little John, with Computer a fine roundup of these more digitized-sounding productions. By then, Johnson's interest in production was waning, or perhaps he just couldn't find the time anymore, so busy was he looking after the studio, which remains a mainstay of the Kingston music industry.

Bob and Marcia Added to 2011 London International Ska Festival!

It just keeps on getting better:

Following the announcement of Ken Boothe, we are honoured to announce the next acts added to The London International Ska Festival are two more Jamaican legends. One of reggae's most influential songwriters and singers, Bob Andy and the 'Queen of Reggae' Marcia Griffiths will be reuniting for a very special evening, and once again performing together again as Bob & Marcia.

The duo met whilst recording for Jamaica's premier label of the day Studio One, but it was on the move to the Harry J Label that their international recognition came. In 1970 and 71 they hit the British, as well as the International charts with their version of Nina Simone's 'Young, Gifted and Black', which peaked at No.5 and 'The Pied Piper' (reaching No.11).

Bob Andy was one of the founding members of The Paragons, along with Tyrone Evans and Howard Barrett, and later joined by John Holt. As one of Studio One's leading lights, Bob worked closely with Jackie Mittoo on many of the label's seminal sounds. Besides writing songs for himself which have become reggae standards 'Feeling Soul', 'My Time', 'Going Home' and 'Too Experienced', to name just a few, Bob contributed hits for many of the other artists there. His album 'Songbook' is quite rightly referred to as "a masterpiece".

Marcia Griffiths, discovered by Philip “Boasie” James lead singer of the Blues Busters, started her singing career performing with Byron Lee & The Dragonaires. Her recording years started soon after, at Coxsone Dodd's Studio One where she recorded her first hit, the Bob Andy composition 'Feel Like Jumping'. Upon Bob & Marcia's split in 1974, Marcia united with Judy Mowatt and Rita Marley to form the I-Threes, Bob Marley's sublime vocal trio.

For over 40 years Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths have continued to record and tour all over the world, establishing themselves as true legends of Jamaica’s musical history. In recent years the Jamaican government conferred the Order of Distinction on both of them. We are delighted to have Bob and Marcia performing not only their timeless duets but also their classic solo hits at The London Intl Ska Festival.

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Also, the schedule of appearances is starting to firm up:

Thursday 21 April 2011
Ken Boothe and James Hunter

Friday 22 April 2011
The Loafers and Hotknives

Saturday 23 April 2011
The English Beat starring Dave Wakeling and The Caroloregians

Sunday 24 April 2011
Bob & Marcia