Reggae: The Rough Guide - Softcover

Barrow, Steve; Dalton, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858282470 ISBN 13: 9781858282473

Publisher: Rough Guides, 1997

Synopsis

The complete guide to one of the most influential forms of music in the world, The Rough Guide to Reggae leaves no stone unturned when it comes to profiling such stars as Buju Banton, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and, of course, Bob Marley. From Ragga to Dub to Ska, all forms of the genre are covered.

About this title

Reviews

This is an inexpensive yet near-comprehensive way to educate oneself about reggae music. Incorporating the same let's-cut-to-the-chase style that has characterized the Rough Guide travel books, as well as other music guides on rock, opera, and classical music, this guide to the hugely popular Jamaican music is profusely illustrated and well indexed. The authors have been involved in reggae for over 20 years and are able to survey the genre's many aspects succinctly. They consider such subgenre categories as mento, ska, rude-boy music, and rocksteady and devote chapters to African reggae, reggae in Britain, and reggae in America. Most important is the direction that the guide gives to the best CD or vinyl sources of reggae. Great photos and album covers (all in black and white) liberally pepper the text. If a library feels compelled to stock only one title on reggae, one would be hard pressed to beat the price or content of this book.?David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law Sch. Lib., Boston
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The Rough Guide to Reggae is a near-definitive guide to the music of Jamaica. The island has produced some 100,000 records over the last 45 years - an extraordinary output for a population of little more than two million. Although few of these recordings have crossed over to audiences beyond the Jamaican community, it's hard to think of any genre of popular music - other than the blues - that has had a greater influence in the past couple of decades. Mainstream rock stars from Clapton to the Stones, the Clash to the Fugees, have covered reggae hits, but more important has been Jamaican music's effect on the worldwide dance scene. Major features of Jamaican dancehall culture - the megawatt sound systems, the exclusive "one-off" recordings, the foregrounding of drum and bass, and the practice of rapping over rhythm tracks - have been appropriated by rave and dance culture. Other reggae innovations, like the dub remix, have been assimilated into wider popular music.

The Rough Guide maps a terrain that stretches from the music's folk origins to computerized ragga - via Jamaican r&b, ska, rocksteady, the varied strands that go under the name of 'reggae' itself, dub and dancehall. We've included interviews with crucial figures and have covered in depth the unique phenomenon of the sound systems, illuminating their pivotal role in the progress of the music, alongside the work of the legendary producers such as Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid, Lee Perry, Bunny Lee and King Jammy. Giving an in-depth view of the whole history of reggae (including the off-shoots that have taken root in the UK, the US and Africa), we have covered the careers of such stars as John Holt, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott, Frankie Paul, and, most obviously, Bob Marley (the one truly global reggae superstar), in every phase of their development.

From the bewildering multiplicity of albums we have selected and reviewed the best, including plenty of singles compilations, as the humble 7" vinyl disc is still the main artery of Jamaican music. As much as possible we've concentrated on CDs and LPs that are currently available but there's also a number of vital albums that may require a hunt through the secondhand shelves. (And given the re-issue programmes from various UK, European and US record companies, it's likely they will eventually be re-released.) On the other hand, we hope we've done justice to the numerous performers who have yet to show strongly on solo discs - and wherever possible we've listed compilations on which they appear. A few worthwhile sets will no doubt have been omitted for reasons of ignorance, and we apologize to the artists concerned and their admirers. If you think we've neglected someone, let us know, and we'll put it right in future editions.

We have written this Rough Guide because we love this music, which has provided a major part of the soundtrack to our own lives. Our aim has been to share some of the excitement and pleasure we have found in this wonderful, multi-faceted music that goes under the name of reggae.

Steve Barrow/Peter Dalton July 1997

Edition details

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858282470
• ISBN 13: 9781858282473
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384