A book to listen to, or a record to read, take your pick: in its little booklet, this four-disc box set tells us the story of reggae. By concentrating on Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label, which on its own represents a considerable portion of Jamaican musical history. Indeed from 1950 to 1970, the Duke ruled the roost on the yardie market, and defined the direction of the island's music. The head-on competition between Reid's Trojan sound and Coxsone's Downbeat laid the foundations of the local music industry.
The evolution of reggae is intimately linked to technological progress, with the first 45s in 1959. Ska, then rocksteady, would become Duke Reid's vehicles for getting people dancing, notably with his star artist, Alton Ellis. It was also in the Treasure Isle studio that the chance event that led to dub took place. All these stories are told in this box set, which links each stage to a song. Justin Hinds, the Paragons, Prince Buster, the Skatalites troupe, all the major artists of the period feature on the tracklisting. But dreadlocks, Selassie, Rastas, ganja, that doesn't do much for him. Duke Reid gradually loses his leadership to Coxsone as artists and musicians move on to 13 Brendford Road, at Studio One. Which in turn would leave its mark on reggae, like two emperors who shared the eras between them
