1968 is the year in which reggae makes its place in the Jamaican sun. The year the Skatalites decide to rile up their rocksteady a little, the one that sees Lee Perry found his first label, Upsetter. It is also the year of revolts: from Berkeley to Paris, youth rumbles, and rock is no longer the only catalyst of frustrations. King Selassie had passed through Kingston two years earlier, and Rasta demands would soon transform this sound system music into protest songs.
This compilation offers tracks all produced in 1968, a hybrid year rather than a pivotal one. It includes Toots & the Maytals' Do the reggay, which baptised this new rhythm, along with songs still belonging to rocksteady and others on the verge of reggae, not yet quite roots. The Ethiopians are still in dancehall mode with Everything Crash and its steady steady orchestration. The Paragons with On the Beach do not yet know that they are entering history as the first dub track thanks to Duke Reid and Ruddy Redwood, while Delroy Wilson still sings of his love troubles. It is also the end of the glory years of Mr Rocksteady, Alton Ellis, king of the period. Bob Marley's voice is still a little frail, but he sings Hypocrites on the Nice Time riddim, which, reshaped by Jamaican producers, is destined to become a reggae classic.
Finally, and it is hardly surprising, it is Lee Perry's track, Django shoots first from the first album released on his label, that most prefigures the reggae to come. The riddim would become that of Toots's anthem, 54-46, and its rolling bass is already ready to take a rimshot in support. Already, in terms of rhythm and production, the Upsetter is ahead of everyone. In fact, 1968 is a symbolic year, but it is not the right year for listening to early reggae and following its evolution through to roots, with longer tracks that exceed 3 minutes. It is still a little early; 1968 is rather the year of the end of rocksteady. So we await the 1969 and 1970 volumes.
