Young, Gifted & Black: The Story of Trojan Records

Young, Gifted & Black: The Story of Trojan Records
Author: Michael de Koningh
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2018-07-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1787591042

When it was formed, Trojan Records epitomised the punk DIY ethic over a decade before 1976. With a blizzard of individual labels and a marketing strategy that involved selling product out of the backs of vans, the company spearheaded the injection of reggae and ska into the vein of British youth consciousness. In its first brief six-year incarnation, Trojan produced nearly 30 hit singles, created the legendary compilation series Tighten Up and launched new acts like Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Ken Boothe, The Pioneers, Bob And Marcia, Greyhound and Dave And Ansell Collins, all against a background of cut-throat politics, cultural division and prejudice. Featuring a comprehensive discography, Young, Gifted And Black is the official story of Trojan Records, lifting the lid on the scheming, backbiting and sheer seat-of-the-pants inspiration that made the label such a powerful force for black UK music.

Bob Marley and Media

Bob Marley and Media
Author: Mike Hajimichael
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2023-02-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538165465

Bob Marley and Media: Representation and Audiences presents an analysis of how media, radio, television and print represented Bob Marley, including his popularity after his death. Mike Hajimichael examines unexplored connections between Bob Marley and media representation and the specifics of audiences, including coverage in tabloids, music magazines, and fanzines, as well as radio and television interviews. Hajimichael builds an extensive catalogue of Bob Marley’s media engagements and connects Marley to media through forms of political discourse and ideologies relevant to social change in different contexts globally, such as civil rights, anti-racism, Rastafari, and liberation movements. Given that varieties of representation exist, the book unpacks these media discourses with regard to public perceptions and key themes articulated, including mainstream versus fan-based coverage, issues of Rastafari, Black Consciousness, economic crisis, legacies of colonialism, slavery, racism, links to other music idioms, concepts of identity, and Marley’s personal relationships.

Positive Vibrations

Positive Vibrations
Author: Stuart Borthwick
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2022-05-09
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1789145708

From Marcus Garvey and Rastafarianism to today’s ubiquitous dancehall riddims, a comprehensive and impassioned exploration of reggae. Positive Vibrations tells of how reggae was shaped by, and in turn helped to shape, the politics of Jamaica and beyond, from the rudies of Kingston to the sexual politics and narcotic allegiances of the dancehall. Insightful and full of incident, it explores how the music of a tiny Caribbean island has worked its way into the heart of global pop. From Marcus Garvey’s dreams of Zion, through ska and rocksteady, roots, riddims, and dub, the story closes with the Reggae Revival, a new generation of Rastas as comfortable riding rhythms in a dancehall style as they are singing sweet melodies from times gone by. Impeccably informed, vibrant, and heartfelt, Positive Vibrations is a passionate and exhaustive account of the politics in reggae, and the reggae in politics.

Don Drummond

Don Drummond
Author: Heather Augustyn
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2013-08-03
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1476603332

This is a comprehensive biography of a brilliant musician who forever shaped the course of ska, reggae, and popular music worldwide, only to take the life of his lover and in so doing, destroy his career at the age of 30. In his short life Don Drummond created an enduring legacy despite poverty, class separation, mental illness, racial politics, and the exploitation of his work. The words of Drummond's childhood friends, classmates, musicians, medical staff, legal counsel, and teachers enliven this story of his "unusual mind." They recall the early days in the recording studio, playing the instrumental backup for Bob Marley and others, and the nights in the Rasta camps where musicians burned the midnight oil and more. They remember the gyrations of his lover, Margarita, the Rumba Queen, as she tantalized audiences at Club Havana; tell what happened that tragic night when Drummond stabbed Margarita four times; reveal details of the trial (delayed more than a year as Drummond was ruled mentally unfit) and offer insights into Drummond's death in a mental asylum at age 35.

The B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975

The B&C Discography: 1968 to 1975
Author: Mark Jones
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2015
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1909953377

Updated and expanded second edition of this Award Nominated book (nominated for the 2014 ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research). Strictly limited edition of 50 copies in green jacket design. B&C started life as a distribution company, which was set up as a sister company to Island. Island's early success led B&C's owner, Lee Gopthal, to start releasing records in his own right. However, B&C's main strategy was based on licensing records rather than signing artists in its own right and many of B&C's labels concentrated on singles and budget compilation albums - strategies that set the seeds of the company's own destruction. The end, when it came in 1975 was probably inevitable. Still, whilst B&C was about, some very good music got released, almost despite itself on occasion. This book includes comprehensive discographies covering the Action, Stable, B&C, Charisma, Pegasus, Peg, People, Mooncrest, Dragon, Sussex and Seven Sun labels.

Ska

Ska
Author: Heather Augustyn
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0786461977

Before Bob Marley brought reggae to the world, before Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, before thousands of musicians played a Jamaican rhythm, there were the men and women who created ska music, a blend of jazz, American rhythm and blues, and the indigenous music of the Caribbean. This book tells the story of ska music and its development from Jamaica to England, where the music took on a distinctively different tone, and finally to the rest of the world. Through the words of legendary artists, gleaned from more than a decade of interviews, the story of ska music is finally told by those who were there.

The Book of Exodus

The Book of Exodus
Author: Vivien Goldman
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0307421864

Follow the Sacred Journey to Create One of the Lasting Musical Masterpieces of Our Time Bob Marley is one of our most important and influential artists. Recorded in London after an assassination attempt on his life sent Marley into exile from Jamaica, Exodus is the most lasting testament to his social conscience. Named by Time magazine as “Album of the Century,” Exodus is reggae superstar Bob Marley’s masterpiece of spiritual exploration. Vivien Goldman was the first journalist to introduce mass white audiences to the Rasta sounds of Bob Marley. Throughout the late 1970s, Goldman was a fly on the wall as she watched reggae grow and evolve, and charted the careers of many of its superstars, especially Bob Marley. So close was Vivien to Bob and the Wailers that she was a guest at his Kingston home just days before gunmen came in a rush to kill “The Skip.” Now, in The Book of Exodus, Goldman chronicles the making of this album, from its conception in Jamaica to the raucous but intense all-night studio sessions in London. But The Book of Exodus is so much more than a making-of-a-record story. This remarkable book takes us through the history of Jamaican music, Marley’s own personal journey from the Trench Town ghetto to his status as global superstar, as well as Marley’s deep spiritual practice of Rastafari and the roots of this religion. Goldman also traces the biblical themes of the Exodus story, and its practical relevance to us today, through various other art forms, leading up to and culminating with Exodus. Never before has there been such an intimate, first-hand portrait of Marley’s spirituality, his political involvement, and his life in exile in London, leading up to histriumphant return to the stage in Jamaica at the Peace Concert of 1978. Here is an unforgettable portrait of Bob Marley and an acutely perceptive appreciation of his musical and spiritual legacy.

The Pioneers: First Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs

The Pioneers: First Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs
Author: Inyaso
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2016-08-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1365342697

In over 50 years of toiling, the Pioneers Reggae Group has transitioned steadfastly from the Ska era to Rocksteady, and to Reggae and some of its many fusions. The Pioneers' First Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs and its counterpart, Second Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary as well as the book titled Collectively and Individually: The Pioneers Record Sleeves Over the Decades were written to celebrate the Pioneers Reggae Group's musical journey as seen through the eyes of a lifetime fan whose intent is to draw on narrative and content analysis as a methodology to bring the groups' lifeworks to prominence and to remind the world of the great works created by the Pioneers and their important contribution to the reggae music industry.

The Pioneers: Second Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs

The Pioneers: Second Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs
Author: Inyaso
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2016-08-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1365342980

In over 50 years of toiling, the Pioneers Reggae transitioned steadfastly from the Ska era to Rocksteady, and to Reggae and some of its many fusions. The Pioneers' Second Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary and its counterpart, First Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary as well as the book titled Collectively and Individually: The Pioneers Record Sleeves Over the Decades were written to celebrate the Pioneers Reggae Group's musical journey as seen through the eyes of a lifetime fan whose intent is to draw on narrative and content analysis as a methodology to bring the groups' lifeworks to prominence and to remind the world of the great works created by the Pioneers and their important contribution to the reggae music industry.