AMG Review of Trojan Box Set: Ska, Vol. 2

Jo-Ann Greene
All Music Guide

If Trojan's first ska box was the main course, think of their second as a splendid buffet. While its predecessor was more heavily weighted towards stars and their hits, this one is stuffed with lesser-known gems, with only a handful of tracks that will immediately leap out at the general fan. As with the first volume, the sound quality is poor in places, and many tracks were obviously taken off vinyl, but one can live with that to hear such legendary singers as Lord Tanamo and Jackie Estick. But surely somewhere there was a better copy of Lee Perry's "Give Me Justice." Again, the box boasts another three discs, with 50 songs tossed willie nillie across them. Boogies are strewn about, the odd mento skips by, swing songs spill across the discs, jazzy instrumentals are salted everywhere, and chronology is meaningless as the set skanks madly across the years from the earliest days to ska's slowing gasp into rocksteady. There's big names a plenty (mostly paired with lesser-known songs) -- Derrick Morgan, Justin Hinds, and the Maytals amongst them -- along with a handful of now-forgotten names. There's a slew of fabulous bands including the Skatalites, Lynn Taitt & the Comets, Val Bennett, Baba Brooks, and Raymond Harper & the Carib Beats. In fact, there's something for everybody here; slower scorchers, out an out jumpers, shufflers, and pure skankers, upbeat party songs, and more down-tempo moodier numbers, American-style pop, pure Jamaican vocal trios, sublime duos, and great solo singers. Derrick Morgan pretty much steals the show with his exuberant "The Hop" and hilarious "Don't Call Me Daddy." However, the Maytals and Lloyd Robinson & Glen Brown run him a close second and third. The instrumentals are all so high caliber it's virtually impossible to pick between them, but for sheer exhilaration, Baba Brooks' "Girl's Town Ska" is just about unbeatable. Like it's predecessor, this box set is a winner, and one can only hope a third volume is in the works.