Chess Records dominated the Chicago black music scene during the 1960s. This album is a collection of some of the label's finest releases during this period.
All tracks originally released between 1970 and 1974.
Most of the compilations issued in this series are repackaging for the UK market of a series initially issued in US in 2015. In this new collection marketed in the UK, only two compilations offers a new track listings: ’Trojan: Original Skinhead Reggae Classics’ and ‘Trojan: Original Soul Reggae Classics’. The US collection doesn’t have a compilation with ‘Skinhead’ in the title, but there is one with ‘Soul Reggae’ that features a different track listing.
The second volume in a two-part collection of Jamaican doo wop from the late 1950s through to the early 1960 represents a period in which sound systems began to dominate the island, and were starting to step up their rivalry by beginning to record heir own platters rather than rely on imports to gain the competitive edge.
With the uniquely Jamaican ska craze yet to fully catch hold, these tracks are largely imitative of the sounds that had been reaching the island from American shores, albeit peppered with hints of what was to come ~ some of the future stars of ska, rocksteady and reggae are starting to cut their teeth here on these records, providing a unique view into the fledgling industry at a time of creative flux.
From Blues parties in London, Birmingham, Bristol etc Lovers Rock quickly became one of the UK’s finest-ever musical movements. Sweet harmonies, soulful reggae, love songs – the key ingredients of Lovers Rock - were all based on the revival of many of the classic Rocksteady harmony groups of the late 60s and early 70s, such as The Heptones, Carlton and The Shoes, Larry & Alvin, The Paragons, that Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd’s Studio One and rival Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label produced hit after hit with as they fought for dominance in the dancehalls of Kingston. As well as these classic harmony groups, this album also features fine contributions from many of the reggae greats – Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Delroy Wilson – All artists who became stars at the legendary Studio One Records which Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, describes as "The University of Reggae".