Best known as a British rock label, Island Records actually began life in Jamaica in 1959. Its Harrow–educated founder, Chris Blackwell, was raised on the island (hence the label’s name) and it was there that he cut his teeth in the music industry. But all of the tracks on these two releases were originally released on Island Records in the UK, where Blackwell had relocated in 1962, just in time to catch the wave of ska mania that hit Jamaica after independence.

Like Trojan, Island is now part of the Universal conglomerate, and these anthologies are part of a Trojan¬dominated series. After so many overlapping Trojan compilations of vintage Jamaican music, however, it’s pleasing to report that many of the tracks here are new to CD. On the Island Records Presents Ska set, for example, there are just two tracks by the Skatalites, the leading horn-led instrumental group of the period, compared with half-a-dozen by the lesser-known Baba Brooks Band, who shamelessly ska-ify ‘The Happy Wanderer’ (‘Fol-da-ri, fol-da-ra’) on ‘Robin Hood’, the Magnificent Seven theme on ‘Skalarama’ and even ‘Three Blind Mice’. Overall, however, it’s a vocal-dominated collection, which means some distinctly ragged singing alongside class acts like Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, the Maytals and the Techniques, led here by the great Slim Smith.

Along with Cuban-born veteran Derrick Morgan and the heavily American-influenced Derrick Harriott, Hinds and Smith reappear on the Island Records Presents Rock Steady set, where the singing is almost uniformly smoother. Covering just two years (1967-68), the rock steady era was dominated by Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, and although a few initial tracks come from that source, the compilation casts its net wider to include productions by Harriott, Bunny Lee and others. Bizarre but memorable borrowings here include ‘Ilya Kuryakin’, an organ-led take on Percy Faith’s ‘Theme from a Summer Place’, Derrick Harriott’s sophisticated cover of the Ink Spots’ ‘Do I Worry’ from the 40s and Slim Smith & the Uniques’ ‘The Beatitude’, with misquoted lyrics from the Sermon on the Mount. Although beginners might be better served by more focused anthologies, the more obscure selections on these two collections will undoubtedly please the more seasoned fans.