Out of Many: 50 Years of Reggae Music

Marking the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence, this compilation is named after the island’s motto, ‘Out of Many,’ Drawing on the Randy’s, Greensleeves and VP back catalogues, it includes a track from each year between 1962 and 2012, appropriately beginning with Lord Creator’s mento/calypso song ‘Independent Jamaica’ and ending with a remake of the same featuring Holly Cook. Given this chronological format, disc one (1962-81) only has room for three ska and rocksteady tracks apiece, including the Skatalites’ superb ‘Malcolm X’ and Hopeton Lewis’ seminal ‘Take It Easy’. Among the reggae proper tracks are the likes of Augustus Pablo (‘Java’), Dennis Brown, Ken Boothe (‘Everything I Own’) and Culture (‘Two Sevens Clash’), though there are less predictable selections by the UK’s Capital Letters and the great Junior Byles (‘Fade Away’).

Disc two covers 1981-96 and features deejays such as Eek-a-Mouse, Yellowman and Shabba Ranks alongside the inevitable ‘Sleng Teng’ from Wayne Smith. But there’s also another UK representative in the form of Tippa Irie’s poppy ‘Hello Darling’ and an atypical country-reggae song by Lady Saw, complete with violin. The contrasts are sharpened on disc three, with melodic numbers by Morgan Heritage, I Wayne and powerful female vocalist Etana competing with dancehall outings by Mr Vegas, Sean Paul and Elephant Man.

There are a few comparable recent releases, such as Island’s lavish but grossly overpriced eight-CD box set Sound System: The Story of Jamaican Music and Trojan’s five-CD Freedom Sounds: A Celebration of Jamaican Music, which doesn’t cover the whole period. You almost certainly won’t like all the tracks here, but if you want a bargain-price overview of Jamaican music over the last 50 years, Out of Many fits the bill.