The Treasure Isle Ska Albums Collection

The international popularity of ska launched Jamaica's music industry in the early 1960s and one of the big players on the island was Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid, whose Treasure Isle record label unleashed a lot of great music. As was policy with most record labels back then, Reid treated LPs as haphazard affairs featuring a hit or two and then whatever else could fill out the playing time. Which isn't to say the music isn't often extremely impressive – it is! – but it does show that little thought originally went into compiling these LPs.

The first CD features the collections The Birth of Ska (ie hits on Reid's labels) and Latin Goes Ska (no, it's not a Jamaican-Cuban fusion but the title of Lester Sterling & The Skatalites' opening number). Mambo or bossa nova don't seem to have made an impression in Jamaican circles; it's good, solid ska all the way through, however.

The second disc contains the LPs The Skatelite! and Don Drummond Greatest Hits. Drummond was the Skatelites' brilliant if doomed trombonist and Reid likely issued the latter after Drummond's imprisonment. Both discs come with bonus tracks and excellent sleeve notes, making this a fine package for anyone interested in Caribbean music's development, or just fans of fresh, fast ska!