Trojan Vinyl & CDs

Review: To mark what would have been Desmond Dekker's 80th birthday, Trojan Records is serving up a variety of celebratory releases. The King of Ska takes us back to the formative years of the Jamaican superstar's career between 1963-67, when he was an aspiring young singer signed to producer Leslie Kong's Beverley's Records imprint. Loosely chronologically arranged, disc one begins with Dekker's celebrated debut single, 'Honour Your Mother & Father', and continues to chart his efforts in the first couple of years of his career - both alongside unnamed studio bands and with the backing of The Cherry Pies and The Four Aces. On CD2, we hear a more confident Dekker belting out the singles that would turn him into an international star, including rude boy anthem - and his first UK top 50 smash - '007'.

Review: From the nebulaic dusts of 1960s Kingston came the Kingstonians, a tight-knit vocal trio built around the songwriting of Cebert "Jackie" Bernard, joined by his brother Lloyd "Footy" Bernard and Lloyd Kerr. Their early work with producer J.J. Johnson yielded the breakout hit 'Winey Winey', but it was under the guidance of Derrick Harriott that they reached wider acclaim. Before their dissolution in the early 70s, and a later solo spit by Bernard which included a striking collaboration with Lee “Scratch” Perry as Jack Lord, ‘I’m Gonna Make It’ appeared as a mid-tempo rocksteady salve, with tightly-buoyed, gospel-inflected harmonies backing a core lyric line about perseverance and self-belief in the face of adversity.