VA - Youths Boogie: Jamaican R&B and the Birth of Ska

Stepping sideways and sailing south from the rock'n'roll/Americana zone of focus we're by now accustomed to from them, the typically multi-disc compilers at Fantastic Voyage set their sights on late-'50s/early'60s Jamaica with this single-CD look at the initial impact of stateside boogie-woogie, doo-wop, jump blues and R&B on the island's then-burgeoning record industry.

"Compiled by specialist black music writer Mike Atherton (Record Collector, Echoes), Youths Boogie portrays the popular music of Jamaica in the period 1959 to 1962, before it became formally known as ska, but by which time most of the characteristics of ska were present and correct, alongside the influences of American R&B. Disc One showcases the productions of Chris Blackwell, a white Jamaican who ran the local R&B and Island labels, before moving his operation to Britain, and Duke Reid, who ran the Trojan sound system, and issued many of his productions on the Duke Reid’s label, before founding the famous Treasure Isle label in the sixties. Disc Two looks at the productions of other individuals like Simeon Smith, Charlie Moo, Dada Tewari, Byron Lee, Roy Robinson, Vincent Chin and the London-based Sonny Roberts, who were all vying to make names for themselves." - Fantastic Voyage