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Long before reggae music or Bob Marley became household words among music lovers in the United States, Duke Reid's Trojan Records had been tremendously successful in marketing reggae music in the UK. Duke Reid began in Jamaica as a master blaster who traveled the island with his massive sound system, which he dubbed the "Trojan" after the brand name of the semi-truck he used to haul the system around in. Eventually Reid ended up in the production and entrepanuerial end of reggae music as well. He began recording promising rock steady and ska artists in Jamaica and marketing the music in the UK on his newly found Trojan label in the mid 1960s. He also bought the UK licensing rights to many early Jamaican reggae hits and sold them on the Trojan label in the UK. As a result, the Trojan back catalog of music may be the most extensive and best preserved archive of early reggae music anywhere. Trojan music did for reggae in the UK, what Chess records did for the blues in the USA, that is, each label successfully marketed a specialty music and developed a large crossover audience.
We are all lucky that Trojan records nearly 40 years after it's founding is remastering and repackaging a great deal of it's massive vault of master tapes and packing the songs in chronological 3 cd box sets. Every conceivable sub-genre is available on the 70 or so releases by Trojan, including ska, intrumental reggae, dub, nyabingi, rock steady, Brit hits, lover's rock, down tempo....you name it. The amazing part is the retail price for each three cd box is about the same price as a single CD. I've already bought about 10 of the Trojan boxes and be cautioned, many of the releases are limited edition, so this is a rare opportunity for collectors and newbies alike to browse through the nearly 5000 tracks released in the 70 Trojan boxes, and pick and choose by genre the music they like. It's enough to make hardcore reggae fans shout, "Irie" and say goodbye to a lot of hard earned money, but the music is priceless.