Artist	Song
Laurel Aitken	Hey Bartender (1960)
Derrick Morgan	Fat Man (1960)
Bunny & Skitter	Chubby (1961)
Basil Gabbidon	War Paint (1961)
Derrick & Patsy	Feel So Fine (1961)
Owen Gray	Jezebel (1962)
Lloyd Clarke	Love You The Most (1962)
Derrick & Patsy	Housewives Choice (1962)
Prince Buster All-Stars (Featuring Raymond Harper)	African Blood (1962)
The Folkes Brothers	Oh Carolina (1962)
Derrick Morgan	Forward March (1962)
Jimmy Cliff	Miss Jamaica (1962)
Baba Brooks & His Band	Musical Communion (1963)
Desmond Dekker	Honour Your Mother And Father (1963)
Winston Samuels	Be Prepared (1963)
Baba Brooks & His Band	Watermellon Man (1963)
Stranger & Patsy	When You Call My Name (1963)
The Flames (AKA The Maytals)	Broadway Jungle (1964)
The Skatalites	Green Island (1964)
Prince Buster	Al Capone (1964)
Desmond Decker	Get Up Edina (1964)
The Skatalites	Garden Of Love (1964)
The Maytals	It's You (1964)
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes	Carry Go Bring Home (1964)
The Skatalites	Music Is My Occupation (1964)
The Maytals	Never You Change (1964)
Desmond Dekker	King Of Ska (1964)
The Skatalites	Man In The Street (1964)

Comment:

I seem to switch backwards and forwards between the various musical genres I love, spending weeks on end listening exclusively to one particular style of music (or even one group) until a random moment of inspiration leads me to rediscover another of my musical obsessions. One such genre is Sixties Ska which I have 'over-dosed' on many times in the past but have hardly thought about for the last couple of years until I happened to find the track-listing for this CD which I put together about 4 years ago during one of my obsessional phases! I've always loved the sense of "evolution" in different musical styles (as evidenced by the number of 'historical mixes' I've submitted here in the past!) and the evolution of Ska is one of my favourites since it involves (like the British Beat Groups of the 60s) musicians from one country taking the music from another culture (in both cases American Rhythm & Blues) and playing it in their own way, with their own 'accents' and creating an end result which is a new and distinct form of music. The influence of New Orleans R&B on Jamaican recordings from the early 60s is obvious but as the decade progressed, the differences became ever more pronounced and Jamaica found its own musical voice. One of the things I love in particular about the early Ska records on this collection is that (due to the limited technology the studios had at their disposal) they are not very well recorded! And yet - like another of my loves, the early Stax recordings - this 'rough and ready' feel just seems to enhance their brilliance. Also like Stax these guys had great horn sections and knew how to use them! [P.S. One of the nice things about rediscovering compilations I recorded a few years ago is that I always used to use the shorter 74- minute CDRs. Consequently I've taken the opportunity to add some extra tracks to the original listing - specifically to bolster the content from the first couple of years.] (Part Two soon...)

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