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| 1968 ~ |
| Place of Establishment |
UK
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| Founder： |
Lee Gopthal
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Although Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label could always be relied on for top musical quality it is ironic that it was one of his lesser known subsidiary labels that gave its name to a U.K. based musical empire.
Unlike his competitors, whose output was invariably issued on a variety of different labels, Duke Reid The Trojan realised the importance of having a few readily recognisable names. One of the first sound system owners to start producing, rather than reproducing, music his initial mento recordings were released on the Trojan and Hi-Lite 78rpm labels and his later rhythm & blues and ska outings appeared on Duke Reid's, Dutchess and Treasure Isle. During the remainder of the sixties Treasure Isle dominated although a handful of his productions appeared on the Soul Shot, Supersonics, Sure Shot & Trojan labels... a name he had acquired because the truck that he used to transport his sound system was manufactured by the Trojan company in England.
In 1962 Chris Blackwell had started releasing the music of Jamaican producers on Island Records in the U.K. and, the following year, he began to license Duke Reid productions. Records such as Justin Hinds' 'Carry Go Bring Come' proved particularly successful and in 1967 Island began to release the Duke's productions on the Treasure Isle and Trojan labels. Towards the end of the decade Island Records changed its allegiance to British based 'progressive' rock music and its Jamaican catalogue was transferred to a new company, jointly owned by Island and Beat & Commercial, called Trojan Records.
The Trojan name would become synonymous with reggae in the first half of the seventies as they became the London based label of choice for every Jamaican producer of importance in the ensuing musical explosion: Amalgamated (& Pressure Beat) for Joe Gibbs, Big for Rupie Edwards, Clandisc for Clancy Eccles,Duke Reid (& Treasure Isle), Dynamicfor Byron Lee, Gayfeet (& High Note) for Sonia Pottinger, GG's for Alvin Ranglin, Harry J for Harry Johnson, Jackpot for Bunny Striker Lee, Moodisc for Harry Mudie, Randys for Vincent Chin(Vincent 'Randy' Chin), Summit for Leslie Kong, Techniques for Winston Riley, Upsetter for Lee Perry and a plethora of labels that included Big Shot, Green Door, Song Bird and Trojan covering the work of independent artists and producers such as Derrick Harriott, Keith Hudson & Bob Marley.
Jimmy Cliff's 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People', The Harry J All Stars' 'Liquidator', The Pioneers' 'Long Shot Kick De Bucket' and The Upsetters' 'Return Of Django', all Trojan releases, broke through into the U.K. National Charts in the autumn of 1969. Jamaican music now had to be taken seriously as a commercial proposition and Trojan rose to the challenge to dominate and control a hitherto unimagined market. Their long playing "Tighten Up" series, where an entire album's worth of certified hits could be purchased for the price of two singles, was vitally important in the next crossover stage of Jamaican music. Reggae was here to stay and it was largely through its initial burst of popularity in the U.K. that it would finally become accepted worldwide. Paul McCartney, no less, referred to rock steady and reggae as "Tighten Up music".
Over the next five years |labelTrojan||| released thousands of records in London. They had the new market for the music covered adding strings to 'sweeten' the sound of Jamaican recordings at London's Chalk Farm studios; records including Bob Andy & Marcia Griffiths's 'Young, Gifted & Black' and Bruce Ruffin's 'Rain' continued to storm the upper reaches of the U.K. charts. Trojan also began to release their own U.K. productions. Robert 'Dandy Livingstone' Thompson persuaded The Pioneers' to record 'Let Your Yeah Be Yeah' in London with string arrangements and had his own hits with 'Reggae In Your Jeggae' but the most commercially successful of Trojan's own productions were with former doorman Alex Hughes. Recording as Judge Dread he enjoyed a string of crossover hits on Big Shot (with no radio play as 'Big Six', 'Big Seven' and 'Big Eight' were all banned by the B.B.C.) intoning innuendo ridden nursery rhymes over Jamaican rhythm tracks. They never forgot where they were coming from either and countless deep roots records of the calibre of Bob Andy's 'You Don't Know', Keith Hudson's 'Melody Maker' and Bob Marley & The Wailers' 'Trenchtown Rock' came out through Trojan. They had licensed 'Soul Rebels' from Lee Perry in 1970: although it was the first Bob Marley & The Wailers' album to be released in the U.K. it proved to be too ahead of its time and was not a big seller. After Bob Marley's international breakthrough with 'Catch A Fire' the album was re-packaged and re-promoted in 1974 as 'Rasta Revolution' alongside the 1973 compilation 'African Herbsman' and Trojannow began to discover that they were sitting on a veritable treasure trove of Jamaican musical history.
Marcel Rodd, owner of Saga Records, purchased the Trojan catalogue in 1975. Although the company continued to release important records, including Big Youth's 'Natty Cultural Dread' and 'Hit The Road Jack' albums and Sugar Minott's 'Ghetto-Ology', Trojan was no longer the first stop after landing at Heathrow airport for visiting Jamaican producers. As the decade drew to a close they began to release intelligent, knowledgeable collections compiled from their back catalogue by Dave Hendley and Chris Lane that included the astounding and outstanding 'Rebel Music', 'The Upsetter Collection' and 'The Best Of Beverleys'. By looking backwards to move forward these releases established a new pattern that would take Trojan into the twenty first century.
In 1985 Sharesense Ltd. purchased Trojan from Marcel Rodd and two years later Steve Barrow began compiling a series of thoughtful, thematic albums and box sets for the company including 'Studio Kinda Cloudy', 'Jumping With Mr. Lee' and Dennis Alcapone's superb 'My Voice Is Insured For Half A Million Dollars'. In 2001 Trojan was sold again, this time to Sanctuary Records, and under the informed and inspired guidance of Laurence Cane-Honeysett they began a re-release programme that covered the entire spectrum of Jamaican music. Employing various expert compilers, artists and authors Trojan's numerous releases from this exciting period which included two further updates of 'Rebel Music', their complete 'Box Set' series and culminating in 'Reggae Pressure', were near faultless.
Sanctuary were taken over by Universal Records in 2007 and Trojan have only released a handful of compilations in the ensuing period but, judging by their previous track record, it can only be a matter of time before the fireworks start again. |
| Mar 25, 2010 (Mar 31, 2010 Update) Text by Harry Hawks
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