Island Presents - Roots

By the mid-seventies, Reggae had acquired a new type of audience outside the island, due in no small part to the efforts of Chris Blackwell's Island Records, which presented the genre as a serious musical form rather than simply dance music. The incredible success of Island act, Bob Marley and the Wailers brought the Rastafarian faith, political wrong-doings and cultural heritage to the heart of the Reggae sound, a trend that continued until the onset of Dancehall in the early eighties. Throughout the seventies, Island remained a dominant force in the Jamaican music market, releasing many of the biggest hits of the period and introducing to the outside world an array of new talent. Island Presents Roots collects 37 of the best-loved and most sought-after Roots sides of the mid-to-late seventies, all of which first saw issue outside Jamaica on Blackwell's famed imprint. Aside from major hits are ten tracks making their CD debut, including the long lost original version of Althea and Donna's UK Number One, 'Uptown Top Ranking'!