Music On Vinyl celebrates Trojan's 50^th anniversary

It's been five decades ago when the iconic reggae label Trojan was founded by Lee Gopthal. During the years the label became known for bringing the reggae and dub music to a wider audience. By promoting the Jamaican music in the right markets, the label rapidly expanded and the artists received the attention they deserved. Last year Music On Vinyl released many of these superb records on high quality coloured vinyl. Among those issued were albums by Duke Reid, the Kingstonians, the Upsetters, Ken Boothe and Sly & the Revolutionaries.

Scheduled for release over the coming months are further amazing Trojan titles, the first of which is a ground-breaking collection by Jamaican record producer Harry Zephaniah Johnson, better known as Harry J.  Originally released early in 1970, What Am I To Do features a dozen boss reggae classics, including the title track by Tony Scott, which provided the rhythm of the producer's classic hit instrumental, 'Liquidator'. This album will be released this Friday.

Finally, to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Trojan label we will be giving away four Trojan classic albums in a package offer to our newsletter subscribers.

The first of these is Duke Reid Rock's Steady, which showcases the soulful productions of legendary Treasure Isle Records boss, Arthur 'Duke' Reid. The second is one of Trojan's biggest selling long players of all time: Long Shot by the Pioneers - one of the first Jamaican acts to achieve international success with their UK hit, 'Long Shot Kick The Bucket'. The third album is named after one of the biggest tunes from the skinhead or boss reggae era of the late sixties, namely Sufferer by the Kingstonians. Aside from the best-selling title track, other sizable early reggae hits on the collection include 'Singer Man', 'Hold Down', 'Nice Nice'. The fourth and final fantastic Trojan album that you can win is the Lee 'Scratch' Perry-produced Prisoner of Love by Dave Barker & the Upsetters. At the time of its original release in 1970, Barker was widely regarded as one of the most promising and versatile talents on the reggae scene and the following year achieved his potential with the international chart busters, 'Double Barrel' and 'Monkey Spanner', partnering keyboard maestro, Ansel Collins.

Just sign up for our newsletter, set the preferences to your favourite music genres and who knows you'll listening soon to these fantastic four Trojan titles. You can participate in this contest until June 26. Stay tuned for more contests regarding the celebration of Trojan's 50^th anniversary.