Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King: Amazon.co.uk: Lloyd Bradley: Books

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The first major account of the history of reggae, black music journalist Lloyd Bradley describes its origins and development in Jamaica, from ska to rock-steady to dub and then to reggae itself, a local music which conquered the world. There are many extraordinary stories about characters like Prince Buster, King Tubby and Bob Marley. But this is more than a book of music history: it relates the story of reggae to the whole history of Jamaica, from colonial island to troubled independence, and Jamaicans, from Kingston to London.

About the Author

Lloyd Bradley was classically trained as a chef but for the last 20 years has worked as a music journalist, most recently for Mojo - which he has just left with editor Mat Snow to launch a new men's magazine in Autumn 2000. He is the author of Reggae on CD. He lives with his wife and two children in Kentish Town, London.

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18 Reviews

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4.4 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An inspired attempt to seriously document the rise of reggae, 26 Sep 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King (Paperback)

Lloyd Bradley is to be congratulated for this most readable and informative book. This is a serious and carefully crafted book that obviously reflects the author's love of post 60s Jamaican music.

Each genre within the broad church that is 'reggae' is treated in an in-depth manner and is brought to life by interviews with the surviving artists. You can almost smell the herb.

Thankfully, the author manages to avoid a tribute to the might of Bob Marley, but steers his way deftly through the many artists that were actually appreciated by admirers of the style - whether they be in damp London clubs or Kingston lawns. As a result, the book provides a remarkable portrait and accurate social documentary of what, how and who created the form that is sweet reggae music.

Interspersed with vivid vignettes of street life of the time, the picture is one of struggle and sufferation as a nation evolves its own musical identity. The emphasis is on the period up to 1980, with detailed descriptions of the emerging sound systems, deejay culture and the influence of rastafarianism. The coverage of this era is fascinating.

The period of 1980-2000 is covered in relatively few pages, perhaps reflecting the author's dislike of the violent and slack world of ragga, gun culture and cocaine that this period evoked. If the book has a failing it would be the scant coverage of stars such as Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and Terror Fabulous, to name a few. Although the violent overtones of this time may be open to derision, some of the music itself has an important place in modern day Jamaican youth culture - perhaps as much as roots did for the generation before.

For anyone interested in reggae music, its evolution and history Bass Culture is a must have immediate purchase. Congratulations to Lloyd Bradley.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, interesting and will help dispell the stereotypes of Jamaican music., 17 Mar 2007

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Roots Rally Sound System - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King (Paperback)

As a dj playing original roots and dub, Bass Culture was a godsend. This book is highly informative and contains enough captivating and meaningful anecdotes to hold your attention. I'd recommend it to anyone, especially those who only think of Bob Marley when they think of reggae.

In response to the negative reviews regarding its lack of attention to dancehall, I think Lloyd Bradley has done great justice to reggae history and helped de-mystify the true roots and culture of Jamaican music. If he didn't focus on the 80's and 90's, it's probably because a lot of people don't regard those as very influential times for reggae music - influential to Dancehall certainly, but purists argue that there's quite the difference between reggae and dancehall. As a history of reggae, it's pretty complete. As a history of Jamaican music, it at least defines each of the major movements, focusing on much-needed and rare inside knowledge from those who took part in reggae history.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive history of reggae and Jamaican music, 10 Jan 2002

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Cathal Mooney - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King (Paperback)

Lloyd Bradley has done an excellent job with this book of not just documenting the origins and developement of what came to be reggae music but also capturing the social and political backdrop in which it emerged. The text is comprehensive yet hugely readable and I would say is a must read for any reggae enthusiast. He seems very familiar with both Jamaica and it's people and exlains the various changes it has undergone in a fair and balanced way. He is to be commended for his unbiased and understanding approach to Rastafari and also his commentry on the islands politics where it is relevent.

The one criticism I would have, and I'm afraid to say it's a major one, is his focus on ska/roots reggae almost entirely to the near total exclusion of dancehall. The entire dancehall era must only comprise of 1/10 of the books text. He does not delve into the developement of the deejay style in the 80's, the move to digital rhythyms, nor the key players in this who made it happen. Instead he seems to unfairly focus on the slackness and gun-talk elements of certain dancehall records and how these were a backward step for the music. This may indeed be true but it is folly to write a book claiming to detail the entire history of Jamaican music yet ignore some of it's most important musical developements, merely because they happened to provide a platform for some unsavoury lyrics. In what he does say about dancehall it is mostly on the roots revival style and how it's a step in the right direction. You won't find me disagreeing but at the same time deejays like Sizzla or Capelton would not exist today if it wasn't for the pioneers of the 80's and early 90's.

All in all I have to say though it's a great book, very entertaining, very informative and hugely enjoyable. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone, I only wish it could have been as in-depth in dealing with the reggae music of the last two decades as it was with the previous two.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A cultured read
I really enjoyed this book.

Firstly, it is a very comprehensive, well researched book covering the period up to 1980 in great detail. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Stephen Hudson