The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae [Anglais] [Broché]

Infinitely better and more accurate than the twee, patronizing "Rough Guide To Reggae," it's also far more accurate. And if U.S. readers aren't familiar with all the releases cited, it's because some are U.K. and Caribbean records only available as imports or now out-of-print but necessary to note for history's sake. Most of all, this is actually a kick to read and not arrogant or self-serving in tone.

Speaking as someone with a huge and ever-expanding music collection (and a particular interest in reggae), I've always found books of this nature to be of little value. This is especially the case now that we have access to an almost infinite source of reference material on this and pretty much every other subject under the sun, ie the internet.

The Virgin encyclopaedia is basically an A-Z of reggae and certainly contains a great deal of information. As such, it's an easy to use reference tool for looking up the biographical details or discographies of individual artists, groups and producers, as well as overviews of reggae's many different styles.

The biographical information is generally good, but unfortunately, the discographies are of very variable quality and ratings for individual albums can be somewhat dubious. There is a five-star rating system, and the vast majority of albums listed have been given either three or four stars. In fact I was surprised to see some major reggae artists without a single album with a five-star rating. In addition, each album is rated only in comparison to other albums by the same artist. Thus a three-star album by Artist A could easily be better than a five-star album by Artist B.

Another failing is the complete lack of photos, but the principal one is the lack of context. This is not a book which will really help you to learn about or understand reggae. For that you need an account of the subject which contains all the above information, but also chronicles the development of modern Jamaican music and of Jamaica itself, as well as the evolution of reggae abroad and it's influence on other musics....

So I'd strongly advise you to acquire the excellent "ROUGH GUIDE TO REGGAE" (by Steve Barrow et al) or the authoritative "BASS CULTURE: WHEN REGGAE WAS KING" (by Lloyd Bradley) in addition to or instead of this book. Or better still, forget about books entirely and buy the superbly documented 4 CD set "TOUGHER THAN TOUGH: THE STORY OF JAMAICAN MUSIC"; from which you'll learn more about reggae than from all the books in the world combined, while getting to hear some of the greatest music ever made....

The Rough Guide to Reggae 2 (Rough Guide Music Guides)

Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King

Tougher Than Tough: The Story Of Jamaican Music

This is indeed the most complete and historically accurate guide to Jamaican music around today. The care and love that was put into this guide, as with the other Virgin guides (blues, folk, top 1000 lps, etc) is evident from start to finish.

What makes this guide great is not only the fact that all the players in the history of the game- from Shaggy to Beenie Man to Yellowman, Scientist, Marley, Tosh, Skatelities, Count Ossie, etc- are represented and details given about their lives and careers, but that sub-genres of Jamaican music are described and excellent compilations for each of these sub-genres are suggested. This is an excellent idea and will allow for newcomers and "experts" alike to dive into each of the many fascinating facets of Jamaican music and become truly knowledgable.

For me, this is the only book I use as a reference point when it comes to Jamiacan musics. I pull it out at least 2x a day at work (music store) and at home to better educate myself. The raiting system (1-5 stars) is extremely fair, comparing what an artist has done only to other releases by that artist, so Marley will never be compared to Tosh, for example. Their 5 star lps are indeed the best of the best, and the 1 star lps are indeed not worth having. While such ratings systems are intrinsically subjective, I have found in all of the Virgin guides that their system works best and offers the least amount of bias.

If you love Jamiacan music or if you think that reggae is only Bob Marley, this book is for you- that is to say, for everyone. I highly recommend it.