Queen Majesty:The Anthology (UK)

ジャマイカン・ミュージックの歴史において、最も人気のあるヴォーカルグループのひとつとして活躍したThe Techniques。リーダーWinston Rileyのもと、現在ではレゲエ・クラシックと評価される多数のヒット・シングルをリリースしてきた。Slim Smith, Pat Kelly, Bruce Ruffin, Dave Barker, Lloyd Parksなどが在籍し、幾多のメンバーチェンジを経ながらも、高い音楽クオリティを維持し続けてきた稀有なグループ。そんな彼らの待望の初のアンソロジーは、初CD化音源多数収録した2枚組！ロックステディ・ファンは必聴！

One of Jamaica's most influential vocal groups, the Techniques' history was particularly convoluted. Formed in late 1964, the original group comprised lead singer Slim Smith, Winston Riley, Frederick Waite, and Franklyn White. Their recording debut, "No One," was overseen by Edward Seaga, but it was their subsequent singles for Duke Reid that took the island by storm, with 1965's "Little Did You Know" the first of many to top the Jamaican chart.
With Smith's emotive vocals to the fore, the Techniques skanked their imprimatur across the ska age. But just as rocksteady began to take hold, Smith decamped for a solo career at Studio One, which continued even after he formed the Uniques in 1968. From this point out, the Techniques were a highly unstable unit, who against all odds continued recording incredibly sublime music. The remaining trio eventually crumbled, but a new one featuring Riley, Junior Menz, and Pat Kelly rose phoenix-like in its place, sailing to number one with "You Don't Care for Me at All." Kelly departed for school in the States, with Menz taking over the lead, and Bruce Ruffin enlisted; it was this lineup that recorded the band's enduring classic "Queen Majesty." Kelly then returned, Menz left, and the rejigged trio continued cutting hits such as the festive "Run Come Celebrate." Over the next few years, more singers came and went, Dave Barker and ex-Termite Lloyd Parks came; Riley himself left for a career in production. To further muddy the waters for later fans, Smith set about covering a number of his former band's old hits. Regardless of these upheavals, the Techniques/ standards never slipped, as this sensational compilation illustrates. As typical with Trojan compilations, the sequencing follows its own inexplicable logic, only vaguely chronological. Which makes identification of the different lineups difficult, although the credits sometimes help identify the lead singer. Even packed with tracks, amazingly quite a number of songs escaped the compiler of Queen Majesty, but you'd need a box set for them all. Still, the group's myriad hits are virtually all present and accounted for, taking listeners from their early ska heights into their rocksteady reign and on through their reggae prime. An absolute must-have for every fan of Jamaican vocal groups. ~ Jo-Ann Greene|