Laurel Aitken: Skinhead Ska - the Collection, CD Edition

• 20 track collection of seminal ska and rock steady skinhead anthems from prolific performer and producer Laurel Aitken.

• A direct influence on the Two Tone scene and the mighty Madness.

• Includes a host of anthems, from ‘Rudi Got Married’, ‘Rude Boy Dream’ through to the essential ‘Skinhead Train’ with a nod to ska’s more racy side on ‘Fire (In Your Wire)’ and ‘Pussy Price (Gone Up)’.

Widely hailed as the Godfather of Ska, Laurel Aitken dominated Jamaica’s recording industry throughout its infancy, enjoying a series of hugely popular mento and Jamaican R&B hits during the latter half of the 1950s. Early the following decade he relocated to London, where, over the years that immediately followed, he recorded for every Afro-Caribbean record company of note.

While his ska and rock steady recordings ensured Laurel remained a firm favourite among Jamaican ex-patriots, the reggae explosion of 1969 exposed his work to a wider audience, with productions for Doctor Bird, Pama and Trojan Records establishing him as a musical hero for many of Britain’s young, white working-classes, notably those that had adopted a fashion style dubbed by the national press as ‘skinhead’.

TRACK LISTING

1  SKINHEAD INVASION

2  RUDI GOT MARRIED

3  FREEDOM

4  SALLY BROWN

5  BOOGIE IN MY BONES

6  SKINHEAD

7  JESSE JAMES

8  HONEY COME BACK TO ME

9  DANCING WITH MY BABY

10  IT’S TOO LATE

11  LANDLORDS AND TENANTS

12  RUDE BOY DREAM

13  BARTENDER

14  MAD ABOUT YOU

15  FIRE (IN YOUR WIRE)

16  SAHARA

17  PUSSY PRICE (GONE UP)

18  SCANDAL IN A BRIXTON MARKET

19  HEY LITTLE GIRL

20  SKINHEAD TRAIN