Skinhead Ska

Brand new item available to buy online now, in store or click and collect.

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’.

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