DJ Spooky In Fine Style In Compiling Trojan Collection

DJ Spooky has searched through the Trojan Records vaults to come up with two discs of some of the Jamaican label's finest music.

In Fine Style: 50,000 Volts Of Trojan Records will hit stores on June 27. It features cuts from Sly & Robbie, Peter Tosh, Lee Perry, Desmond Dekker and other lesser known, but equally talented, artists. The label's 40-year history is well-represented in the collection's 34 tracks, and the man born Paul D. Miller intended for it to be educational as well as entertaining.

"I want you to feel history when you listen to this mix and think about how sampling, making new music from old, came from the idea of versioning," he writes in the liner notes.

"Think about the sound system battles of Duke Reid, Sir Coxsone and Prince Buster as a forerunner to MC and DJ battles in hip-hop. Think about Kool Herc's bass-enhanced sound system as a stepping stone for Afrika Bambaata's 'Planet Rock.' Just think about how strange the world would be if we didn't have this music of the islands."

In Fine Style follows Spooky's 2005 album, Drums Of Death, in which he collaborated with drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Fantomas).

Spooky will perform at the Shaolin Temple Capital Campaign benefit in New York City on May 20 and has several international festivals on his schedule for the summer.

Here are the tracks on In Fine Style: 50,000 Volts Of Trojan Records:

Disc one:

Winston Williams — "Sweet Like Candy"
The Kingstonians — "Nice Nice"
Desmond Dekker — "007 Shanty Town"
Dave Barker — "Funky, Funky Reggae"
Dennis Alcapone — "Shades Of Hudson"
B.B. Seaton — "Summertime"
Lee Perry — "Disco Devi"
Sly And Robbie — "Jah Jah Man"
Augustus Pablo — "Lama Lava"
The Israelites — "Come Together"
Ken Booth — "Old Fashion Way"
Bruce Ruffin — "Rain"
U-Roy — "Your Ace From Outer Space"
Tommy McCook & His Band — "The Rooster"
Lloyd/Dice/Mum — "The Trial Of Pama Dice"
The Jamaicans — "Ba Ba Boom"
Susan Cadogan — "Fever"
Al Barry & The Cimarons — "Morning Sun"

Disc two:

Winston Williams — "DJ's Choice"
Big Youth — "Screaming Target"
Derrick Morgan — "The Great Musical Battle"
Val Bennett — "The Russians Are Coming (Take Five)"
The Upsetters — "Popcorn"
The Shadows — "Brother Noah"
Isaac's All Stars — "Reform Institute"
The Blackbeard All Stars — "Bridgeport Dub"
King Tubby — "King Tubby's Explosion Dub"
U-Roy — "Dynamic Fashion Way"
Barrington Levy — "A Yah We De"
Peter Tosh — "Here Comes The Judge"
Dillinger — "Flat Foot Hustling"
Dave Barker — "Hot Sauce (Aka The Agro Man Is Back)"
Dandy Livingstone — "Rudy A Message To You"
The Special Beat — "Rough Rider" (live)