By the close of the Sixties, record retailer and jukebox businessman Karl ‘J.J.’ Johnson was firmly established as one of Jamaica’s leading record producers, having released a string of best-selling rock steady and proto-reggae 45s by such noted local acts as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, the Rulers, Carl Dawkins, the Kingstonians and the Ethiopians.
Early in 1969, a lucrative agreement with British record label, Trojan, emboldened the ambitious entrepreneur to release an album comprising a dozen of his latest recordings in the new reggae style. Entitled “Reggae Power”, the LP was dominated by regular hit-makers, the Ethiopians, whose recent singles had proved so popular in Britain that the group had been prompted to make a promotional tour of the country. Their trip led to Trojan dramatically reworking the ‘Reggae Power’ long-player for its UK release, replacing all but two non-Ethiopians tracks with further J.J.-produced works by the trio, before issuing it in new artwork.
But with the Ethiopians collection already available on the Doctor Bird CD, “Reggae Power & Woman Capture Man”, it is the Jamaican version of the album that provides the inspiration for this exciting double-disc compilation, which collects the bulk of J.J. Johnson’s output from 1968 to 1972, including numerous reggae hits and 17 recordings new to CD.