Jonny Greenwood picks 17 reggae tracks from Trojan's catalogue

Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller, 17 reggae and dub tracks Jonny Greenwood chose from the Trojan Records catalogue, is released on 6 March. Greenwood is reported to have spent about six months listening before settling on the 17. He wrote a sleeve note for every track on who made it, where the song came from and what it led to.

Jamaican reggae is the style of music I always reach for when ranting to friends about there being so many great recordings in the world

Jonny Greenwood⁷

The record is part of Trojan's Artist's Choice Jukebox series, one of the releases for the label's 40th year. Greenwood is one of the few compilers in the series from outside reggae. Joshua Klein gives it 8.4 out of 10 in Pitchfork, though he argues that the compiler's name adds little another Trojan compilation would not.

The title comes from the opening track, Linval Thompson's “Dread Are the Controller”, with Sly and Robbie playing; they turn up again on Johnny Clarke and the Aggrovators' “A Ruffer Version”. Lee “Scratch” Perry is on four of the 17 as artist, producer or partner. In one note Greenwood compares Perry's studio work to the Beatles in their experimental years. Bob Marley and Toots and the Maytals, the label's best-known crossover names, are not on it.

Tracklist