Bluebeat

Reggae music came to the UK shores as bluebeat and later through names like ska and rocksteady.

Chris returned with a trunk full of bluebeat 45s that sold out in days. On his next trip he decided to learn more about the Jamaican music business.

There we could all dance, or in my case tap my feet the night away to OUR music: ska, bluebeat and motown.

Bluebeat and ska from a boombox on the pavement. A suedehead dancing a delirious, inebriated moonstomp with a girl who looked like a solicitor's apprentice.

West Indian youngsters, marooned in this cultural maelstrom and kicking their heels in inner-city estates, took refuge in their musical roots: ska, bluebeat and rocksteady.