This is Reggae Music by Lloyd Bradley

[King Bob]

An exhaustive history, but from a different angle than I expected. He starts with the origin of sound systems in Jamaica, and that remains a central focus of his history, both in Jamaica and in the UK. (The author ran a sound system in London in the late 70s.) Live performance was not the main way to get the music out, but instead it was singles at sound system dances, and then purchases of them by the public. He carries the story from the beginnings of ska up to the arrival of dancehall. Perhaps the best aspect is how much is told by the musicians. There are long quotes from his interviews with musicians, some running full pages, and then continuing again after some of the author's words.

Because of this focus, Marley is barely touched on. He admits that Jamaicans hailed him as the international face of reggae, but his music didn't figure in the world of the sound systems after his early days, and so, from this angle, was not a major stylistic influence. Marley was very influential on making rasta a lyrical focus, and hugely raising the visibility and popularity of dreadlocks, but not so much musically.

I think the big complaint would be that it's just too long, over 500 pages, and in many places, particularly early on, there was a lot of discussion of artists I was not familiar with. Therefore I'd recommend skimming and digging in when it gets interesting. The chapter on dub is excellent.