Laurel Aitken
The Bluebeat Years
Moon Ska MR061 CD, released 1995 (U.S.)
The Story So Far...
Grover GRO-LP 008/GRO-CD 008, released 1995/2016 (Germany)
I adored Laurel Aitken. He was a wonderful man and a great performer. He meant so much to the history of ska, and never quite got full credit because he was not born in Jamaica. I only got to meet him once, and I consider myself a better person for it. The Bluebeat Years (and the German version, The Story So Far..., which is exactly the same album with different artwork) is a great set of more recent recordings of some of his classics. If you are not that familiar with his extensive body of work, this disc is an excellent starting point. The U.S. version was never released on vinyl, but the German vinyl was.
In 2016, Grover re-pressed the vinyl - they did 250 copies on blue vinyl, and it came with a copy of the CD. Easy to find for the moment, despite its scarcity.
| Version | Value ($) | Scarcity | Price Trending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moon Ska MR061 CD | 5-8 | 5 | Stable |
| Grover GRO-CD 008 | 4-6 | 1 | Stable |
| Grover GRO-LP 008 Black | 8-12 | 4 | Stable |
| Grover GRO-LP 008 Blue + CD | 15-20 | 7 | Stable |
This page was last updated on March 29, 2020.
