num_pages: 120
description: Before the advent of music videos and CDs, album covers offered international audiences a colorful invitation to the exotic world of Jamaican reggae, ska, and rock steady. 
  Stir It Up
 collects both rare and classic examples of this popular cover art, from the earliest ska recordings through the dance hall craze of the '80s. Including such musical legends as the Wailers (featuring a pre-dread Bob Marley), Mighty Diamonds, Steel Pulse, Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Yellowman, these album covers provide a vivid glimpse into the fashions, politics, and religious currents that have shaped reggae music.While these covers often reflect serious preoccupations with Rastafarianism, Pan-Africanism, and nuclear apocalypse, reggae's lighter side comes through in pictorial tributes to American Westerns, steamy dances and smoke-wreathed spliffs. Anecdotes and stories from album cover artists and designers reveal secrets behind the mysterious fingerprints masquerading as Peter Tosh's on Wanted: Dread or Alive, plus other fascinating facts about some of reggae's best-loved covers.An amazing visual journey through reggae history, 
  Stir It Up
 is a must-have book for every fan of reggae music and style. Take a big hit and pass it on.
language: English
title: Stir It Up: Reggae Album Cover Art
titlecomplete: Stir It Up: Reggae Album Cover Art
genres: Music
ratings_count: 12
publisher: Chronicle Books