BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 34
THIRD WORLD:
Africa Is Where It All Began, They`re Coming From Jamaica, And This, They Say, Is Third World . . . by Carl Gayle: -
I`M standing here in a trance, like the rest of the audience, the herb in my head and the music at my feet, overcome by Third World`s irresistible version of Joe Higg`s song "Let Us Do Something".
I`ve never before been so affected by Third World`s music. Never felt it so close. Burning Spear`s "He Prayed" follows. It`s surreal. A peak performance. "For I and I, I and you, yes he prayed . . ." Spiritual communication. Suddenly I see Cat`s face, that immovable smile, and I burst out laughing.
He suffered a little last night. Half way through the first set he felt a gripe and began to weaken. He tried to fight it off but it prevailed. He unstrapped his guitar, alighted from the stage, fled to the men`s room, and remained there until he`d rid himself of the dreadful pain. He resumed at length but was not his usual self.
The back streets of Kingston was never the Alley Cat`s naturual territory if only because his father is none other than Jamaica`s Minister Of Finance. But there shall be called one from every home, one from every walk of life. Background is unimportant. If a so, a so Stephen "Alley Cat" Coore, with musicians around him from similar backgrounds, is finding his feet not in the back streets, but in his own personal grounation, his knowledge and defence of what is right. His positive personal vibrations. This cat with his laughing half chiney visage. A pretty moon face with big brown eyes that catches your attention for the perpetual nodding of the head. A head hanging loose like that of a puppet`s on a string, and panting open muthed like a tired puppy.
I see his grinning Mexican face and I can`t control my laughter. He hears me call out but he can`t tell which corner the voice is coming from. Like me, he`s in a trance, put there by the Columbian collie, the music and the positive vibrations.
Being in the company of Third World on tour is, in itself a perpetual high. Ibbo, Cat, Prilly, Richie, Winston and friend, Carrot, Tippa, Dallas, Bunny, Alan, Scott, Warren, Sister Dianne. Third World is a whole year`s worth of fond recollections that belong to the short space of five days. A spell at Paul`s Mall nightclub Boston, one tremendous gig at My Father`s House, Long Island where Bunny, formerly of the Inner Circles (with Cat, Ibbo, Prilly, and Winston), took the spotlight for a terrific version of Ken Boothe`s "Freedom Street". Tippa`s dancings moods, Bunny`s endless wisecracks, the Irishman O`Neill and his supply of Columbian herb, and a crazy highway race in patchesof thick fog between Boston and Long Island.
Third World came together, through the power of the Almighty, to make progressive music whose nationality could not be denied, and to learn about themselves in the meantime. Brand new beggers`. Not yet. They still play to entertain primarily. To display their dexterity and musical sophistication on a level unattainable to other musical ambassadors from Jamaica. They have togetherness but, for the want of convictions in Jah Rastafari, they lack Inity. With three score gigs behind them, the vital groundwork for the future is coming to a close. Here in America Third World have passed through the communication barrier, have struck a new blow for so called reggae music, have paid the price in physical depression for their cross continent trekking, but have reason to be well pleased and satisfied. The brethren are tired but the spirit is still fit. Red Zinger (an American herbal tea) is not enough to keep a man going for three months, but as long as there is herb there is healing.
Carl Gayle: -
Part 1
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976
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1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 34
THIRD WORLD:
Africa Is Where It All Began, They`re coming From Jamaica, And This, They Say, Is Third Word . . .By Carl Gayle: - PT. 2
They burst into "Cross Reference" at Paul`s Mall and their music begins to fly like Santana`s "Singing Winds Crying Beasts" and, at the same time, to kick like War`s "Cisco Kid". War`s influence prevails again at the intro of "Sun Won`t Shine", those extended vocal harmonies. And the title itself recalls "Sun Oh Son". They have a percussive instrumental opener too called "Obeah" wich treads territory already covered by Osibisa and Santana, but nevertheless is new and invigorating. They slow down to "Got To Get Along" and they`re as sweet and mellow as the Spinners.
For Third World is an accurate balance. A musical Octopus whose each and every tentacle reaches out and grabs a piece of one particular compartment of popular music. Each piece is intergrated with the body, Jamaica, the reggae music. The reggae is where it all happens. It`s the melting pot, the foundation, the engine room, the driving seat. They borrow from everywhere, yet owe nothing to no one. For Africa is where it all began, they`re coming from Jamaica, and this, they say is Third World.
More than anyone else`s Ibbo`s highly skilful musical drawings, make this band stand out. Some Americans who have seen JA groups before dislike the all round sophistication of this one, expecting perhaps to hear something similar to Marley or the Spear. But even if the album was not what they expected, the live shows help pull people out of their preconceived notions of what I and I music ought to sound like. For reggae music is not defined by those who make it. That`s why Third World sing their freedom song. Listen and you will hear. No sense in public and private critics trying to tell the musicians what their music should contain. No sense at all.
There`s a record store, here in Boston, about thirty yards along the sidewalk from the night club, selling the group`s first album fast. Faster than "Rastaman Vibrations", as fast as the speed of sound (If you see a pun take it.) Tonight, the last of the four of Third World`s residency. I`m standing at the wing of the stage watching the faces in the audience. An audience whose appetite for records by new, unknown bands, doesn`t need much whetting before it parts with its money. They come here to be entertained and they are. Some of them, college students for sure, are the type who are ever on the lookout for something foreign, something undiscovered. So that they can surprise their friends perhaps. They have money to spend, there`s no risk really. Some of them will go into that record store after the first set and come out with a bagfull of new albums, including Third World`s. Their music fits the bill.
Carl Gayle: -
Part 2
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976
peace
THIRD WORLD:
Africa Is Where It All Began, They`re coming From Jamaica, And This, They Say, Is Third Word . . .By Carl Gayle: - PT. 2
They burst into "Cross Reference" at Paul`s Mall and their music begins to fly like Santana`s "Singing Winds Crying Beasts" and, at the same time, to kick like War`s "Cisco Kid". War`s influence prevails again at the intro of "Sun Won`t Shine", those extended vocal harmonies. And the title itself recalls "Sun Oh Son". They have a percussive instrumental opener too called "Obeah" wich treads territory already covered by Osibisa and Santana, but nevertheless is new and invigorating. They slow down to "Got To Get Along" and they`re as sweet and mellow as the Spinners.
For Third World is an accurate balance. A musical Octopus whose each and every tentacle reaches out and grabs a piece of one particular compartment of popular music. Each piece is intergrated with the body, Jamaica, the reggae music. The reggae is where it all happens. It`s the melting pot, the foundation, the engine room, the driving seat. They borrow from everywhere, yet owe nothing to no one. For Africa is where it all began, they`re coming from Jamaica, and this, they say is Third World.
More than anyone else`s Ibbo`s highly skilful musical drawings, make this band stand out. Some Americans who have seen JA groups before dislike the all round sophistication of this one, expecting perhaps to hear something similar to Marley or the Spear. But even if the album was not what they expected, the live shows help pull people out of their preconceived notions of what I and I music ought to sound like. For reggae music is not defined by those who make it. That`s why Third World sing their freedom song. Listen and you will hear. No sense in public and private critics trying to tell the musicians what their music should contain. No sense at all.
There`s a record store, here in Boston, about thirty yards along the sidewalk from the night club, selling the group`s first album fast. Faster than "Rastaman Vibrations", as fast as the speed of sound (If you see a pun take it.) Tonight, the last of the four of Third World`s residency. I`m standing at the wing of the stage watching the faces in the audience. An audience whose appetite for records by new, unknown bands, doesn`t need much whetting before it parts with its money. They come here to be entertained and they are. Some of them, college students for sure, are the type who are ever on the lookout for something foreign, something undiscovered. So that they can surprise their friends perhaps. They have money to spend, there`s no risk really. Some of them will go into that record store after the first set and come out with a bagfull of new albums, including Third World`s. Their music fits the bill.
Carl Gayle: -
Part 2
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976
peace
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 34
THIRD WORLD:
Africa Is Where It All Began, They`re coming From Jamaica, And This, They Say, Is Third World . . . by Carl Gayle: - PT. 3
A few faces in the audience are turned away from the stage towards Tippa. One in particular, a white American in his late thirties, is wholly hypnotised by the nand`s roadie. Tippa is dancing. The band are into the third number of their three song medley of rock steady hits. The Heptones` "Why Did You Leave", Jackie Mittoo`s "Ram Jam", and the Wailers` "Nice Time". It is the nonechalant mood of the bouncing music, the atmosphere of carnal expectancy that it revives in all who have lived through it, that bas brought out the best dance moves in Tippa, and made him so irresistible to that face in the audience.
Tippatone, to the right of the stage is dancing with a pillar.
Rocking and winding, doing the rock steady. But that`s no pillar, that`s a daughter, a Miss Wire Waist. He`s rubbing it and he`s dubbing it. Rocking his shoulders, swinging his hips, dipping his knees, stepping backwards and stepping forward. Legs trembling, head shaking, face toward the ceiling, eyes closed in deep meditation. As free as breeze, as cool as herb. Tippa, hypnotised and hypnotist.
The face in the audienceis one wonderful smile. It has never seen anything like this before. The whole audience is in a trance, put there by Third World, a band they`ve never seen nor heard before. An all black band who yet are unlike all the others, they`ve seen. A band in a city with a racial bussing problem. An audience whose kin refuse to share the same schools and school buses with their black neighbours. Boston, where only two nights ago these very entertainers presently hypnotising this audience, were chased and stoned. N#^*%r hunting in Boston . . . "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned . . ."
And yet, despite their harassment or because of it, nothing pleases them more than making this Boston audience move in their seats because even though this is America, Boston, the Port of The Pilgrims, is the place closest in lifestyle, and character to Britain. They leave their seats only to go to the loo, or else to go home. To make them shout for more is Third World`s private victory. A righteous victory. Let Jah be praised.
Carl Gayle: -
Third World pictured here by Brian Blevins: -
Standing L to R: - Willie, "Cat" Scott, Richie, Prilly, Warren, Ibbo.
Sitting L to R: - Alan, Dallas, Carrot and Tippa.
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 34
Peace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jah Rastafari
THIRD WORLD:
Africa Is Where It All Began, They`re coming From Jamaica, And This, They Say, Is Third World . . . by Carl Gayle: - PT. 3
A few faces in the audience are turned away from the stage towards Tippa. One in particular, a white American in his late thirties, is wholly hypnotised by the nand`s roadie. Tippa is dancing. The band are into the third number of their three song medley of rock steady hits. The Heptones` "Why Did You Leave", Jackie Mittoo`s "Ram Jam", and the Wailers` "Nice Time". It is the nonechalant mood of the bouncing music, the atmosphere of carnal expectancy that it revives in all who have lived through it, that bas brought out the best dance moves in Tippa, and made him so irresistible to that face in the audience.
Tippatone, to the right of the stage is dancing with a pillar.
Rocking and winding, doing the rock steady. But that`s no pillar, that`s a daughter, a Miss Wire Waist. He`s rubbing it and he`s dubbing it. Rocking his shoulders, swinging his hips, dipping his knees, stepping backwards and stepping forward. Legs trembling, head shaking, face toward the ceiling, eyes closed in deep meditation. As free as breeze, as cool as herb. Tippa, hypnotised and hypnotist.
The face in the audienceis one wonderful smile. It has never seen anything like this before. The whole audience is in a trance, put there by Third World, a band they`ve never seen nor heard before. An all black band who yet are unlike all the others, they`ve seen. A band in a city with a racial bussing problem. An audience whose kin refuse to share the same schools and school buses with their black neighbours. Boston, where only two nights ago these very entertainers presently hypnotising this audience, were chased and stoned. N#^*%r hunting in Boston . . . "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned . . ."
And yet, despite their harassment or because of it, nothing pleases them more than making this Boston audience move in their seats because even though this is America, Boston, the Port of The Pilgrims, is the place closest in lifestyle, and character to Britain. They leave their seats only to go to the loo, or else to go home. To make them shout for more is Third World`s private victory. A righteous victory. Let Jah be praised.
Carl Gayle: -
Third World pictured here by Brian Blevins: -
Standing L to R: - Willie, "Cat" Scott, Richie, Prilly, Warren, Ibbo.
Sitting L to R: - Alan, Dallas, Carrot and Tippa.
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 34
Peace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jah Rastafari
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: Vol 3. / Issue 35
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: -
HE is a little ball of fire ever seeking, it might seem, to dominate and finally control any situation he finds himself in.
In his presence everybody else takes second place, stop and listen, stand and watch. In his presence you go along with what he says or else you keep quiet. For it`s not just a question that he`s right but that he makes you know that you could not prove him wrong before you start trying.
In physique he is always likely to be the least, yet in any company his is ever an enormous presence. You become aware of him immediately because he lets you know, without addressing you, that he`s aware of your presence and that sooner or later you`re gonna have to deal with him on his terms.
He is a little ball of fire, ever burning, always sure. He plays soccer to win, no joke business, like he plays music to perfection. He takes charge when necessary regardless of reputatations and/or friendships, putting his company to uneasiness and serious faces perhaps. He generates discipline. In the middle of rehearsal, when the music falters to a halt, he makes a short, ster speech demanding "serious concentration". The music resumes and he beats his instruments of rercussion as if his whole being is of the music.
He was born to assert control, to go forward, and to fight for his rights. I look at him and wonder what people will say when his music is unleashed. What they would say if they knew him better. They will neither adore not envy this rasta man as they do Bob, but his music alone will make them wonder for it will reveal something of his persistance, his discipline, his intelligence, and his righteous outspoken rasta stance. Even if the world outside Jamaica never get to see him they will soon be introduced to a side of the Wailers they had never known before. I look at him with a real sense of pride because he is so positive, so surefooted.
I`m talking about the Wailer whom the brethren call Jah B, Bunny Livingston, the one with the fire in his speech, and the white heat in his soul. The one whose initial solo album is a perfect testament, something for one and all to take more seriously than just excellent music.
The least known, outside of JA, of the original Wailers trio, "Bunny Wailer", was christened Neville O`Riley Livingston. His very name, like those given to I and I, was and is an unholy iniquity of slavery. The fact that Jah B prefers to let himself be known as Bunny Wailer instead of his given names makes the mention of this iniquity inevitable and important. Thus I prefer to say Jah B, reincarnated soul, first child born of Leah unto Jacob, Israel`s eldest of twelve sons, Reuben. Jacob`s might, the beginning of his strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Those who know Bunny know the accuracy of Jacob`s own description.
Bunny was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up with Bob Marley under the same roof in Trench Town. Reuben and Joseph. Trench Town, Kingston`s most infamous district, becam equally renowned for its ghetto poverty, its juvenile delinquency and general rowdiness, and its music. Trench Town`s squalor bred musical creativity and its reputation in music owes much to the recording studio, known as studio one and run by sound system man Clement "Sir Coxson" Dodd, in the area. It was there that the Wailers went to make their recording debut.
While growing up in the area Bunny, Bob, Peter, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, a girl named Cherry, Joe Higgs, and a few others used to gather themselves into a group at evening times and just sing. When they went to the studio to record their first hit, "Simmer Down", only five made the line-up. Joe Higgs, already a well known singer in the duo Higgs And Wilson, taught the young Wailers the techniques and finesse of harmony singing and affected the songwriting and vocal phrasing style of all of them.
Bunny plays bass and acoustic guitars, and percussion on his album but his gift is his songwriting inspiration and his terrific vocal, a high tenor influenced perhaps in the early stages by Curtis Mayfield. Yet the mention of influence isn`t something Jah B particularly likes. . . .
"Influence, me no like dem word deh you know `cause dem word deh a Colonial words. Me no dig dem, burn dem wid fire `cause no one can influence I. What is in I is just in I, it must be manifested out of I. I couldn`t do your work so that means you couldn`t influence me. I couldn`t influence you because you couldn`t do fe I work. The painter couldn`t do the carpenter work so the carpenter couldn`t influence the painter for the house wouldn`t build. So I no check influence."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 1
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: -
HE is a little ball of fire ever seeking, it might seem, to dominate and finally control any situation he finds himself in.
In his presence everybody else takes second place, stop and listen, stand and watch. In his presence you go along with what he says or else you keep quiet. For it`s not just a question that he`s right but that he makes you know that you could not prove him wrong before you start trying.
In physique he is always likely to be the least, yet in any company his is ever an enormous presence. You become aware of him immediately because he lets you know, without addressing you, that he`s aware of your presence and that sooner or later you`re gonna have to deal with him on his terms.
He is a little ball of fire, ever burning, always sure. He plays soccer to win, no joke business, like he plays music to perfection. He takes charge when necessary regardless of reputatations and/or friendships, putting his company to uneasiness and serious faces perhaps. He generates discipline. In the middle of rehearsal, when the music falters to a halt, he makes a short, ster speech demanding "serious concentration". The music resumes and he beats his instruments of rercussion as if his whole being is of the music.
He was born to assert control, to go forward, and to fight for his rights. I look at him and wonder what people will say when his music is unleashed. What they would say if they knew him better. They will neither adore not envy this rasta man as they do Bob, but his music alone will make them wonder for it will reveal something of his persistance, his discipline, his intelligence, and his righteous outspoken rasta stance. Even if the world outside Jamaica never get to see him they will soon be introduced to a side of the Wailers they had never known before. I look at him with a real sense of pride because he is so positive, so surefooted.
I`m talking about the Wailer whom the brethren call Jah B, Bunny Livingston, the one with the fire in his speech, and the white heat in his soul. The one whose initial solo album is a perfect testament, something for one and all to take more seriously than just excellent music.
The least known, outside of JA, of the original Wailers trio, "Bunny Wailer", was christened Neville O`Riley Livingston. His very name, like those given to I and I, was and is an unholy iniquity of slavery. The fact that Jah B prefers to let himself be known as Bunny Wailer instead of his given names makes the mention of this iniquity inevitable and important. Thus I prefer to say Jah B, reincarnated soul, first child born of Leah unto Jacob, Israel`s eldest of twelve sons, Reuben. Jacob`s might, the beginning of his strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Those who know Bunny know the accuracy of Jacob`s own description.
Bunny was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up with Bob Marley under the same roof in Trench Town. Reuben and Joseph. Trench Town, Kingston`s most infamous district, becam equally renowned for its ghetto poverty, its juvenile delinquency and general rowdiness, and its music. Trench Town`s squalor bred musical creativity and its reputation in music owes much to the recording studio, known as studio one and run by sound system man Clement "Sir Coxson" Dodd, in the area. It was there that the Wailers went to make their recording debut.
While growing up in the area Bunny, Bob, Peter, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, a girl named Cherry, Joe Higgs, and a few others used to gather themselves into a group at evening times and just sing. When they went to the studio to record their first hit, "Simmer Down", only five made the line-up. Joe Higgs, already a well known singer in the duo Higgs And Wilson, taught the young Wailers the techniques and finesse of harmony singing and affected the songwriting and vocal phrasing style of all of them.
Bunny plays bass and acoustic guitars, and percussion on his album but his gift is his songwriting inspiration and his terrific vocal, a high tenor influenced perhaps in the early stages by Curtis Mayfield. Yet the mention of influence isn`t something Jah B particularly likes. . . .
"Influence, me no like dem word deh you know `cause dem word deh a Colonial words. Me no dig dem, burn dem wid fire `cause no one can influence I. What is in I is just in I, it must be manifested out of I. I couldn`t do your work so that means you couldn`t influence me. I couldn`t influence you because you couldn`t do fe I work. The painter couldn`t do the carpenter work so the carpenter couldn`t influence the painter for the house wouldn`t build. So I no check influence."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 1
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 35
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 2
Bunny`s first ever composition was "Pass It On" which he recorded with the Wailers for the album `Burnin``. But in fact the song was written back in 1964 before the Wailers were even formed. With the Wailers Bunny`s harmony singing was always excellent. His tenor often slips most naturally into a very high region, returning gracefully to the lower tone for colouration. It is a pure and tender sound, a subtle vocal delivery which has often, if not always, combined to magical effect with the lower tenor and bass voices of Peter Tosh. But the Wailers` harmony singing was never as distinctly church orientated as that of the Maytals for example. Yet their sound was nothing if not spiritually inspired. Their harmonising, being of Jamaican breeding, intonation, and style, was of course quite different to that of any so-called R&B group that might have influenced them. Their singing was right, their music righteous. Things like "He Who Feels It Knows It", "The Ten Commandments", "Sinner Man", and "One Love" prove where the Wailers are coming from.
Bunny`s singing was surprisingly mature considering the lack of experience of the early group. In songs like the extremely beautiful and often covered "I`m Still Waiting", plus "I Need You", "When The Well Runs Dry", and "Cry To Me", Bunny`s vocal in particular made the music irresistible. In the latter song for example he sang throughout, behind Bob, repeating the chorus/hook lines over and over again in his highest tenor . . . "Cry to me, cry to me, walk back through the heartaches, walk back through the pain, shed those lonely teardrops, spend those lonely hours . . .".
Like Tosh, Bunny sang lead on a few notable occasions. Things like "He Who Feels It", "Sinner Man" (which Tosh later recorded for producer Lee Perry re-titled "Doen Presser") and "Sunday Morning", a slow rhythm and blues styled "love" song released on the B side of "He Who Feels It" by Island Records in Britain in 1966 . . . "At that time you see," said Bunny, "you have producers come push ideas in a you head just fe get money going you know. But is from dem time deh I and I did a send message. For even `One Love`, `Love And Affection`, and dem tune deh . So is just promoter a push tune in a you head fe make money."
By 1966 the Wailers were down to just a vocal trio (Bob, Bunny, Peter) backed by Clement Dodd`s studio band, the Soul Brothers. After parting with Dodd in `67 their recorded output was small in comparison to the dozens of hits they`d been recording. This was partly due to Bunny`s Prison sentence between `67 and `68 after being convicted for possessing ganja. It was during this period that he composed the song "Battering Down Sentence" which was issued late last year as a 45 in JA only, and which appears on his album. . . .
"That time deh a deal wid the struggle of the Earth right now. Every man a batter down sentence. Every man live in a depression and frustration and a geel pressure you know. Him `ave trouble fe stay out a street and not in de jail. For when depression reach you you kill you` `wife, through frustration and through the misery of not having the material things wha` one should really need. That is how crime wave expand, which people can`t find food fe eat. Well, a in a de prison me write it. For that was the existance I find myself in. Them say herb. . ."
Another of his compositions concerning oppression, "The Oppressed Song", also appears on his album. So do two of the best songs that any Wailer has ever released on 45, "Bide Up" and "Dreamland". The latter was produced ny Lee Perry while the trio were recording with him between 1969 and `71.
With Perry, Bunny sang lead on biting compositions like "Brain Washing" and "Riding High", two very emotional songs whose rhythmic energy and soul searching vocals put them in a class and style with Bob`s "Mr Brown". But, like Tosh, Bunny concentrated as usual on creating another song behind the one Bob was singing.
Carl Gayle: -
Part. 2
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 2
Bunny`s first ever composition was "Pass It On" which he recorded with the Wailers for the album `Burnin``. But in fact the song was written back in 1964 before the Wailers were even formed. With the Wailers Bunny`s harmony singing was always excellent. His tenor often slips most naturally into a very high region, returning gracefully to the lower tone for colouration. It is a pure and tender sound, a subtle vocal delivery which has often, if not always, combined to magical effect with the lower tenor and bass voices of Peter Tosh. But the Wailers` harmony singing was never as distinctly church orientated as that of the Maytals for example. Yet their sound was nothing if not spiritually inspired. Their harmonising, being of Jamaican breeding, intonation, and style, was of course quite different to that of any so-called R&B group that might have influenced them. Their singing was right, their music righteous. Things like "He Who Feels It Knows It", "The Ten Commandments", "Sinner Man", and "One Love" prove where the Wailers are coming from.
Bunny`s singing was surprisingly mature considering the lack of experience of the early group. In songs like the extremely beautiful and often covered "I`m Still Waiting", plus "I Need You", "When The Well Runs Dry", and "Cry To Me", Bunny`s vocal in particular made the music irresistible. In the latter song for example he sang throughout, behind Bob, repeating the chorus/hook lines over and over again in his highest tenor . . . "Cry to me, cry to me, walk back through the heartaches, walk back through the pain, shed those lonely teardrops, spend those lonely hours . . .".
Like Tosh, Bunny sang lead on a few notable occasions. Things like "He Who Feels It", "Sinner Man" (which Tosh later recorded for producer Lee Perry re-titled "Doen Presser") and "Sunday Morning", a slow rhythm and blues styled "love" song released on the B side of "He Who Feels It" by Island Records in Britain in 1966 . . . "At that time you see," said Bunny, "you have producers come push ideas in a you head just fe get money going you know. But is from dem time deh I and I did a send message. For even `One Love`, `Love And Affection`, and dem tune deh . So is just promoter a push tune in a you head fe make money."
By 1966 the Wailers were down to just a vocal trio (Bob, Bunny, Peter) backed by Clement Dodd`s studio band, the Soul Brothers. After parting with Dodd in `67 their recorded output was small in comparison to the dozens of hits they`d been recording. This was partly due to Bunny`s Prison sentence between `67 and `68 after being convicted for possessing ganja. It was during this period that he composed the song "Battering Down Sentence" which was issued late last year as a 45 in JA only, and which appears on his album. . . .
"That time deh a deal wid the struggle of the Earth right now. Every man a batter down sentence. Every man live in a depression and frustration and a geel pressure you know. Him `ave trouble fe stay out a street and not in de jail. For when depression reach you you kill you` `wife, through frustration and through the misery of not having the material things wha` one should really need. That is how crime wave expand, which people can`t find food fe eat. Well, a in a de prison me write it. For that was the existance I find myself in. Them say herb. . ."
Another of his compositions concerning oppression, "The Oppressed Song", also appears on his album. So do two of the best songs that any Wailer has ever released on 45, "Bide Up" and "Dreamland". The latter was produced ny Lee Perry while the trio were recording with him between 1969 and `71.
With Perry, Bunny sang lead on biting compositions like "Brain Washing" and "Riding High", two very emotional songs whose rhythmic energy and soul searching vocals put them in a class and style with Bob`s "Mr Brown". But, like Tosh, Bunny concentrated as usual on creating another song behind the one Bob was singing.
Carl Gayle: -
Part. 2
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: Vol, 3 / Issue 35
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 3
The Wailers` first album for Island, `Catch A Fire`, did not contain any of Bunny`s compositions, but Jah B`s penchant for percision and perfection was clearly evident in the arrangement of the background vocals especially, and in the tidiness of the music in general. And his high tenor in numbers like "Concrete Jungle", "400 Years", "Stop That Train", and "Midnight Ravers", gave the music its mystic atmosphere.
The album `Burnin`` contained two of Bunny`s songs, "Pass It On", and "Hallelujah Time". Both were beautiful hymns. . . . "Hear the children crying," he said quoting from the latter song in explanation, "but they cry not in vain. For even the prophecy show you seh `blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the Earth`. `Smelling the earth while sprinkled by raindrops reminds us of youthful days`. Pleasantness, happiness, when we were home in Africa. `But now it`s not rain that waters the cane crops but the sweat of man brow!` Man a fe just sweat every day fe nothing at all.
"Build up all dem skyscrapers of Babylon and even man wha` work fe years and put up all kind o` building, him don`t even live no whey. Him a fe pay rent and him can show you seh him build dat scheme and him build that project and him build dat hotel, and him don`t live nowhere. So is just man sweat and blood and tears, you no see it? . . . Seen! . . .
"So is a message that again. But within all o` dat there`s a time of hallelujah. For after humiliation there must be honour. After a storm there must be a calm. The first shall be the last and the last shall be first. Cyclic reactions, that is how creation operate."
Bunny`s song "Reincarnated Soul", was issued as the B side of the 45 "Concrete Jungle" in Britain in 1973. An extra verse has been added to the version that appears on the new album. . . .
"If you plant a seed it appear to die before it grow right? Same way life go! I couldn`t say that you or I wasn`t here before. I have reasons to say that I was here before this dispensation of time. Like knowing the Creator and like knowing that Rastafari is the Almighty. I was with Him from that time until this Iwa (Honour of Man). Only names have been changed to protect I and I."
Bob, Pete and Bunny toured Britain between April and June 1973 accompanied by the "new" Wailers, Aston and Carlton Barrett and Earl Lindo. Since then Bunny has not toured with the group, but he still appears in JA on stage. He has no plans to tour outside Jamaica. Among his Jamaican solo releases in the last two years are "Life Line", "Pass It On", and "Rastaman", which were issued on his own label, Solomonic.
Bunny has sung on Peter Tosh`s recordings and co-written songs with him. Like Bob and Peter he enlists the help of Wailers musicians for the recording of his music.
His music has consistently shown a degree of sophistication and dignity perhaps lacking in that of his fellow Wailers. At the same time it has never strayed from the path of righteousness. His new album is, of course, excellent. A total concept, spiritually inspired and, executed with a technical and artistic expertise never before realised in Jamaican music. It had to be so.
Carl Gayle: -
Patr 3
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 3
The Wailers` first album for Island, `Catch A Fire`, did not contain any of Bunny`s compositions, but Jah B`s penchant for percision and perfection was clearly evident in the arrangement of the background vocals especially, and in the tidiness of the music in general. And his high tenor in numbers like "Concrete Jungle", "400 Years", "Stop That Train", and "Midnight Ravers", gave the music its mystic atmosphere.
The album `Burnin`` contained two of Bunny`s songs, "Pass It On", and "Hallelujah Time". Both were beautiful hymns. . . . "Hear the children crying," he said quoting from the latter song in explanation, "but they cry not in vain. For even the prophecy show you seh `blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the Earth`. `Smelling the earth while sprinkled by raindrops reminds us of youthful days`. Pleasantness, happiness, when we were home in Africa. `But now it`s not rain that waters the cane crops but the sweat of man brow!` Man a fe just sweat every day fe nothing at all.
"Build up all dem skyscrapers of Babylon and even man wha` work fe years and put up all kind o` building, him don`t even live no whey. Him a fe pay rent and him can show you seh him build dat scheme and him build that project and him build dat hotel, and him don`t live nowhere. So is just man sweat and blood and tears, you no see it? . . . Seen! . . .
"So is a message that again. But within all o` dat there`s a time of hallelujah. For after humiliation there must be honour. After a storm there must be a calm. The first shall be the last and the last shall be first. Cyclic reactions, that is how creation operate."
Bunny`s song "Reincarnated Soul", was issued as the B side of the 45 "Concrete Jungle" in Britain in 1973. An extra verse has been added to the version that appears on the new album. . . .
"If you plant a seed it appear to die before it grow right? Same way life go! I couldn`t say that you or I wasn`t here before. I have reasons to say that I was here before this dispensation of time. Like knowing the Creator and like knowing that Rastafari is the Almighty. I was with Him from that time until this Iwa (Honour of Man). Only names have been changed to protect I and I."
Bob, Pete and Bunny toured Britain between April and June 1973 accompanied by the "new" Wailers, Aston and Carlton Barrett and Earl Lindo. Since then Bunny has not toured with the group, but he still appears in JA on stage. He has no plans to tour outside Jamaica. Among his Jamaican solo releases in the last two years are "Life Line", "Pass It On", and "Rastaman", which were issued on his own label, Solomonic.
Bunny has sung on Peter Tosh`s recordings and co-written songs with him. Like Bob and Peter he enlists the help of Wailers musicians for the recording of his music.
His music has consistently shown a degree of sophistication and dignity perhaps lacking in that of his fellow Wailers. At the same time it has never strayed from the path of righteousness. His new album is, of course, excellent. A total concept, spiritually inspired and, executed with a technical and artistic expertise never before realised in Jamaican music. It had to be so.
Carl Gayle: -
Patr 3
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: Vol, 3 / Issue 35
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 4
KARL PITTERSON is in Britain to remix Bunny`s album in collusion with Island boss Chris Blackwell. Blackwell regards him very highly, and if Bob, Pete and Bunny didn`t feel the same way about the young engineer he would not be their studio man when recording time comes.
For KP works for all the Wailers individually. When his work is finished here he`s headed for Miami to do some overdubbing on Bob and the Wailers` new album. Then he`s gotta work with Peter on his new album.
Pitterson overdubbed bass on "Bide Up". He is also a fine and versatile self taught musician having played guitar with the Boris Gardner Happening.
"Him (Bunny) explain to you what him want," says KP. "I know what him want. I wouldn`t mix two tune` in one night because you end up with the same voice sound. Him is a funny man too me a tell you. Him is a mystic man."
The first Wailers recording Pitterson worked on was the massive 1971 hit when it hits you feel no pain, "Trench Town Rock". "That was number one in Jamaica for a long long time. Is so much music I work on, I tell you the truth, I can`t remember them. Is a thousand and one music. But at that time man never too conscious `bout sound on a whole so a engineer never too important at that time deh. But now man start get conscious to the sound."
Pitterson worked on "Trench Town Rock" for he was then Dynamic`s engineer. Except for four hours office work, he went into recording straight from school . . . "I just applied at Dynamic and me get through. Me used to go to Kingston Tech (he passed electronic engineer exams at college with distinction), and from me (was) young me in a de electronics field. Plus me used to just fool `round with guitar. Is like everything fit in.
"One o` de earliest tune I do was `Cherry Oh Baby`. And Yabby U famous tune ("Conquering Lion"). Glen Brown tune `Merry Up`, `Abbyssinians` `Sattamassagana`, all o` dem hit deh."
He also spent a year in Canada studying sound further, both at school and in the studio . . . "When dem (Wailers) find that the demand was toward quality (of sound) and them start check `round, them check me."
KP`s work on Jah B`s album was his first recording experience with the solo Wailer. Bunny played bass and acoustic guitars on his album and, except for keyboard player Tyrone Downie`s background vocal on "This Train", all the vocals on the album are Bunny`s . . . "Him put on all the harmony first because it give him a feel."
It`s obvious how very highly KP regards Bunny for his music . . . "You see him new album wha` him have coming, it going better than this one by far. Him don`t make you know the name of the tune dem. He will come in humming a song and it don`t make sense you ask him wha` it name because him just naw go tell you. Him don`t say nuttin` till the right time.
"Him is the producer still you know but most time is the two o` we work in a sense because sound wise him depend on me. Him consult wid me too, how it sound, and if I like this phrase and dem t`ing. Is a person who is nice fe work with because from him have your confidence him don`t fight you at all and him open to suggestions. And I tell you something, if it wasn`t fe certain little minor obstacles this album would o` much better . . . Bunny album is directed to a certain set o` people. If you don`t have a thing in a you` head you naw go appreciate it."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 4
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 4
KARL PITTERSON is in Britain to remix Bunny`s album in collusion with Island boss Chris Blackwell. Blackwell regards him very highly, and if Bob, Pete and Bunny didn`t feel the same way about the young engineer he would not be their studio man when recording time comes.
For KP works for all the Wailers individually. When his work is finished here he`s headed for Miami to do some overdubbing on Bob and the Wailers` new album. Then he`s gotta work with Peter on his new album.
Pitterson overdubbed bass on "Bide Up". He is also a fine and versatile self taught musician having played guitar with the Boris Gardner Happening.
"Him (Bunny) explain to you what him want," says KP. "I know what him want. I wouldn`t mix two tune` in one night because you end up with the same voice sound. Him is a funny man too me a tell you. Him is a mystic man."
The first Wailers recording Pitterson worked on was the massive 1971 hit when it hits you feel no pain, "Trench Town Rock". "That was number one in Jamaica for a long long time. Is so much music I work on, I tell you the truth, I can`t remember them. Is a thousand and one music. But at that time man never too conscious `bout sound on a whole so a engineer never too important at that time deh. But now man start get conscious to the sound."
Pitterson worked on "Trench Town Rock" for he was then Dynamic`s engineer. Except for four hours office work, he went into recording straight from school . . . "I just applied at Dynamic and me get through. Me used to go to Kingston Tech (he passed electronic engineer exams at college with distinction), and from me (was) young me in a de electronics field. Plus me used to just fool `round with guitar. Is like everything fit in.
"One o` de earliest tune I do was `Cherry Oh Baby`. And Yabby U famous tune ("Conquering Lion"). Glen Brown tune `Merry Up`, `Abbyssinians` `Sattamassagana`, all o` dem hit deh."
He also spent a year in Canada studying sound further, both at school and in the studio . . . "When dem (Wailers) find that the demand was toward quality (of sound) and them start check `round, them check me."
KP`s work on Jah B`s album was his first recording experience with the solo Wailer. Bunny played bass and acoustic guitars on his album and, except for keyboard player Tyrone Downie`s background vocal on "This Train", all the vocals on the album are Bunny`s . . . "Him put on all the harmony first because it give him a feel."
It`s obvious how very highly KP regards Bunny for his music . . . "You see him new album wha` him have coming, it going better than this one by far. Him don`t make you know the name of the tune dem. He will come in humming a song and it don`t make sense you ask him wha` it name because him just naw go tell you. Him don`t say nuttin` till the right time.
"Him is the producer still you know but most time is the two o` we work in a sense because sound wise him depend on me. Him consult wid me too, how it sound, and if I like this phrase and dem t`ing. Is a person who is nice fe work with because from him have your confidence him don`t fight you at all and him open to suggestions. And I tell you something, if it wasn`t fe certain little minor obstacles this album would o` much better . . . Bunny album is directed to a certain set o` people. If you don`t have a thing in a you` head you naw go appreciate it."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 4
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976
peace
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Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: Vol, 3 / Issue 35
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 5
"MY inspiration come from the divine inspirator who inspire and create all things," says Bunny Wailer. "Him live in a de heart of all mankind.
"So when a man hear songs that isn`t being sung by material lips it must be coming from the divine one who create him, the inner one. That`s whey I get fe I own, the inner one that liveth and manifest itself outside as a song."
Bunny does not just answer your questions. If the answers to them are obvious he rebukes you not with words but with the sharp, serious tone of his voice, even though he knows that you`re only allowing him to express himself to those who could read a magazine such as this.
We are talking in the dark out back of Wailers rehearsal room at 56 Hope Road. Jah B`s voice is firm and vibrant in the night air. Music is coming from inside the rehearsal room where the rest of the band have just began in preparation for the show at the Arena with Stevie Wonder. His bold speech entices an audience of seven who listen attentively. After a while Bob comes out to find Jah B, realises what is taking place, and returns to the stage. The air is warm, the herb good. It is nearly midnight, October 1975.
Jah B sees himself as your teacher. But he`s not the kind of teacher you like for his easy going or perhaps humorous style. He is a strict lecturer whose class pays full attention from the start of the lesson to the very last few seconds. If you have something to say it better be good and right. If not, hold your peace.
- Why didn`t you go on the last two tours?
"Well me `ave scientifical reasons, spiritual reasons, physical reasons, and mental reasons which I do not wish to disclose. I feel I have the right to withhold that fe I own self. I no feel no one suppose` to question dat."
- Do you feel that you will tour again?
"Right now I don`t even know if the world a go continue after tomorrow so I can`t make no plans. I just live towards reality. The work I do y`know . . . as much hearts and as much ears that hear and overstand, that is the work that I have to do. If it sell million blessed be the million heart` who overstand wha` dem hear and learn fe overstand and live by dem words deh for is knowledge wha` I get wha` I just oass on.
"Commercial world a no fe I world. If money come, so it come but a no dat I and I out fe achieve. But the world set up that way so a dat it a go come through. It`s just to know that the poor and the innocent and the afflicted people is comforted by certain lyrics, certain words which we know music is like medicine to one`s soul. It`s the only thing what can heal one internally. So I expect it to sell as much as the people out deh wha` searching fe truth, for is really truth I sell. I naw look money. If I did a look money I would a sell money tune, Al Green. I a deal wid message to the poor, to even the rich to save themselves from destruction if them no live up to the principles and statutes of the whole creation."
Someone cuts in to emphasise what Bunny has said and the talk comes around to His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Jah Rastafari whom Babylon queendom would have some believe is dead.
"That is IMPOSSIBLE. That is very very very impossible. Haile Selassie means the power of the Trinity. And I see the Trinity as heat, air and water. The sun ball the breeze that blow and the rain that fall. And if the power of the Trinity dies no rain couldn`t fall no sun couldn`t shine, no breeze couldn`t blow. So that is impossible. Haile Selassie isn`t English words. Haile means power Selassie means Trinity. So if the source wha` hold up the Trinity die, the Trinity couldn`t stand up. That is madness, vain imaginations.
"Part of the prophecy say `why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the Earth set themselves together and take counsel against the Most High and His anointed saying, Let us cast their bands asunder. Like saying that the King is dead, and put away their thoughts from us. Like getting off some o` de rasta man dem dat dem go bald off dem head and go back in a Babylon go commit fornication wid harlot`, and be doomed when the time come! So dat is just madness, mischievious madness.
"Going be fire pan dem own head. For since dem open dem mouth `bout his Imperial Majesty dis and dat is nothing but destruction in a de whole creation. Turkey the other day had thousands missin`, right now flood a wash `way the whole of New York, all `bout in America deh. And is just the beginning of sorrows. For this is as far as dem could go. The only one wha` black people could `ave fe look forward to is the King. And if dem dat have we in depression, and `ave we in poverty and slavery want to discomfort us and discourage us it is the easiest way fe hit at the King for He is our only hope. And we know that what them can`t do by force them use propaganda and break. Tell lies! Seen? So dat is madness."
- Any of your songs you especially like?
"Right now I can`t say that for every one of them is inspiration. And when inspiration coming you find yourself enjoying it, appreciating it. That means you couldn`t at no time push it to a side and say you prefer this one more than this one, for you love it."
- You live out by Bull Bay still?
"Yeah. I could a live anywhere like Bull Bay you know. The sea and the fresh air and inspiration you know. Everything `round you is just life. No mechanical devices, just trees and birds and butterflies. The sea, rocks, plant life. Life what everyone should have the opportunity of living. Not like the concrete jungle wha` just destroy de youth.
"De youth born wid a concept of always running. Dem taught you dat a rolling stone gather no moss and yet dem just have you dat way, always running . . . can`t stay one place because you `ave fe get you` food. Dat is how it run in de jungle, in de ghetto. But it shouldn`t be like dat. Everyone should have equal proportion of life. For de Master who create de Earth could not have made a mistake by putting more people on de Earth more than what things deh ya to feed dem. For if Him did make a mistake we would `ave born wid three hand` and five heads. So everything right and perfect in a creation.
"Dem show you that nothing is perfect but everything dat the Most High create is perfect. Is dem come break it from perfection and indoctrinate fe dem things. When I say dem I mean the negative part o` creation, for even dem was created by the hands of Jah. But life naw get de rights wha` it suppose` to get. Life! When I say life I mean MANKIND! Is like five guys a try rule five million people wherein no man can`t eat more than him belly full regardless of how much millions him have and how much land him possess. So wha` de use you can`t eat more than a belly full and yet you have so much other blood bath people hungry. So wha` happen to the rest o` man dem belly?
"How come you have so much? You born wid two hand` and two foot and two eye` like dat man. Dat mean you born equal like him regardless o` wha` area you come from, or which society you born inna, or which family you come from. De man wha` born dung in a de slums him suppose` to live by the same resources wha` you a go live by. So if you withhold from him dat is withholding from life. Hurting life, hurting even yourself, for is so it a go turn `round!
"All I man can say is dat I hope de world wake up soon, and very fast. Wake up out of this darkness, dis selfishness, dis . . . dis . . . dis thing wha` just a `cause people fe just going away so. Youth born today and dead tomorrow without reasons. So if dem no wake up fast you know who a go intervene? For if you plant a vineyard and when you look `round fe it bring forth salad and tomato, you see thorns and all kind o` things that are parasites to your plants, you a go tear dem out and give your plants ease dat de plants grow. Well is dat de Master a go do anyhow dem people out deh no stop be parasites in a people life and make it be stumbling block and choking life.
"De Master a go come weed dem. And it will be sorrowful pan fe dem side. This is just warnin` fe dem own good, de people who think pan de negative side o` life. So is not like I a fight `gainst no one, is upliftment. For sometime` a man really don`t know de right thing. Sometime` a man know de right thing and don`t wish to do it. Well I come like I a deal wid de people dem who don`t know."
Carl Gayle: -
Bunny photographed by Neil Kenlock, and a shot from the original Wailers` days +
Karl Pitterson: Wailers` studio man.
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: - Vol. 3 / Issue 35
peace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jah Rastafari
BUNNY WAILER
Carl Gayle talks to the least known member of the original Wailers trio: Bunny
- Getting My Share Of Humiliation, Just Like The Blackheart Man: - PT. 5
"MY inspiration come from the divine inspirator who inspire and create all things," says Bunny Wailer. "Him live in a de heart of all mankind.
"So when a man hear songs that isn`t being sung by material lips it must be coming from the divine one who create him, the inner one. That`s whey I get fe I own, the inner one that liveth and manifest itself outside as a song."
Bunny does not just answer your questions. If the answers to them are obvious he rebukes you not with words but with the sharp, serious tone of his voice, even though he knows that you`re only allowing him to express himself to those who could read a magazine such as this.
We are talking in the dark out back of Wailers rehearsal room at 56 Hope Road. Jah B`s voice is firm and vibrant in the night air. Music is coming from inside the rehearsal room where the rest of the band have just began in preparation for the show at the Arena with Stevie Wonder. His bold speech entices an audience of seven who listen attentively. After a while Bob comes out to find Jah B, realises what is taking place, and returns to the stage. The air is warm, the herb good. It is nearly midnight, October 1975.
Jah B sees himself as your teacher. But he`s not the kind of teacher you like for his easy going or perhaps humorous style. He is a strict lecturer whose class pays full attention from the start of the lesson to the very last few seconds. If you have something to say it better be good and right. If not, hold your peace.
- Why didn`t you go on the last two tours?
"Well me `ave scientifical reasons, spiritual reasons, physical reasons, and mental reasons which I do not wish to disclose. I feel I have the right to withhold that fe I own self. I no feel no one suppose` to question dat."
- Do you feel that you will tour again?
"Right now I don`t even know if the world a go continue after tomorrow so I can`t make no plans. I just live towards reality. The work I do y`know . . . as much hearts and as much ears that hear and overstand, that is the work that I have to do. If it sell million blessed be the million heart` who overstand wha` dem hear and learn fe overstand and live by dem words deh for is knowledge wha` I get wha` I just oass on.
"Commercial world a no fe I world. If money come, so it come but a no dat I and I out fe achieve. But the world set up that way so a dat it a go come through. It`s just to know that the poor and the innocent and the afflicted people is comforted by certain lyrics, certain words which we know music is like medicine to one`s soul. It`s the only thing what can heal one internally. So I expect it to sell as much as the people out deh wha` searching fe truth, for is really truth I sell. I naw look money. If I did a look money I would a sell money tune, Al Green. I a deal wid message to the poor, to even the rich to save themselves from destruction if them no live up to the principles and statutes of the whole creation."
Someone cuts in to emphasise what Bunny has said and the talk comes around to His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Jah Rastafari whom Babylon queendom would have some believe is dead.
"That is IMPOSSIBLE. That is very very very impossible. Haile Selassie means the power of the Trinity. And I see the Trinity as heat, air and water. The sun ball the breeze that blow and the rain that fall. And if the power of the Trinity dies no rain couldn`t fall no sun couldn`t shine, no breeze couldn`t blow. So that is impossible. Haile Selassie isn`t English words. Haile means power Selassie means Trinity. So if the source wha` hold up the Trinity die, the Trinity couldn`t stand up. That is madness, vain imaginations.
"Part of the prophecy say `why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the Earth set themselves together and take counsel against the Most High and His anointed saying, Let us cast their bands asunder. Like saying that the King is dead, and put away their thoughts from us. Like getting off some o` de rasta man dem dat dem go bald off dem head and go back in a Babylon go commit fornication wid harlot`, and be doomed when the time come! So dat is just madness, mischievious madness.
"Going be fire pan dem own head. For since dem open dem mouth `bout his Imperial Majesty dis and dat is nothing but destruction in a de whole creation. Turkey the other day had thousands missin`, right now flood a wash `way the whole of New York, all `bout in America deh. And is just the beginning of sorrows. For this is as far as dem could go. The only one wha` black people could `ave fe look forward to is the King. And if dem dat have we in depression, and `ave we in poverty and slavery want to discomfort us and discourage us it is the easiest way fe hit at the King for He is our only hope. And we know that what them can`t do by force them use propaganda and break. Tell lies! Seen? So dat is madness."
- Any of your songs you especially like?
"Right now I can`t say that for every one of them is inspiration. And when inspiration coming you find yourself enjoying it, appreciating it. That means you couldn`t at no time push it to a side and say you prefer this one more than this one, for you love it."
- You live out by Bull Bay still?
"Yeah. I could a live anywhere like Bull Bay you know. The sea and the fresh air and inspiration you know. Everything `round you is just life. No mechanical devices, just trees and birds and butterflies. The sea, rocks, plant life. Life what everyone should have the opportunity of living. Not like the concrete jungle wha` just destroy de youth.
"De youth born wid a concept of always running. Dem taught you dat a rolling stone gather no moss and yet dem just have you dat way, always running . . . can`t stay one place because you `ave fe get you` food. Dat is how it run in de jungle, in de ghetto. But it shouldn`t be like dat. Everyone should have equal proportion of life. For de Master who create de Earth could not have made a mistake by putting more people on de Earth more than what things deh ya to feed dem. For if Him did make a mistake we would `ave born wid three hand` and five heads. So everything right and perfect in a creation.
"Dem show you that nothing is perfect but everything dat the Most High create is perfect. Is dem come break it from perfection and indoctrinate fe dem things. When I say dem I mean the negative part o` creation, for even dem was created by the hands of Jah. But life naw get de rights wha` it suppose` to get. Life! When I say life I mean MANKIND! Is like five guys a try rule five million people wherein no man can`t eat more than him belly full regardless of how much millions him have and how much land him possess. So wha` de use you can`t eat more than a belly full and yet you have so much other blood bath people hungry. So wha` happen to the rest o` man dem belly?
"How come you have so much? You born wid two hand` and two foot and two eye` like dat man. Dat mean you born equal like him regardless o` wha` area you come from, or which society you born inna, or which family you come from. De man wha` born dung in a de slums him suppose` to live by the same resources wha` you a go live by. So if you withhold from him dat is withholding from life. Hurting life, hurting even yourself, for is so it a go turn `round!
"All I man can say is dat I hope de world wake up soon, and very fast. Wake up out of this darkness, dis selfishness, dis . . . dis . . . dis thing wha` just a `cause people fe just going away so. Youth born today and dead tomorrow without reasons. So if dem no wake up fast you know who a go intervene? For if you plant a vineyard and when you look `round fe it bring forth salad and tomato, you see thorns and all kind o` things that are parasites to your plants, you a go tear dem out and give your plants ease dat de plants grow. Well is dat de Master a go do anyhow dem people out deh no stop be parasites in a people life and make it be stumbling block and choking life.
"De Master a go come weed dem. And it will be sorrowful pan fe dem side. This is just warnin` fe dem own good, de people who think pan de negative side o` life. So is not like I a fight `gainst no one, is upliftment. For sometime` a man really don`t know de right thing. Sometime` a man know de right thing and don`t wish to do it. Well I come like I a deal wid de people dem who don`t know."
Carl Gayle: -
Bunny photographed by Neil Kenlock, and a shot from the original Wailers` days +
Karl Pitterson: Wailers` studio man.
BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976: - Vol. 3 / Issue 35
peace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jah Rastafari
*Reggae Record Label Artwork*
http://leggorocker.ning.com/
http://leggorocker.ning.com/
-
stepping razor
- Posts: 1541
- Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:53 pm
Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC NOVEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 36
JAH WOOSH . . . in deh
One of the finest "toasters" in the whole of Jamaican music talks to Chris May: -
"I FEEL joyful to know that our music take over right around the world. That the white youth too are coming to it. But you don`t catch me want to live in England.
"Black people them don`t unite in this country--white people have it over them cause them have no unity. And them only get unity if them stop adopting the white man`s principles. Adaption adoption is all the same. For instance a black girl now she try to do like the white girl do. She going that way she putting herself in that family you see. Her talking, her ways, everything--she don`t have no thoughts of black. She don`t try deal with you as a black person, she try to act like you a stranger to her, different race. You live here and now you might lose your roots. And the weather isn`t right!"
Jah Woosh (christened Neville Beckford) stares bemused out of the grimy Trojan press office windows. The cold rain gives the streets of Ladbroke Grove an even drabber appearance than usual. A poster advertising the ill-starred Notting Hill Carnival flaps forlornly on a wall. Babylon never looked so undesirable. Jah Woosh is nine months out of JA and it`s obvious his return home can`t come soon enough for him--but he`s got to stick around a few weeks longer to promote his new album `Dreadlocks Affair`. Recorded at King Tubby`s and Channel One back in Kingston, where he toasted tracks laid down by the Mighty Clouds, this is Jah Woosh`s first self-production and the record he professes himself most satisfied with to date.
"I was born there at Prince Lane, Kingston, in September 1952. When I leave school I start to learn mechanics, learn to fix cars. And I start to become a rastaman back then too. I used to visit a place named Soul City and meet the dreads and them start telling me about Rastafarian culture. I was moving among them dread, I stop eating pork and Jah start coming up in me then. So I start make my own meal, leave my parents` house and that.
"Later, `68 coming on `69, I had a little group I used to rehearse with--singing and singing. The friend I used to sing with called George Davy (him on the High Note label now with a song called "Fig Root") and I then called Neville so we call the group Neville & George. We always try to do a recording, go to lots of producers, but George him couldn`t harmonise and him never rehearse well. So whenever we go to a producer him always say we need more harmony. Now I get sort of fed up with the singing, never have a bus fare, and I think I`ll try toasting. I think I might get a break into recording quicker that way and when I try I find I have pleasure in toasting. I find I can say things I like. Is real expression. And toasting is part of the music, you always have a DJ to play a song so it come to be part of the music as well. Is singing real.
"So next thing I was working with Prince Lloyd`s sound system. I travelled with this system as a DJ in `72 coming up `73. Then some of the dance fans discovered me as a DJ and them encourage me to try toasting a record. A brother named Bruce always saw me perform in a dance hall and him say he could get me to do a thing with Blue ( producer George Bell). So him come to Blue in early `73 and Blue discover me and I do my first single, `Angela Davis`. Angela Davis now--to tell the truth I didn`t know much about her. I read a little bit about her case and how she is a freedom fighter, defending the black. So I just put it down on a record you see saying that she is a great little sister. It didn`t go far but them hear me in the music market and I start doing more recording.
Chris May: -
Part 1
BLACK MUSIC NOVEMBER 1976
peace
JAH WOOSH . . . in deh
One of the finest "toasters" in the whole of Jamaican music talks to Chris May: -
"I FEEL joyful to know that our music take over right around the world. That the white youth too are coming to it. But you don`t catch me want to live in England.
"Black people them don`t unite in this country--white people have it over them cause them have no unity. And them only get unity if them stop adopting the white man`s principles. Adaption adoption is all the same. For instance a black girl now she try to do like the white girl do. She going that way she putting herself in that family you see. Her talking, her ways, everything--she don`t have no thoughts of black. She don`t try deal with you as a black person, she try to act like you a stranger to her, different race. You live here and now you might lose your roots. And the weather isn`t right!"
Jah Woosh (christened Neville Beckford) stares bemused out of the grimy Trojan press office windows. The cold rain gives the streets of Ladbroke Grove an even drabber appearance than usual. A poster advertising the ill-starred Notting Hill Carnival flaps forlornly on a wall. Babylon never looked so undesirable. Jah Woosh is nine months out of JA and it`s obvious his return home can`t come soon enough for him--but he`s got to stick around a few weeks longer to promote his new album `Dreadlocks Affair`. Recorded at King Tubby`s and Channel One back in Kingston, where he toasted tracks laid down by the Mighty Clouds, this is Jah Woosh`s first self-production and the record he professes himself most satisfied with to date.
"I was born there at Prince Lane, Kingston, in September 1952. When I leave school I start to learn mechanics, learn to fix cars. And I start to become a rastaman back then too. I used to visit a place named Soul City and meet the dreads and them start telling me about Rastafarian culture. I was moving among them dread, I stop eating pork and Jah start coming up in me then. So I start make my own meal, leave my parents` house and that.
"Later, `68 coming on `69, I had a little group I used to rehearse with--singing and singing. The friend I used to sing with called George Davy (him on the High Note label now with a song called "Fig Root") and I then called Neville so we call the group Neville & George. We always try to do a recording, go to lots of producers, but George him couldn`t harmonise and him never rehearse well. So whenever we go to a producer him always say we need more harmony. Now I get sort of fed up with the singing, never have a bus fare, and I think I`ll try toasting. I think I might get a break into recording quicker that way and when I try I find I have pleasure in toasting. I find I can say things I like. Is real expression. And toasting is part of the music, you always have a DJ to play a song so it come to be part of the music as well. Is singing real.
"So next thing I was working with Prince Lloyd`s sound system. I travelled with this system as a DJ in `72 coming up `73. Then some of the dance fans discovered me as a DJ and them encourage me to try toasting a record. A brother named Bruce always saw me perform in a dance hall and him say he could get me to do a thing with Blue ( producer George Bell). So him come to Blue in early `73 and Blue discover me and I do my first single, `Angela Davis`. Angela Davis now--to tell the truth I didn`t know much about her. I read a little bit about her case and how she is a freedom fighter, defending the black. So I just put it down on a record you see saying that she is a great little sister. It didn`t go far but them hear me in the music market and I start doing more recording.
Chris May: -
Part 1
BLACK MUSIC NOVEMBER 1976
peace
*Reggae Record Label Artwork*
http://leggorocker.ning.com/
http://leggorocker.ning.com/
-
stepping razor
- Posts: 1541
- Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:53 pm
Re: 1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...
BLACK MUSIC NOVEMBER 1976: Vol. 3 / Issue 36
JAH WOOSH . . . in deh
One of the finest "toasters" in the whole of Jamaican music talks to Chris May: - PT. 2
"After I recorded for Blue I recorded an album now for Rupie Edwards titled `Jah Woosh`. I just do it simple you know. I didn`t have any idea if it would sell or not--I just go in the studio and do it from brains. I no write it before. It was recorded at King Tubby`s with a pick-up band, lots of different musicians, and the rhythm tracks are laid already. I just toast the tracks. I always prefer to work that way, to toast the tracks. It`s quicker and less messaround. Then Rupie him come over here and give it to Cactus and them put it out and it sell big.
"I stopped working with Rupie Edwards because, well, I wouldn`t say he ripped me off but him never handle me right with the money. Him alright you know but when come to money him tight. If you to get two hundred pounds off him right him not give it one time him give it piece . . . piece . . . piece! But me and him getting on alright still.
"From then I go and I start to record now for Phil Pratt. I do a single called `Psalm 121` that was released over here. I really put my eyes then on Jah the Almighty. I give some dance and praise to the Almighty."
The latest album Jah Woosh has recorded was with producer Sidney Crooks. Cut in July this year at Harry J`s and featuring Lloyd Parks on bass and Ansell Collins on organ it will be released in Britain on the new Trenchtown label and will be called `Loaded With TNT`.
"In three years I work with a plenty producers and now I see I coundn`t stay with one producer any more. Them taking the rights from one that way. You have most producers who want all for themselves. You ask them give me a hundred dollar and them give you a hundred dollar and you never say anything about royalties and them will rob you right? You have to spread yourself around to build your name, this I learn.
"And I learn too that black people must spread themselves to black to come to happiness and unity. Out history is too much disunity. Producer sell you out--that`s not new. We was brought from Africa as slaves. We had black man who sell us out. We was the sort of people who loved music and we was taken by the drums. We hear the drums beat and we come to it and them capture us. Then sell us to the slavemaster and scatter we apart. And we have some of us who don`t know our culture, where we come from you know. You have some people, lots of people, born where them is. I could say I was born in Jamaica but right now we are really from Africa. So this is why we always sing about Africa, because our thoughts is still back to Africa. But we don`t have no unity now to come to One, to get back there. If we had unity, if we was wise, I don`t think them could have arrested us, captured us from our country.
"Many people if you tell them these things them call you a fool. The dreads them listen to Africa music, them have drum chants and flutes. But the dreads them a more cultural you know. I would love every black people to come together now and know themselves and live in one love. Because if we keep fighting each other we are not going to reach far you know. And everyday is this fighting going on. Let us come in one love and one harmony. If we have unity now we can go far. Rasta can help but them must be careful. Most of them don`t have no understanding towards Rasta you know--what is the meaning and truth. Is not just the hair to make you a rastaman. Is the rest of you--your heart. For you to live as a rastaman you have to be clean. You can`t do evil things and be close to Jah."
Chris May: -
BLACK MUSIC NOVEMBER 1976
peace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jah Rastafari
JAH WOOSH . . . in deh
One of the finest "toasters" in the whole of Jamaican music talks to Chris May: - PT. 2
"After I recorded for Blue I recorded an album now for Rupie Edwards titled `Jah Woosh`. I just do it simple you know. I didn`t have any idea if it would sell or not--I just go in the studio and do it from brains. I no write it before. It was recorded at King Tubby`s with a pick-up band, lots of different musicians, and the rhythm tracks are laid already. I just toast the tracks. I always prefer to work that way, to toast the tracks. It`s quicker and less messaround. Then Rupie him come over here and give it to Cactus and them put it out and it sell big.
"I stopped working with Rupie Edwards because, well, I wouldn`t say he ripped me off but him never handle me right with the money. Him alright you know but when come to money him tight. If you to get two hundred pounds off him right him not give it one time him give it piece . . . piece . . . piece! But me and him getting on alright still.
"From then I go and I start to record now for Phil Pratt. I do a single called `Psalm 121` that was released over here. I really put my eyes then on Jah the Almighty. I give some dance and praise to the Almighty."
The latest album Jah Woosh has recorded was with producer Sidney Crooks. Cut in July this year at Harry J`s and featuring Lloyd Parks on bass and Ansell Collins on organ it will be released in Britain on the new Trenchtown label and will be called `Loaded With TNT`.
"In three years I work with a plenty producers and now I see I coundn`t stay with one producer any more. Them taking the rights from one that way. You have most producers who want all for themselves. You ask them give me a hundred dollar and them give you a hundred dollar and you never say anything about royalties and them will rob you right? You have to spread yourself around to build your name, this I learn.
"And I learn too that black people must spread themselves to black to come to happiness and unity. Out history is too much disunity. Producer sell you out--that`s not new. We was brought from Africa as slaves. We had black man who sell us out. We was the sort of people who loved music and we was taken by the drums. We hear the drums beat and we come to it and them capture us. Then sell us to the slavemaster and scatter we apart. And we have some of us who don`t know our culture, where we come from you know. You have some people, lots of people, born where them is. I could say I was born in Jamaica but right now we are really from Africa. So this is why we always sing about Africa, because our thoughts is still back to Africa. But we don`t have no unity now to come to One, to get back there. If we had unity, if we was wise, I don`t think them could have arrested us, captured us from our country.
"Many people if you tell them these things them call you a fool. The dreads them listen to Africa music, them have drum chants and flutes. But the dreads them a more cultural you know. I would love every black people to come together now and know themselves and live in one love. Because if we keep fighting each other we are not going to reach far you know. And everyday is this fighting going on. Let us come in one love and one harmony. If we have unity now we can go far. Rasta can help but them must be careful. Most of them don`t have no understanding towards Rasta you know--what is the meaning and truth. Is not just the hair to make you a rastaman. Is the rest of you--your heart. For you to live as a rastaman you have to be clean. You can`t do evil things and be close to Jah."
Chris May: -
BLACK MUSIC NOVEMBER 1976
peace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jah Rastafari
*Reggae Record Label Artwork*
http://leggorocker.ning.com/
http://leggorocker.ning.com/