1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975: Vol. 2 / Issue 16

LLOYD CHARMERS
The "Everything" Man
By Carl Gayle: -

Ken Boothe`s "Everything I Own" and "Crying Over You" are just two of the reasons why Lloyd Charmers was voted top reggae producer and arranger of 1974 in the recent Black Music Readers Poll. He`s done just about everything in Jamaican music, including some of the rudest records ever made . . .


HITS LIKE "Everything I Own" and "Crying Over You" represent Lloyd Charmers at the height of his success as a producer so far. But those who`re familiar with Charmers will tell you that the records do not represent him at his musical peak. For Lloyd, like the singer Ken Boothe, has been making fine records for a decade or more.

Charmers is an astute and subtly clever producer who has pioneered a polished style of reggae music since the mid sixties. He is also a competent vocalist, a humorous composer, and an able keyboard player. He`s a very versatile musician. One who leads and inspires others. Above all, he has the ability to make authentic Jamaican music which has the very widest appeal.

Lloyd Charmers is 28. His real name is Lloyd Tyrell. The road that has led him to producer fame with a British number one hit with Ken Boothe began on the wrong note for him and his friend Roy Williis as singers in 1962, when they entered a local talent contest -- Opportunity Hour--run by famed promoter Vere John.

"I met this guy Teddy (Roy Willis) and he asked me if I wanted to form a group", said Lloyd. "So I said okay. Then we went `round by Alton Ellis (already a top singing name) `cause I didn`t know harmonising or anything . Alton sort of sat with us and taught us how to harmonise. Then, when we realised that we were more or less pretty good we said okay we`ll try Opportunity Hour as the Charmers. We lost the first evening `cause we lost our nerves. . . . I started singing one song and Roy started another, so you know, they booed us off!

"We sat down again and decided we`d try again. We did a lot of hard rehearsals, went back the next week and we won. We never lost since. . . ."

Lloyd began recording solo in 1964 with the Sir Coxsone label when he was eighteen. His first record was an original called "Loneliest Boy In Town".

"Coxsone never liked to publicise or advertise an artist", said Lloyd. "He just did his `thing`. We used to get like £7 for a record. You didn`t get royalties."

Other recordings as the Charmers included "Jeanie Girl", "Crying Over You", and "Splish Splash", all originals. "Things wasn`t working too well with Coxsone so we decided to split and take up residence with Prince Buster."

Their biggest hit as the Charmers--"Time After Time"--was with Buster in 1969 but . . . "We used to have to live at Buster`s place to pick up the money. We had to go to his shop and sit there like . . . for days, and wait on him. Like he comes and sees us and says I`ll be back in another five or ten minutes and we wait for hours. Once he told us to meet him at 9 o`clock one morning and we waited and waited. He showed up at 11 o`clock in the night and then tells us he`s sorry he can`t see us. . . . Ask him for some taxi fare he give us something like two shillings.

"He was nice in the studio but after the work finish he`s a different person. You can`t make any money from him. Buster still owes us royalties until today because he`s never cleared up his statements with us. As a matter of fact we never got any statement from him, Delroy Wilson got something like £7 for `Dancing Mood` which sell, you know, like over sixty odd thousand in JA."

Lloyd split with Roy in `69 to team up with Slim Smith, and Martin Riley as the Uniques. They worked with and for promoter/producer Bunnie Lee and were a top stage attraction but Lloyd soon decided that there was more "bread" in the production side.

"Bunnie Lee . . . he was a good guy at the time but he wanted all the bread himself. So I decided to do producing but I didn`t have any bread so I went to this guy, Winston Lowe, and borrowed something like $100. And I had a group . . . me, B. B. Seaton, Winston Stewart and Ken Boothe. We got together as a little band and played at the Baby Grand club in Crossroads, Kingston. Then we went to the studio and made `Watch This Sound`."

"Watch This Sound" by the Uniques (Lloyd, Martin Riley, and Slim Smith on vocals, and Lloyd, Ken, B.B. Seaton and Winston as the musicians and promoters) was a version of "For What It`s Worth" by Steve Stills. It was a big hit. It appears on the LP "Tighten Up Volume One" (Trojan).

"From there I started playing piano and organ, you know. So I made this song `Zylon` and then an instrumental of `Watch This Sound` which sold quite well. So I was working with the group and as a solo artist, but we shared all the money."

The Uniques lasted a year at the most, making around 24 songs mainly, for an LP--"Absolutely The Uniques" (Trojan)--or for singles like "Let Me Go Girl", "Gypsy Woman", or "Cuyah".

"We couldn`t get along", said Lloyd, "because the guys in the group said that I was trying to boss them around. And Slim Smith felt that he could sing on his own so we all moved our different ways."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 1

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975: Vol. 2 / Issue 16

LLOYD CHARMERS
The "Everything" Man
By Carl Gatle: - PT. 2

That was in 1970. Lloyd formed his own label--Splash--and released a succession of solo singles like "Five To Five", "Reggae Is Tight", "Sweeter She Is", "Oh Me Oh My", "Colour Him Father", Message From A Black Man", Skinhead Train", "Going In Circles", "Rasta Never Fails", and "One Big Unhappy Family", as the Charmers, most of them being quite successful. Others like "Love I Madly", or "Loving Her Was Easier" were released under Lloyd Charmers. The LP`s "Reggae Is Tight" and "Reggae Charm" were made while Lloyd had been with the Uniques.

The musicians used on all these recordings are currently known as Gladstone Anderson`s All Stars. In retrospect, that studio band was almost the sole musical production room for nearly every important recording made in Jamaica as rock steady music gave way to reggae music in the late sixties. They appeared variously as the Upsetters, the Hippy Boys, the Dynamites and other names.

They played on perhaps the best (musically) "rude" reggae album ever made, "Censored" (arranged and produced by Lloyd Charmers) and were labelled as Lloydie and the Lowbites.

"The quality of the music is great", said Lloyd. "I made the first `Censored`, volume one, for Byron Lee. I think it`s the best seller so far. Then I made volume two and three. They said they were too vulgar so they couldn`t be released in Britain. Volume ine isn`t really rude, the other two are more `open`. I have one (a rude LP that I`ve released in JA called `Too Hot To Handle`. It`s selling good. Now that is really . . . it doesn`t leave anything for the imagination!"

Lloyd`s biggest-ever solo seller in England was a rude song called "Bang Bang Lulu", released by Pama Records in England in 1968. It was famous for that missing word: "Lulu had a boyfriend, his name was Tommy Tucker / He took her down the alley to see if he could . . . / Bang bang Lulu . . .".

"I made that for Lynford Anderson. That was a calypso. I know how well it sold up here but I didn`t make a penny off it anyway. When Pama (Harry Palmer) came to Jamaica he gave me £100 congratulating me . . . saying that it sold very well and he could afford to give me £100 seeing that I didn`t make anything. So I was very grateful (laughs) . . . as a matter of fact I was contracted to Pama and they owed me about £8,000 at the time for previous material that I sent to him. All my products I used to send to Pama and I couldn`t pick up royalties from them. . . . I decided I wanted to go over to Trojan and Pama said he`s not gonna release me. I said well, I don`t like the treatment I`m getting here so I`ll be grateful if you release me. He said well, if I want a release I have to sign over all my royalties to Pama Records, which I did. I reckon I lost about £12,000."

By 1970 Lloyd was much more involved in producing other people, "I started producing Ken Boothe, B. B. Seaton, and Busty Brown. So we decided to form a group as the Messengers. Me and Ken would make a recording, then me and B. B., then Busty and B. B., then Busty and Ken. But, you know, we go under different names. Any one sell . . . we split it. T`was a four man thing. Hits? We had `Lean On Me` with B. B., `Ain`t No Sunshine` with Ken . . . I never really got a hit with Busty `cause he was a `troublesome` artist. All he decided to do was make bread. I guess those were the only two hits but we had mediocre sellers y`know.
Carl Gayle: -
Part 2

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975: Vol. 2 /Issue 16

LLOYD CHARMERS
The "Everything" Man
By Carl Gayle: - PT. 3

The LP "Charmers In Session" (not released in Jamaica) represents the best of the Messengers` total output. Lloyd was also involved in producing Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths individually.

"Bob Andy, ever since `Young Gifted And Black` with Marcia, things seemed to sort of go down the ladder for Bob. He came to me and said he wanted to do some recording and I said right, fine. He brought 7 or 8 songs to me and I said I didn`t like any of them. So we went round to Harry J`s studio, sat down at the piano and worked out a rhythm and some lyrics and made this song, `Fire Burning` but I gave Bob the credit. Well it was a big hit in Jamaica and his name is more or less in the limelight again.

"Then I started working with Marcia. I made `Sweet Bitter Love` which was a hit. Then we made an album--`Sweet Bitter Love`--which sold quite well. It`s still selling now. The album in JA carried ten tracks so I sent them (Trojan) ten. I think they wanted twelve. I think it`s a stupid idea (to use the track `Play Me` twice on the LP, one with Lloyd harmonising in paris) really."

By 1972 Lloyd became more involved with Ken Boothe in particular (Boothe`s three Trojan LPs "Black Gold And Green", "Let`s Get It On", and "Everything I Own" are all Charmers productions) and with others like Scotty or the Chosen Few.

"The Few were recording for Derrick Harriott and it seems that things weren`t going too well so they came to me and asked me to do something for them. We did about six songs and released them one by one."

Trojan have so far released "It`s Too Late", "Stoned In Love", and "Children Of The Night".

"All those records from `72 to `73 have the Now Generation playing on them `cause I like the Now Gen. They were the best studio band at the time. They`ve split now so I pick guys from different bands and we sit down and work out the rhythm together till we get a tight feel. And I don`t think I want to use anybody besides the guys I`m using now." (Lloyd Parks, bass; Paul Douglas, drums; Willie Lindo, guitar; and Charmers himself, keyboards; and other effects.)

- Would you say you`re better known as a producer than as a singer?

"Hmm. As a matter of fact I`d say I`m not a singer. Really I`m a producer. I don`t like my singing. Other people fancy it but like personally I don`t dig it. I think I could, you know, fit into a group quite nice but I`m not a very good lead. But I think I`m a very good producer."

- Would you say any JA singers have been influenced by you as a writer, producer or singer?

"I`d say Bob Andy. He used to be fond of the Charmers. He was singing with the Paragons at that time and he used to fancy us as a group. `Cause even lately he said he wanted to record songs that the Charmers used to sing which were my compositions. As a producer as well. He sort of has me in high esteem `cause Bob is very . . . a proud person, and he wouldn`t want anybody to produce him, he`d rather produce himself. But at the same time he came to me and asked me to produce him which I did and it wasn`t regretted. We have an album setting up now to do with Bob as well."

- How satisfied were you with Ken Boothe`s albums?

"Well the records that are released here and the Jamaican release is like . . . there`s a difference. The album in JA I`m satisfied with. The album here is alright as well but, like, some of the tracks I wanted to go on it, they put different tracks on it. And I did some `sweetening` for Britain . . . put on strings and brass and voices. Whereas in Jamaica I just use the empty tracks. For Jamaica they don`t fancy the strings and those things."

- The music you produce requires more in the way of formal arrangements than most. Would you call yourself an arranger?

"Yes I would because on any record I produce all the arrangements belong to me . . . I think I have a hard job as a producer but it`s not really hard `cause I like it. Whenever I`m recording I use four musicians including myself, that`s all. When we`re through they go home and I finish doing the bits and pieces for the rhythm like put on the organ, mellotron, maraccas, vibes, all those things myself. Then I get the artist to put the voice-on, Then I go back and put on the backing voices myself. All the voices (except lead) you hear in any one of my productions, it`s me alone. It`s quite a nice job but you have to be skilful. And like if I`m putting on brass, any phrase they play I give it to them."

- Who has influenced you?

"There are producers I listen to like Thom Bell and Norman Whitfield. Those are the only ones. I`d love to be as good a producer. Whenever I`m doing my thing I`m doing it sort of off their influence `cause I listen to their records so much that maybe I`m injected."

- Do you think that Jamaican producers are any less capable of doing quality arrangements?

"Yes, I think they`re not capable, mostly. You have good producers in JA like Derrick Harriott for instance but he doesn`t get the recognition. Paul Khouri is a good producer he has very good ideas. I can`t think of another person I`d say is a very good producer."

- Lee Perry?

"Well Perry has good ideas right, but at the same time not my knid of ideas you know. I don`t fancy that kind of production. Maybe I`m biased but I like to listen to a record where I can listen to the rhythm seperate to the vocals. But most Jamaicans produce songs that you either have to listen to the singing or don`t listen to anything at all."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 3

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975: Vol. 2 / Issue 16

LLOYD CHARMERS
The "Everything" Man
By Carl Gayle: - PT. 4

- More and more singers like Ken, John Holt, B. B. Seaton, Ernie Smith and others seem convinced that horns and strings and backing vocals are essential for acceptance with a "wider" audience . . .

"I think it it necessary. I don`t particulary fancy the strings but things like horns, voices, percussion and so on, I think those are necessary in a record. Strings are nice in soul music but for reggae I don`t really fancy strings too tough."

- How about someone like Delroy Wilson who`s as popular as anybody else in JA music with the "youth", the hard core audience. Or someone like Gregory Isaacs. Will they have to have the polished production too?

"I`ve been to the studio with Delroy and I`ve seen the way he works with people telling him sing this Delroy, sing it this way, and he just does it. But I think if Delroy gets a break, a chance to sing how he really wants to then I think he would really make it. But he would need a good producer behind him. Bob Andy made a nice record with him the other day."

- Is that the only route to success for solo singers like him and Gregory Isaacs?

"Gregory Isaacs is a good singer but he`s not a `roots` singer. He needs sweet songs `cause his voice is sweet. He needs `nice` songs you know, love songs. His voice is like . . . you could say a sweet Bobby Womack type of voice."

- Do you agree with the idea that you have to change your music or even polish it up for a wider audience?

"No, I don`t change my music for anybody. I record my music one way, to suit me. Now if you like it you can dig it, if not we try again. What I really do you see, I produce you according to how you sing. The song that I make for B. B. Seaton I would not make for Ken Boothe."

- Do you think that Ken can be successful in the "pop" market and still retain the support of the "ethnic" reggae audience?

"Yes I really do believe so. Ken is a very versatile singer. He can sing anything. That`s why I like him."

- But artists who become successful with the pop audience have lost much, if not all, of their ethnic support. For example Desmond Dekker and Jimmy Cliff?

"Ken will never lose his ethnic reggae feel `cause Ken is a soul singer. Ken is a good singer above all. Ken can sing anything and it still has the depth, that feel that you`re looking for as a Jamaican because Jamaican music is the `heaviest` music I would say. So if Ken should sing a soul it would have the Jamaican feel in it still. So I`d say Ken is overall a very good singer and I don`t think he`s gonna die now. All he needed was exposure and he got it from `Everything I Own`."

- Did you choose that for him to record?

"No, as a matter of fact I chose it for Marcia Griffiths right, and she sort of gives me the run around. She was supposed to do it two weeks before Ken did it and I couldn`t find her. Ken came into the studio one day out of the blue and I said I want you to record this song, `Everything I Own`. He said he liked the song and he wanted to do it so. . . . It was a big hit in Jamaica. Stayed in the charts for six weeks. Sold about 65,000 in Jamaica which is good."

- Were you surprised when it was a British pop hit?

"No, not really. It`s a song that sort of gets to you. The more you hear it the more you love it."

- But considering all the problems, the obstacles facing black music and reggae in particular in Britain . . .

"I`m not surprised. You know why, `cause like all along I`ve been saying I`m gonna make a hit here with Ken Boothe. I`ve never really pictured anybody else to make the hit here with but Ken. Even when it reached 11 in the charts I knew it would go to number 1. Because once the people start to love Ken`s voice there`s no stopping for him because he really has a good voice. He has a beautiful voice. I think he`s one of the most distinctive singers from Jamaica `cause he has a style of his own. He doesn`t sound like anybody else."

- What do you think of the Maytals, would you like to produce them?

"I must be quite honest. I like Toots, I don`t like the Maytals. Toots is a very good singer . . . but the backing that he gets, I don`t think it does very much for him because the group behind him, they`re not versatile singers. They have a one style. If I should get Toots to produce I wouldn`t take him out of his style because I love his style. But I would do more with voices for him `cause that`s what he needs. He`s a spiritual singer. Now if he gets spiritual backing then you`ll get more from him because he`s not limited. Toots can go much further than he`s going now. I think he`s one of the best from Jamaica."

- What is the position with the Messengers now, are you still together?

"No not really. Messengers split because we weren`t really a group as such. It was just a group within a company. Four guys get together and we want to make some money. We plan to make more records as the Messengers. I think we have a terrific harmony `cause we all know harmony very well. So I think it`s a very good group. You never can tell, one day the Messengers might break."

- If there is any one record that you think "made it" for you other than "Everything I Own"?

"That would be hard because all my records they like in Jamaica. Like, whenever they hear a song on the radio they can tell when it`s my production. According to the people in Jamaica I have a style and they love it. And they pay most attention to my productions, I`m not being immodest or anything. I would think my rhythms are fairly good ones so. . . . Long before `Everything I Own` like people used to go crazy over `Is It Because I`m Black` (also by Ken Boothe).

"It surprised me really when it didn`t make a hit. Maybe people weren`t paying much attention to Ken at the time but now they will and I figure all those old songs will even sell more I would like for `Is It Because I`m Black` to be re-released because I really believe in it."
Carl Garle: -

- Albums: -
"Absolutely The Uniques" (Trojan TRL 15)
"Reggae Is Tight" (Trojan TTL 25)
"Reggae Charm" (Trojan TTl 30)
"Censored" (Trojan Lowbite 001)
"Lloyd Charmers In Session" (Trojan TBL 201)
"The Best Of Lloyd Charmers" (Trojan TRLS 86)

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975

peace

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Jah Rastafari

[Lion]

Give thanks Stepping razor.

I man just mis some of the Black music issues.

Lion

[stepping razor]

Ites Lion.
The Issues I have are: -

Dec - 1973 1st issue
Jan - 1974
April - 1974
May - 1974
June - 1974
July - 1974
Aug - 1974
Sep - 1974
Nov - 1974
Dec - 1974

Jan - 1975
Feb - 1975
March - 1975
May - 1975
June - 1975
July - 1975
Aug - 1975
Sep - 1975

Jan - 1976
Feb - 1976
March - 1976
April - 1976
May - 1976
June - 1976
July - 1976
Aug - 1976
Sep - 1976
Oct - 1976
Nov - 1976

If any one else has the issues missing from the list and 1977 onwards, please could you add them to the thread. Give Thanks.

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 5

SHARON FORRESTER
Sharon: Taking Jamaican Music To A New High:
By Carl Gayle: -

THIS MONTH sees the release of "Sharon", an album which is truly a landmark in Jamaican music. The album introduces a potential giant in 18 year old Jamaican female singer Sharon Forrester.

Junior Lincoln, boss of Ashanti Records says: "We think she can be as big as Diana Ross. I want to see Sharon play Carnegie Hall: she`s that sort of artist. And I`ve got to shut up a lot of people in this country who seem to think that West Indian artists are very limited and only know how to do one thing."

It is significant that this album should come about through the efforts of Junior Lincoln, the man who--with Bamboo Records--has helped pioneer Jamaican music in this country in the fact of obstruction and victimisation from the media. But that`s another story.

Now, after the years of frustration that the Jamaican music lover has felt on being continually fed with what can only be described as second rate attempts at albums, comes a piece of music which stands up to the very best on the market. A musical statement which should impress even the most unfairly biased critic.

The music on `Sharon` surpasses even the sophisticated degree of excellence of the Jamaican LP that had everyone talking this time last year, `Catch A Fire` by The Wailers. `Sharon` sets the new standard that even The Wailers must now struggle to attain. And the comparison with `Fire` is made only because both albums are by Jamaicans, there is no musical comparison in terms of similarity or quality. It would be like comparing the Beatles to Bach, for indeed the music on `Sharon` frequently approaches the `classical` sphere.

Despite the reggae feel and rhythms it would be ridiculous to call this reggae music, nor is it simply Jamaican music. The music here (except for the horns and strings) is played by Jamaican and Trinidadian musicians, arranged co-operatively by a Jamaican and a Trinidadian and produced by a Jamaican. This in itself is unique. The album (except for one track) was recorded in England with black musicians like Richard and Robert Bailey who have spent a good part of their musical life in this country and thus a British influence has been added. The most important point though is that the musicians were given all the time they really required to make such excellent music.

"The only reason why we as a company haven`t been doing this is that we have never had anyone to spend the amount of money required," said Junior Lincoln. "But how else can you have black superstars in England! The only black artist that is really being pushed is Linda Lewis and I`m pleased for her. Nothing like this has ever been done with reggae musicians in this country because they never believed it was worth it, they didn`t see any future in it.

"So we decided that we should take the chance, and it`s not only for Sharon, It also gives talented people like Geoffrey Chung, Robert Bailey and all the other musicians a chance to play without looking over their shoulder and worrying about how much time they have left. Everything has been relaxed, we didn`t try to rush the album.So these people have been able to prove that they`re as creative as any white arrangers, producers, or musicians if not more so."
Carl Gayle: -
Part 1

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 5

SHARON FORRESTER
Sharon: Taking Jamaican Music To A New High: - PT. 2
By Carl Gayle:

The number of musicians that appeared on this album is formidable: a twenty eight voice choir on at least one track, a full string section, horn section and a host of other assorted instruments. But the main musicians were Geoffrey Chung who played rhythm, lead and bass guitars, various keyboards, glockenspiel, sung background vocals, co-arranged and produced. Plus Robert Bailey (ex Osibisa) who play electric piano, moog synthesiser and co-arranged. Winston Delandro (electric and rhythm guitars), Philip Chinn (bass), Richard Bailey (drums), Alan Sharpe (percussion), Del Richardson (harmonica) and Graham Preskett (mandolin).

Love is the theme of the album, which includes Smokey Robinson`s "Holly", James Taylor`s "Don`t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" and Leon Russell`s "Masquerade" as well as Geoffrey Chung originals like "Words With No Meaning", which is the album`s tour-de-force.

Geoffrey Chung`s band The Now Generation played on the track--`Silly Wasn`t I`--that had already been recorded in Jamaica.

It was this record, Sharon`s first ever single, that started everything. Chung who produced it played it to Junior Lincoln in Jamaica in January last year, "I was very impressed with her as a singer and with the arrangement and production," said Junior. "I thought she had class, she was so young and her delivery was so good. I signed her without even seeing her perform. She was the type of girl singer I had been looking for and she was pretty--that goes a long way y`know! So I told Geoffrey that I wanted him to produce an album with Sharon for me."

The single was released in summer `73. It didn`t sell very many but Junior was not deterred. "We sign an artist because of their potential." he said. "Sharon`s record had great reviews even in the Melody Maker but I think it was ahead of its time as far as Jamaican music is concerned." Junior returned to JA in July `73, met Sharon for the first time and finalised the agreement concerning the LP. Sharon had just left the North Coast of Jamaica where she`d been doing cabaret for about a year, after leaving school. The LP was to have been recorded in JA but the situation with the musicians strike and other hangups prevented that so it was decided that producer and artist should come to England to record . . . "Geoffrey, especially was a little worried about the musicians we would use and about getting the real reggae sound," said Junior, "But I thought it could be very interesting because I knew there were very good musicians here. And with the right direction we could come up with a very interesting and worthwhile black sound in this country which would reflect black music in the W. Indies, America, and England.

"But it was quite funny how we got these musicians together because they didn`t respect reggae. I don`t blame them in a sense because the reggae musicians here were only trying to play like those in Jamaica. While these other musicians were really reaching out and improving all the time. Well they came on the session because I was really tight with them and because I asked them to do it but they still saw it as an ordinary reggae session. Even Philip Chinn and Robert Bailey especially weren`t so sure they wanted to do the sessions but when we started rehearsing they were very impressed. The first session lasted six hours and we came out with nothing, they were playing perfectly but the feel just wasn`t there. The musicians were upset that what they had wasn`t acceptable. So they left the studio almost angrily, everybody`s face was screwed up.

"It took a lot out of me to bridge the gap between Geoffrey and themselves. People weren`t even talking to each other y`know. But the next session went well we got two backing tracks. Things got better and better from then on and everybody was very very impressed with the sound that they were actually getting. It got so tight that even when the musicians had finished they would still drop in to hear what was happening. From then on Robert Bailey got so involved that he wanted to co-arrange with Geoffrey.

"They just started to knock it together and believe me it was a beautiful thing to see a Trinidadian and a Jamaican working together so nicely. That alone really knocked me out, made everything really worth it. People like Robert now realise that there is much more to Jamaican music then they had believed. And if all black musicians can start respecting each other`s music and start putting their separate things together then a new black music scene can emerge in this country. This is what happened on this album."
Carl Gayle: -

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974

peace

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Jah Rastafari

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 5

TITO SIMON
Simon Says It Loud: -
By Carl Gayle:

TITO SIMON is a Jamaican singer/composer of rare talent. His first single "Easy Come Easy Go" is so natural and familiar that when I heard it last year initially I was convinced I had known it long before. The song is also one of Clancy Eccles` best productions, the jaunty rhythm providing an immediate hook and Tito`s spirited vocal forcing home the verbal message.

The album "Just Tito Simon" (reviewed in last month`s issue) is one of the best around at the moment. But in an age of injustice as far as Jamaican artists are concerned it seems unlikely that Tito will earn the artistic credit that his ability warrants, let alone the financial rewards he has worked so hard for over his ten years as a singer.

Of the future he says: "I still want to sing black music but it`s got to be something imaginative, something that I and my audience will get more feeling from. I want to be much more progressive, but the question is will I be given the chance? If you have an artist with real potential I don`t see why he can`t do anything and everything.

"I love the reggae music, it`s my country`s music but many bad things have happened with the reggae system ever since it appeared which makes it a very underrated music. The first thing they want to know when you walk into an agency is if you`re a reggae singer. Then they say Oh! We can`t book you we don`t book reggae singers. They think you can only do reggae which of course is totally wrong.

"To be quite honest with you I think the days are very limited because our own people aren`t supporting the musicians like they should be. They turn around and screw up their faces at the music so what do you expect the whites to do!

"But the reason they do this is because the market has become over-flooded with a lot of rubbish. So people don`t want to go out and buy reggae music even if it`s good. Then this over-dubbing business recently, with the same backing track on the B side was just a fiddle. People weren`t getting any satisfaction and no value for money. When they bought an Amaerican soul record they got two sides, if they bought a reggae record they got one side, so you couldn`t really blame them!"

Tito Simon, real name Keith Foster, came to England from St. Mary, Jamaica in 1961. As a child he admired Fats Domino, Little Richard, and locally people like Owen Gray, and Jackie Edwards. Having previously only got as far as talent shows in Jamaica, he teamed up with Dandy Livingstone around 1964 for singles like `Let`s Ska` and `Only Heaven Knows` on the Carnival label. But Tito quit singing around 1965 and resumed in `67.

"Because as a black artist it`s always a great struggle. You meet a lot of prejudice, you`ve got to fight very hard it`s always been the same!

"I`d gone out on the road to work over and over again and I decided point blank that it`s really gonna have to be worth my while before I pick up another microphone on stage. Because when you go to the agents these days they`re talking about £50 and all that jazz which doesn`t make sense. You find you have to struggle like hell all the time to make any bread. Look at the pop musicians, if they make a hit today they can buy a Rolls Royce tomorrow. The black artists in England, if he makes a hit today he`s still walking tomorrow. He`s damned lucky if he can even buy a push bike."
Carl Gayle:
Part 1

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974: Vol, 1 / Issue 5

TITO SIMON
Simon Says It Loud: - PT. 2
Carl Gayle:

But Tito started singing again: "The music was always in me". He started doing live gigs in London, appearing with Ben E. King, Patti La Belle, and Major Lance at such clubs as the Q, Tiles, Flemingo and Ram Jam under the name of Sugar Simone (the other half of the Sugar and Dandy partnership) and singing numbers that varied from ska to soul.

Then he began touring Europe, including Norway and Spain. Finally he returned to Jamaica in 1972 after spending about six months in Germany.

"The scene in Germany was getting me down `cause I wanted something much bigger. I wanted something much more stable, I hadn`t done any recording for quite a while. I had tried but it was really difficult, they couldn`t play the music I wanted and I didn`t have enough of a free hand."

When Tito arrived in Jamaica he was given good publicity, due to his involvement with Tony Laing, who himself was involved in a fight for a better financial deal for musicians. Tito did a number of live shows which included performances at many of the festivals which are prominent during the independence celebrations all over the Island, and was backed on stage by The Fabulous Five Inc. He also did a TV spot.

Within a month Tito signed a contract with Federal Records, the second largest Jamiacan company.

"But things were a little slow, I wanted to move faster. The fact was that I had a limited amount of time in Jamaica so I eagerly wanted something to happen. During that time I met producer Clancy Eccles and we decided to do something together."

Clancy Eccles is one of the most successful artists/producers in Jamaica. He has his own record label--Clandisc--which is distributed in England by Trojan. The album was not completed while Tito was in Jamaica, everything happened too fast. Singles were being released before the required number of twelve tracks were finished. The Lp was finally completed in Britain and was belatedly issued in January this year after three singles had already appeared. The first of these, "Easy Come Easy Go/I`ll Be True To You" was the most successful. The other two singles "Build It Up/You Can`t Be Serious" and "She Ain`t Nothing But Real Thing/Ooh What A Feeling" were good sellers also. Since Tito was, in effect, a brand new artist to the Jamaican music public the reaction to his records was re-assuring, but Tito does not feel that he can achieve the heights of success he desires in Jamaica.

"There`s too much competition there and you have to remember that it`s a very small island. There isn`t enough room for everyone and most people are struggling."

As regards songwritting Tito says: "It`s just my imagination based on reality. Most times I get a tune before I even get a single word, other times I get a title first. I don`t use a guitar or any other instruments, the music is just within me. When I get the feeling I put it out. I write songs according to the mood I`m in and they don`t usually take very long but they usually come when I`m feeling down.

"The easiest song to write was `You Can`t Be Serious`. I was listening at my window one night to the music coming from a Sound System in the neighbourhood and the tune just came to me. The next day I had a quarrel with I won`t say whom, or why, but the words just came out. My favourite track is `Valley Of Love` which took me about a year before I actually recorded it. I had it at the back of my mind for over a year and when I got to Jamaica it came out.

Tito Simon has a great flair for composing catchy melodic sentimental ballards that display a great depth of lyrical maturity. His sweet tenor is enforced by a melodic expression that brings a great deal of warmth and meaning to even the more ordinary tracks on his current album.

"Some people seem to think I sound like Jimmy Cliff but I dont hear it that way, Other people have said I sound like Al Green and Johnny Nash. The other day someone came up to me and said hey, you know you sound exactly like!" I said, who? He said "you sound just like Clyde McPhatter!"
Carl Gayle:

BLACK MUSIC APRIL 1974

peace

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Jah Rastafari