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BLACK MUSIC JULY 1975

Various Artists `The Trojan Sound` (Trojan TRBLP 1)

Pomps And Pride - Toots And The Maytals / Pitta Patta - Ernie Smith / Down By The River - Ken Boothe / Three Bells - Byron Lee & The Dragonaires / Never Never - John Holt / Read The News - Tito Simon / Listen To The Music - Al Brown / 54-36 - Toots And The Maytals / The Godfather - Ken Boothe / Time Passage - Cimarons / Sweet Harmony - Lloyd Charmers / Images Of You - Nicky Thomas:-

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The Trojan sound is the sound Trojan wish to promote in order to maintain a clean cut pop image, and to stay in good stead with people like the BBC. The music here is not representative of the kind of sounds that really go down well in Jamaica. It is either dated, limp, gutless, compromising, or too polished. Nice as it is, "Never Never" by John Holt has all these faults. Only "Down By The River", "Pitta Patta", and surprisingly, "Images Of You", still sound fresh. Most of these singles have long been deleted, but I can`t see many people buying this set when there`s so much else that is vital and available on other small labels. Trojan just seem to refuse to push anything which they think lacks pop appeal. They forget that their success began with Jamaican music whose very ethnic authenticity was its source of appeal. And, of course, they did blunder with the Wailers.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC JULY 1975

peace

BLACK MUSIC AUGUST 1975

Joe White ` Since The Other Day` (Magnet 006)

Since The Other Day / I Am Gonna Get There / Get There With Strings / You Can`t Think For Me / We Will Be Free / President Rock / Baby I Care / Ain`t Misbehaving / Rhythm Misbehaving / Take A Look In The Mirror / This Is The Time / Tell Me:-

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A good LP of sentimental songs mainly performed in a conventional JA soul/reggae style by the versatile Joe White. Under the guidance of a producer with real merit this might have been a really wonderful album. Joe seems to be a fine singer/songwriter of sentimental songs. And his non-romantic songs show that he can write just as well about the relationship between him and his society. Rupie Edwards` production, however, gives the music a dated flavour. The music ia a mixture of slow JA-styled R&B and reggae that belongs to an age long gone by. Only the instrumental "President Rock" has a modern approach. Maybe it`s not all Edwards fault because Joe himself seems intent on singing to the past. He sounds a little like Jackie Edwards did ten years ago. So do the songs. Yet after a few plays you begin to accept it for what it is. Sentimental music, sung in the old fashioned style of the mid sixties. The arrangements are good and the musicianship is amazingly well played. It`s almost as if the guys who used to churn out this type of stuff were suddenly dragged out of retiement and just took up where they left off a decade ago. Interesting!
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC AUGUST 1975

peace

BLACK MUSIC AUGUST 1975

Various Artists `Reggae Confusion` (Third World TWLS 2)

Here Is My - Honey Boy / I Can`t Resist Your Tenderness - Ginger Williams / Long And Winding Road / Come Back Girl / Don`t Say Goodbye / Send You / Beautiful Garden - Winston Curtis / Try Me / Hard Rock - Mike Robinson / I Die A Little Each Day - Leroy Housen / A Different World / Rebel Woman - Gene Rondo / The Love You Try To Hide - Pete Campbell / Love Me With All Your Heart - The Gaylads / Message From Maria - Winston Jones / Page By Page - Brenton King / Get Up And Do Something Now - Fermena Edwards / Hear My Plea / Heart In Danger - Jackie Bernard / So Glad You`re Mine - Bill And Pete:-

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Some good songs, some bad ones and one or two really arresting moments. Musically the album is quite varied, definitely not grass roots musicianship but still danceable and imaginatively arranged. Trouble is the inconsistency of the material.
There are only three compositions that were not written for or by the artists and of the other seventeen only about eight or nine are good. The rest are fillers. That is why a good singer like Winston Curtis gives a poor impression of his real self as only one of his five songs, "Long And Winding Road", is really worth listening to. In contrast both Mike Robinson`s songs are good, particulary "Hard Rock" in which his style is more aggressive and the music moves at a bubbling mid tempo pace. The two Ginger Williams tracks are already well known and I like Fermena Edwards, Leroy Housen,
Bill And Pete, and The Gaylads. But Gene Rondo`s two songs "Rebel Woman" and
"A Different World" are the outstanding cuts on this album. He`s an under-rated but a fine vocalist and the backing on the two cuts are rhythmically hypnotic. The guitar playing on "A Different World" is excellent, succinct little phrases that skip in and out of the soulful singing and driving rhythm. On the whole this is a satisfactory collection of varying styles in sentimental singing by relatively unknown Jamaican artists, most of whom are based in Britain.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC AUGUST 1975

peace

BLACK MUSIC AUGUST 1975

Various Artists `United Reggae Volume Two` (Magnet 005)

A Game Called Love / Pledging My Love - Al Campbell / Gee Baby - Tropic Shadow /
Where Your Footsteps Led / Shake You Wake You - Barrington Spence / Let Your Teardrops Fall / Today Youth - Horace Andy / My Heart Is An Open Book / Tempting - Phil Pratt / Revenge / Rasta Army - N. Watson / Murder In The Place - Max Romeo:-

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This is a poor LP featuring two or three good singers -- Barrington Spence, Horace Andy, and Max Romeo--but padded out with second rate songs by second rate singers. "Let Your Teardrops Fall" and "Murder In The Place" are the only two worthwhile performances out of twelve. Mostly the music is run of the mill, second-hand reggae, with little imagination on the part of the vocalists, and not a trace of subtlety. The material here is far from being anything to be proud of and I can`t imagine that these records were even averagely successful in Jamaica. It`s more likely that most of the tracks were never even released in Jamaica. Of the British based artists on the LP, Al Campbell seems to have the most going for him. But even his best number, a cover of Johnny Ace`s "Pledging My Love", sounds laborious. The poor sleeve alone gives the game away. I`ll be surprised if anyone even bothers to listen to this.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC AUGUST 1975

peace

BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1975

Susan Cadogan `Doing It Her Way` (Magnet 5006)

Hurt So Good / I Say A Little Prayer / Ghetto Cowboy / Imagine / Will You Love Me Tomorrow / Swinging On A Star / I Can See Clearly Now / Let Me Try Again / Something / Love Me Baby / How Do You Feel The Morning After / Call My Name:-

*

Susan arrived before she was ready and everybody was surprised. How did she come to be where she was? Nobody knew. This album emphasises the surprise. Pop music wearing a reggae mask that is far too thin and therefore a poor disguise. It hides nothing. Susan and her new record company`s attempt to make something out of nothing is seen for what it is. It`s not good nusic, it hurts bad. Sue is a charming person, a happy personality. But her singing is nowhere. And the musicians belong to a different era, strictly third-rate tin pan alley. The new version of "Hurts So Good" here was recorded in London, like all the other tracks. This is by no means the sound of Kingston. More like the sound of the BBC Light Orchestra fooling around in Chalk Farm Studio with a retired bass player. Sometimes a weak, untrained voice can be compensated by a kind of raw, naive charm. Maybe that`s what they were hoping to achieve here. It doesn`t work: it`s just lifeless, bloodless, awful.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1975

peace

BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1975

Various Artists `DIP Golden Hits` (DIP 5027)

Dreader Locks - Lee And Junior Byles / I Admire You - Larry Marshall / Ram Goat Liver - Jimmy Riley / In The Village - Delroy Wilson / Key Card - The Upsetters / Baby Bay - Lorenzo And Mario / Half Way Up The Stairs - Delroy Wilson / To Be Your Lover - Jah Lloyd / Lady Lady - Joy White / Dub A Daughter - Cherry And The Dubmaster / Knight Of The Roundtable - Jah Lloyd / Penny Reel - Prince Jazzbo:-

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The best numbers here are those produced by Lee Perry. Especially the deejay version of "Curley Locks" entitled "Dreader Locks", and "Penny Reel" another deejay tune. There have been so many versions and re-makes of "Curley Locks" that I`ve lost count, but this one is used partly as a verbal attack by Scratch on rival Producer Prince Tony who had two hits with versions by Barrington Spence and Big Youth of Perry`s classic tune. "Penny Reel" is one of Jazzbo`s best things recently, the rhythm is one of those fluid and compelling shoulder-shakers. Delightful bass playing and a simple scraper is used to augment the guitar riff. "Ram Goat Liver" and "Key Card" are not the originals of course, showing that Scratch himself makes versions of popular songs. Delroy Wilson`s "Halfway Up The Stairs", produced by D. Holness, is as good as anything he`s written and performed recently and Larry Marshall`s "I Admire You" (which was quite a good seller in this country) is just as good. He`s a good singer of sentimental songs with his sugar-coated, smooth voice. However, Winston Edwards` "Dub A Daughter" is the most interesting for those sexy breathy moans by Cherry and her funny remarks as she is in the process of being "dubbed". A fine and varied album well worth checking out.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC SEPTEMBER 1975

peace

BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974
[cover=1529,1769][cover=4897,1769]
Dennis Alcapone `Belch It Off` (Attack ATLP 1005)

Belch It Off / Jack Horner / God Father / Do It / Over And Over / Old King Cole /
Bad Habit / Hard Time / Party Time / Sorry Harry:-

Dennis must have devoured a stack of nursary rhyme books in his time. Lines from them recur again and again here, and his lack of originality is underlined by the hack-neyed songs he has chosen to form the backdrop for his shouted phrases. A simple way to make money and claim a little fame, isn`t it? But time`s catching up with Capone, he`s running out of ammunition.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974

peace

BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974
[cover=2140,2495][cover=4898,2495]
U. Roy `U. Roy` (Attack ATLP 1006)

Treasure Isle Skank / Rule The Nation / Drive Her Home / Tom Drunk / Words Of Wisdom / the Merry Go Round / Wake The Town / What Is Catty / Everybody Bawling / Ain`t That Bawling / Behold:-

"Tom Drunk" is one of the best ever dub-DJ singles. Roy knows better than any of his contemporary DJ artists how to handle a good tune. He never overdoes it, his phrases are short, sweet and snappy, and are harmonious with the background song because they are really responses to the singer`s lines. And his timing is perfect. "Don`t Kill The Goose" (`No no no`)"that lays the golden egg" (`You should never do that`).
And when U. Roy`s on form his phrases come lightning fast and are more than just additional nonsensical jiving.

"Wake The Town", one of U. Roy`s earliest sellers is really Alton Ellis` 1967 original "Girl I`ve Got A Date" minus the vocals which sre replaced by Roy`s overdubbed phrases. But it doesn`t sound as good as it did four years ago. Nor does "Everybody Bawling", a song about the need for love and a better way of life. But "Drive Her Home" is as good as "Tom Drunk", a slow to mid-tempo party record which benifits from the new lease of life that the exuberant DJ brings to it. Only ten of the twelve tracks here are named, and there are only one or two new recordings. But Roy isn`t doing anything as good as he used to nowadays anyway.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974

peace

BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974

Clancy Eccles `Top Of The Ladder` (Big Shot BILP 101)

Open It / Thinking About You / Captivity / Love That Builds / Hits Medley / Reggaedelic / Cat Walk / Eccles Skank / Quarter Master / Now I`m Passing Through / Cow Feet Reggae / Nyah Rock:-

Clancy Eccles is one of the most affluent and favoured musicians in Jamaica and his songs helped the Prime Minister and his party to get into office at the last election. Few musicians can equal that! Eccles has been around since the ska days. He has made many solid but undistinguished records and done some fine production work with the Dynamites, King Stitt, and recently Tito Simon. The majority of the tracks here (four vocal, eight instrumental) are rather lacklustre with one exception. "Love That Builds" is his best composition in ages, a moving mid-tempo song about love, all the better for not being sentimental. His earhty, double-tracked vocal manages to communicate genuine emotion, aided by a fine melody. The other worthwhile vocal track, "Hits Medley" consists of snatches from "Puppet On A String", "Games People Play" and Alton Ellis`s "Girl I`ve Got A Date". Apart from getting some of the words wrong in the first part and over stretching in the second, it`s a good, if unprofessional performance. But Clancy isn`t the world`s greatest singer. Maybe that`s why he makes so many good instrumentals. Of those, "Open It" has a slight edge over "Reggaedelic" and "Eccles Skank" because of the haunting organ part, which is borrowed from Lee Perry`s style. Pity none of the musicians are named.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974

peace

BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974

The Paragons `The Paragons With Roslyn Sweat` (Horse HRLP 703)

Blackbird Singing / The World Is A Ghetto / Riding High On A Windy Day /
Unforgettable You / Silverbird / The Same Song / I Wanna Be With You /
Mother Nature / Mercy Mercy Mercy / Always / My Best Girl / I`m A Worried Man:-

The Paragons are the group John Holt used to sing with before he went solo, and six of the twelve tracks are old numbers on which Holt appeared. The new songs have a better sound quality and are more distinguished on the whole. "Blackbird Singing" (originally "Blackbird" by Lennon/McCartney) was a bit hit for the Paragons with Roslyn Sweat (less John Holt) last year, and it`s easy to see why. It`s one of those that adapt agreeably to the reggae idiom. So is War`s "The World Is A Ghetto", which benefits from some really fine clipped guitar solos, and is taken at an even slower pace than the original. Best track however is "Unforgettable You", whose swaying mood of sentimentality and undaunting reggae rhythm make it a very memorable song. I think I prefer the new Paragons to the old.
Carl Gayle:-
BLACK MUSIC MAY 1974

peace