Here's Carlton Livingstone's 'Tale of Two Cities' plus Johnny Lover's deejay cut. Listening to this, it's hard to believe it was Livingstone's first recording. He also wrote the lyrics, and this song announced a major talent to the world. He would go on to record a number of classic tunes including 'Trodding Through The Jungle' and '100 Pounds Of Collie Weed', always impressing with his perfect phrasing and the beautiful tone of his voice.
Johnny Lover (aka Johnny Jones) didn't make a lot of records, but the ones he did make are very much sought-after. He did this record for Brad Osbourne in New York in 1978, the same year the vocal came out, and around the same time he did 'Who You Gonna Run To' which appears on the LP 'Scratch & Company'.
The package is rounded off with two superb dubs. Hope you enjoy.
4 comments:
really hard to believe it´s his first recording! is the date correct?
heavy rockers and only partly offbeat guitar.. wonderful music, has such a haunty feel to it. the harmonies add the rest.
nice quality rip, makes me want to crank the volume :)
nice weekend
Novu: All Channel One sleeves were either printed in 1974 or not updated when reprinted - I was buying brand new pres in late '77 that still bore the date 1974.
In addition to being an excellent singer and songwriter, Carlton is one of the few from his era to have embraced new technology - he posts a lot of his new and old stuff on his Facebook page.
He is also one of the most helpful men in reggae; a couple of years back I located a short sound clip of his "Jam It Up" on Studio One and blogged about my unhappy experience in buying a copy of the 12" from Peckings, getting home to Scotland and finding it was unplayably warped. By the time I was home the disc was sold out, so I asked if anybody still had a copy they could turn into an Mp3. Few weeks later I received a message from Carlton himself asking for my e-mail so that he could send me a copy. He even sent me a freebie Mp3 of his "Why" 45 on Studio One. He is a lovely chap with a lot to say about the current state of JA and its music.
thanks for your info VoR ! good to hear from someone first hand who was there at the golden age..
now i wonder if they even used a stamp for the title or something like this gutenberg device we had in school :) where you can change single letters..
anyway nice story, unfortunatly i am not on facebook, but maybe i should..
Johnny Lover is also known as Jah Lover who recorded for King Culture in Canada. Awesome deejay.
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