Medley Train

This is going to be the last medley-themed post for a while. It's a double helping of deejay goodness over backing tracks featuring Ken Boothe and the Cables. First up is 'Rhythm Train', a slick U Roy toast over the first part of Ken Boothe's 'Six In One' (a.k.a. 'The Great Ken Boothe'), which originally came out on Aquarius. The rhythm track is a really polished mash-up of 'Train Is Coming', 'I've Got To Tell You Goodbye' and another tune I can't quite put my finger on. It's the perfect stage for a bit of showing off, and U Roy doesn't disappoint: this is a masterclass in the art of toasting. I Roy used the second half of the same medley for his 'Ken Boothe Special', which is good, but not quite as good. 

The other tune, 'Roots & Soul' is a bizarre deejay, bongo and whistling cut of a Cables medley that features 'Baby Why', 'What Kind Of World' and 'Salt Of The Earth'. It's records like this that keep me interested in Jamaican music: endlessly inventive and a lot of fun.

Anyway, here are some of the original vocals used in these two singles - I hope you enjoy them.

Deejay Classic!

Here's a really nice double-header from 1973, http://www.mediafire.com/?mykz2yldymg 'Things Not Easy' by the Meditators, and 'Ration' by Bongo Herman & Bingy Bunny. The a-side is a really nice early roots tune. I don't think that the Meditators are the Meditations (this was a little bit before their time, and doesn't sound a lot like them).  The b-side is an arse-kicking version of Dennis Brown's 'Money In My Pocket': equal to if not better than 'A So We Stay'. With both artists toasting over bongos and really heavily gated rhythm guitars it has a sound all of its own and really draws you in.  Bingy Bunny was one of the most versatile and influential reggae that hardly anyone got to hear about. Singer and producer with the Morwells and co-founder of the Roots Radics, he had a huge influence on the sound of reggae in the 1970s and 1980s. He stopped making deejay tunes when he started finding success as a vocalist; probably a wise decision because good as they were, his singing was even better. Anyway, hope you enjoy.