It's a good little while now, me no fling down no legs

Winston Heywood, 'Bam-Sa-Bo', great tune: this is the original JA press on the Jaguar label, it was issued on Dynamic in the UK. I know absolutely nothing about the singer save that he produced a handful of superb singles at Black Ark, including 'Backbiting', 'Stop The War', and 'Long Long Time', as well as 'I'll Never Fall In Love' for Fud Christian. Bam-Sa-Bo has a good rhythm and nice lyrics; it's all about having fun.

There's a deejay cut on the same label by Dennis Alcapone, backed by Augustus Pablo's melodica version. Alcapone's version is quite listenable, but to be honest he's on autopilot and it's not his greatest performance. The b-side is also pretty nice, but it's one of those ones  where Pablo follows the tune instead of leading it like he does when he's at his best. Both of these two versions make a really nice accompaniment to the vocal, but I don't think that either is really strong enough to stand on its own.

Here's a taste of Winston Heywood's later work:

Paid-up member of the deejay cult

Some of you may've noticed that I've got a bit of a weakness for old deejay sides, and here's yet another to confirm the impression. It's one that it took me a while to find, but which didn't disappoint once I got it: 'Get In The Groove' by Dennis Alcapone & Dennis Brown. 

Get In The Groove

It's a self-produced deejay cut to Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells' 1964 hit 'Once Upon A Time' - Alcapone also produced Dennis' vocal version on the Funny Disc label. The arrangements are almost identical to an earlier version by Delroy Wilson (same goes for Roman Stewart's version and Sidney Rogers'), the vocal is quite nice and the toasting works too. Here's the Motown original:

When you talk about Dennis Alcapone it's hard to avoid mentioning Carl Gayle's article, Dennis Alcapone and the Rise and Fall of the Deejay Cult. You'll find quite an interesting interview with Alcapone himself here.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. Sometime soon I'll post the only other Dennis Alcapone production that I know - an instrumental that's probably the best of the lot.

Another Blank

On The Scene

Here's quite a rare Alcapone tune called 'On The Scene'. Apparently it came out on Prince Tony's High School International Label, though I've only ever seen it as a blank. I seem to remember a better version on the same label called 'Six Pack & Seven' or something like that - has anyone ever come across it? Wouldn't mind knowing what the vocal is either.

Rare Rare Rare!

Today's pick is one of the rarest reggae LPs ever recorded. Produced by Clem Bushay and mixed at King Tubby's studio in 1974 or 1975 by 'King Tubby Jr' (?), it features a stellar cast who never completely live up to their potential. Only 500 copies were pressed; mine apparently belonged to producer Phil Pratt, who gave it to the guy that owned Daddy Kool, who flogged it to me.

With Dave Barker, Dennis Alcapone and Augustus Pablo as leads, extra arrangements by Alton Ellis, and backing from Skin, Flesh & Bones you'd expect this record to be pretty damn good. It is - sort of.

Disappointingly none of the tracks feature the artists together, but there are still some real gems. The best track is just by Skin, Flesh & Bones on their own, a rootsy flute instrumental called 'South Camp Road Rock'; there's also a very good melodica cut of 'Keep On Moving', a nice tune (randomly titled 'String Hanger') which features Dave Barker shouting a lot, and a couple of interesting dubs.

Calling 1,000 Dreadlocks

I'm afraid the Dennis Alcapone tunes are a bit of a let-down, but hey, you can't have it all...

Combination

Hi there,

I've got a couple more nice tunes today. First up, 'Musical Combination', Charley Ace's monster deejay cut to Keeling Beckford's hit 'Combination'. The b-side is also pretty decent, a lovers vocal by Keeling Beckford with a really interesting rhythm track - I really like the bubbling organ and stabbing horns behind the vocal.

Next we have another deejay tune - Dennis Alcapone's cut to 'Magnificent Heptones' on the Pressure Beat label. The vocal is a sought-after medley of 'Baby', 'Why Must I' and 'Why Did You Leave Me To Cry' that Joe Gibbs put out in 1971 or thereabouts. In this version Alcapone stays away from the nursery rhymes and riffs off the themes of the original songs - the result is quite satisfying. The real star of the show, though, is Vin Gordon's version on the b-side. It's definitely one of his best tunes, and has a relaxed, improvised feel to it. I always prefer reggae instrumentals that flow like this rather than repeating a single phrase over and over and over again.

The next tune is a bit of an odd one. I'm not quite sure how to describe 'Leaving The Ball' by Mr Nigel, it's not a deejay tune and I'd hesitate to call it singing. Mr Nigel was actually Nicky Thomas who as we all know really could sing quite beautifully.

The b-side, 'Sweep The Street' by Neville Hinds is a really nice fairground-flavoured organ cut on the same 'Wear You To The Ball' rhythm. Neville Hinds had a major hit with 'Delivered', his instrumental version of Alton Ellis' 'Deliver Us' but mostly worked as a backing musician, and later as a producer at Dynamic studio.

'Poor Man' by John Jones is also a bit odd, and it's not reggae: it's a Dynamic Sound production with a bit of an Elvis vibe. I quite like it - I'd be interested to know if I'm the only one. The b-side 'Merci Cherie' sounds like something you'd get from one of the better hotel bands at the end of a wedding reception. The Tiger label is one of my favourites, just for the design. The wavy black stripes and blocky, cutout-style letters work really well together.

After that short break, we're back to the deejays again, or rather we're back to Prince Buster. The Prince did a couple of cuts of Java way back when, both credited to 'Senior Pablo & The All Stars'. The first was called 'Science' and was very good, but it didn't have a dub. The Jamaican issue had a really good dub of 'Giant' on the b-side, the UK issue had Dennis Alcapone ('Giant' again - wicked tune). So the second one, which actually has an instrumental version is in serious demand. 

The instrumental is a note-for-note rip-off of the Randys original; but being recorded in a different studio, it has a different sound (I've heard that it's Pablove on melodica). The deejay side is fantastic. Buster puts some seriously righteous lyrics over that missing dub: it's a really spare mix and at one point everything but the melodica and the deejay drops out. My copy's in a bit of a state, but I hope this'll inspire you to go out and look for one in slightly better condition. 

We finish with another deejay tune, 'Free Black People' by Jah Woosh. Like 'It's A Fire', this is quite rare and not in the best nick. The vocal side got reissued on a Pressure Sounds compilation a while back - 'An Even Harder Shade Of Black' - and it has a really nice mellow dub.

Anyway, here they all are. Enjoy.

Medley Mood

Here's a tune I've had knocking around for ages - a medley of 6 hits of the late 60's and 1970 called 'Take It Easy With Six'. It's by Keith Smith, who hardly ever recorded under his real name - he's the man the world knows as Keith Poppin. This was one of his very first solo outings, and he went on to record classics like 'Same Thing For Breakfast', 'Get Together', 'Envious' and 'Hold Not Thy Peace' as well as a whole lot of other high-quality but less well-known songs.

This one is on the same 'Picture On The Wall' rhythm track that was used in that Pat Satchmo song I posted a couple of months back. Although I can't name all the songs in the medley, 'Take It Easy' is in there (obviously) and so is 'Cool Collie'.

Take It Easy With Six

The b-side is 'Mother You Are Old' by Young Al Capone (aka Dennis Smith, no relation) - Alcapone's not at his best here, but it's quite an interesting tune all the same.

Incidentally, Keith Poppin has a very good compilation that he's been selling through Ernie B's and CD Baby. He hardly got paid for any of his music the first time round, so if you like his voice and fancy contributing to his pension it's well worth searching out.  Here's an interview with him - quite interesting -  and here's his website.

Hope you enjoy.

Upsetter deejay singles

Here's a selection of Upsetter-produce deejay singles from 1972 to 1974.  I'm saving the real gem, 'Bring The Kuchy Come' (Dillinger's version of 'Words') for a later post but this lot are all fantastic songs. What really stands out for me is just how good the mixes are on all of these tracks. Lee Perry didn't have a whole lot of equipment at the Black Ark, in fact, all of today's songs were put together using: - Alice mixer (Scratch: "They weren't professional machines they were only toys") - Grantham [Grampian?] spring reverb - Roland Space Echo RE201 - Marantz amplifier for instruments - AKG drum mic for vocals - Teac 3340 1/4 inch 4-track recorder - Teac 2-track recorder for mix down Listen to the mix on 'The Lama' - it's perfect. Same goes for all the songs. There are lots of very good Perry compilations available nowadays, so there's no excuse for not having at least one.  http://www.mediafire.com/file/nj253gnzwtk/Upsetter Deejays.zip Anyway, enjoy.