'Love Jah Jah Children' is a Big Youth's deejay cut to 'Going The Wrong Way' by Al Campbell. It's very good, but the dub on the b-side is even better. In fact, it's one of the two or three best dubs to come out on any of Phil Pratt's labels. I really like the way Big Youth's vocal punches in and out of the mix - it gives it a rough, raw sound that it wouldn't have otherwise.
Yes, the wife's away and I'm bored - so here's another post. 'Let Your Tear Drops Fall' was the first single I ever owned by Horace Andy. It's one of a series that he cut for producer Phil Pratt at the start of the seventies, including 'Get Wise', 'Tag Along', and the original versions of 'Youths Of Today' and 'Money Money' - all of them seriously good tunes, many of them collected on his LP 'Get Wise'. Here's a sample:
'Tear Drops' has more of a soulful vibe, and is one of very few tunes to use melodica in the rhythm section (the only other one I can think of off the top of my head is 'East Christmas Song'). Horace's voice has never sounded smoother and there's a lovely, delicate piano line. If you listen carefully you can even hear some clanking pots and a bit of studio chat towards the end.
The dub starts off very nicely with little drop-out soloing the backing vocals, but gets a bit samey after that. The melodica is one of the things I like best about the a-side, but on the dub it just overwhelms everything else and leaves you wishing for a bit less of it.
Anyway, to round things off, here's the original version of 'Money Money' together with it's deejay cut. I still have 'Evilous Things' somewhere and it has the wickedest dub (incidentally, does anyone have the original issue of 'Tell It Black' by Big Youth with the dub on the b-side? I've been looking for that for over 20 years).
Here are a few more old favourites. Let's kick off with 'Blessed Are The Meek' by Cornell Campbell. It's a cover of an old Uniques tune and the words are taken from the Beatitude. This version is a bit slower and heavier, and the b-side has a version by Dr Alimantado over a superb effects-laden dub.
Next up, one of my favourite Horace Andy tunes: 'Tag A Long'. Produced by Phil Pratt, and inspired by Gilbert & Sullivan, this has a nice vocal and an outstandingly mellow rhythm: a real gem.
Finally, 'Oily Sound' by Lloyd Charmers, an superb novelty version of the Uniques' classic 'Watch This Sound' (which was in turn a cover of Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth'). Bubbling chalice sounds and spliff talk are laid over the original rhythm plus some great piano from Charmers - winning combination.
