Knotty Vision

Today's post features Jackie Brown, one of the forgotten heroes of reggae, in his twin roles of producer and singer. For anyone wanting to know more about him (and he's an interesting guy), there's an excellent interview here:

http://www.reggae-vibes.com/concert/jackiebrown/jackiebrown.htm

Anyway, this first post is from 1974, and he's wearing his producer hat:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ytycmm2nugu/Time To Leave Babylon.zip

Dobby Jones has quite a similar style of singing to Jackie Brown himself, and as far as I've been able to discover, only recorded 6 records. Anyway, the rhythm's great, the vocal's heartfelt & conscious and kind of country style, and there's talk that it was recorded and mixed at the Black Ark. I couldn't find my copy to scan, but I'll post an updated link in the comments when I do.

It was clearly too good to leave at just one cut, so JB sang his own vocal version a couple of years later, and it turned into quite a big hit. 'Knotty Vision' is strong in all the same ways as the original tune, and one of my favourites from all his records. My copy is completely mashed, and although I've did what I could to clean it up, the sound's still quite poor.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jm1ydxhfzqm/Knotty Vision.zip

Simply Beautiful

Here's a nice vocaI I picked up years ago - it's a version of Sam Cooke's 'Send Me Some Loving' by the sublime Slim Smith. If this is unfamiliar to anyone, I strongly recommend they go and check out some of the many compilations that highlight Smith's beautiful voice - particularly the ones that feature his work with the Techniques (the original 'Queen Majesty' and 'Travelling Man'!) and the Uniques ('The Beatitude', 'Watch This Sound' and too many others to mention).  He really was in a league of his own, with a beautiful tenor which could extend to a falsetto, and the talent to give a song a depth of feeling that few reggae artists could match. He seems to have had a turbulent life, and died tragically young (age 25) in London in 1973. Who knows how much more wonderful music he might have blessed us with if he'd lived. My copy is a bit ropy (that seems to be the theme for this week) but it should give you an idea of how great this tune is, and I hope it inspires you to go and check out some more of his stuff. http://www.mediafire.com/?wvjjj5u0m4i There it is, so enjoy.

Early Train

I was thinking that maybe I'd post 'Westbound Train' today. It's one of Dennis Brown's best tunes, it's one of Niney's biggest rhythms, and it has a great dub. The only question - what to post with it?

Well, I used to have quite a strange record - a 7" single with 2 pocket-sized instrumental/dub versions of 'Westbound Train' on one side, and two of Ken Boothe's 'Silver Words' on the other. I think it was one of the so-called 'economic packages' that surfaced occasionally during the oil crises of the seventies, but never really took off because the grooves were packed too tight together to get very much in the way of bass. So I thought I'd do that with the two original vocals, and why not have deejay and instrumental versions just to round it all off? Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/file/dzvn2dholft/Early Train.zip Enjoy.

More random picks

Here's some more nice tunes for you. Junior Byles on top form with the Upsetter-produced 'King Of Babylon'; a great deejay and instrumental double-header on Morwell Esq., 'Last Call' / 'Hot Call' by Sir Harry & Tyrone Downie; and finally the rootsy 'One Love' by Herman & Clement (Who? No, I don't know either) with U-Roy Junior on the b-side. 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/tximndtzgx4/King Of Babylon.zip http://www.mediafire.com/file/2wylnwymf2l/Last Call.zip http://www.mediafire.com/file/mhnzmmjjzej/One Love.zip I cleaned these up and loaded them onto my phone last week and I've really been enjoying them.

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.