Today's artists are no longer with us physically, yet their voices can still be heard. First up, Dennis Brown, during his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, Bob Marley dubbed him "The Crown Prince of Reggae", and true to his title he would become hugely influential on future generations of reggae singers. The Voice of Thunder meanwhile has 'unfortunately' remained actual as there seems no end to misery, (moral) corruption and crime of which Prince Far I became a victim after he was shot and killed in his Kingston home 15 September 1983.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Dennis Brown was born on 1 February 1957 in Kingston, Jamaica. He began his singing career at the age of nine, while still at junior school, with an end-of-term concert the first time he performed in public, although he had been keen on music from an even earlier age, and as a youngster was a fan of American balladeers He cited Nat King Cole as one of his greatest early influences. His first Stuxio One session yielded the single "No Man is an Island", recorded when Brown was aged twelve and released in late 1969. It became a big hit throughout Jamaica. Brown recorded up to a dozen sessions at Dodd's Studio One, amounting to around thirty songs, it spawned two albums, No Man is an Island and If I Follow my Heart
In 1972, Brown began an association that would result in his breakthrough as an internationally successful artist; He was asked by Joe Gibbs to record an album for him, and one of the tracks recorded as a result, "Money in my Pocket" in fact produced by Winston "Niney" Holness, was a hit with UK reggae audiences and quickly became a favourite of his live performances. Brown and Holness became close, even sharing a house in Pembroke Hall. Brown followed this with another collaboration with Holness on "Westbound Train", which was the biggest Jamaican hit of summer 1973. Brown followed this success with "Cassandra" and "No More Will I Roam", and tracks such as "Africa" and "Love Jah", displaying Brown's Rastafari beliefs, became staples on London's sound system scene.
Brown toured the United Kingdom for the first time in late summer 1974 as part of a Jamaican showcase. Februari 75 he was back in the UK, now with Holness in tow as his business manager, to negotiate a record deal with Trojan Records, the first Brown album to be released as a result being Just Dennis. The years that followed saw much distribution and recordlabel troubles. Resulting in the relationship with Niney had cooled enough for him to record with Gibbs again. The first album from this arrangement, the 1977 release Visions of Dennis Brown, gave him his biggest success so far, blending conscious themes and love songs, and confirming Brown's transformation from child star to grown up artist.
In 1978, Brown moved to live in London, to relaunch the DEB Music label with Castro Brown, with artists featured on the label including Junior Delgado, 15.16.17, Bob Andy, Lennox Brown, and later, Gregory Isaacs. Brown's next two albums were both released on DEB - So Long Rastafari and Joseph's Coat of Many Colours, although the label was closed down in 1979, after which Brown again did the rounds of Jamaica's top producer. With continuing commercial success, Brown signed an international deal with A&M Records in 1981, and now based permanently in the UK, his first album release for the label was the Gibbs-produced Foul Play, it was the first of a trio of albums that would get mixed reviews. He'd left Jamaica too long dance hall was the new vogue and as it turned out it would suit his singing very well.
Brown released a huge amount of work through the 1980s, including the 1986 Jammy-produced album The Exit, but his biggest success of the decade came in 1989 with the Gussie Clarke-produced duet with Isaacs "Big All Round", and the album Unchallenged.He continued to record prolifically in the 1990s, notably on the Three Against War album in 1995 Brown's 1994 album Light My Fire was nominated for a Grammy Award, as was the last album recorded by Brown, Let Me Be the One (in 2001)
In the late 1990s, Brown's health began to deteriorate, with longstanding respiratory problems exacerbated by cocaine use leading to him being taken ill in May 1999, after touring in Brazil with other reggae singers, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. After returning to Kingston, Jamaica, on the evening of June 30, 1999, he was rushed to Kingston's University Hospital, suffering from cardiac arrest. 42 year old Brown died the next day. Sitting Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson and his predecessor, serving at the time as opposition leader, Edward Seaga both spoke at Brown's funeral, which was held on July 17, 1999 in Kingston. He was survived by his wife Yvonne and thirteen children.
Dennis Brown - The Niney Years (Best Of) (155mb)
01 Westbound Train 3:02
02 Cassandra 2:45
03 Tenement Yard 3:47
04 Tribulation 3:07
05 Africa 5:37
06 Here I Come /Jah Come Here (Feat.I Roy) 5:01
07 Whip Them Jah Jah 2:31
08 Wolf And Leopards / Step On The Dragon 7:17
09 Give A Helping Hand 3:04
10 Run Too Tuff 2:41
11 Created By The Father 2:42
12 Black Liberation 4:48
13 Oh What A Day 3:38
14 Spellbound 3:48
15 Coming Home Tonight 4:01
16 Give Me Your Loving 4:01
17 Can't Take Another Day 4:24
18 My Whole World 3:32
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Prince far I ( Michael James Williams) actually started his career in the sound systems, DJing that didn't pay the bills, however, and the young man also worked as a security guard at Joe Gibbs' studio. Eventually, he was then employed by Coxsone Dodd as a bouncer for the producer's own Studio One sound system. There the bouncer got to take the mic standing in, the end result was the "Queen of the Minstrel" released under the moniker King Cry Cry,
The career progressed slowly and as the titles to his early singles show, he had yet to find his true voice. Even after producer Enos McLeod recommended changing his name to Prince Far I -- the Voice of Thunder, under which name he was credited on the "Let Jah Arise" single, the performer had yet to set the island alight. He did, however, chalk up another minor hit with the Coxsone Dodd-produced "Natty Farmyard," It wasn't until 1976 that Prince Far I recorded his debut album, Psalms for I. Produced by Lloydie Slim, it comprised ten tracks in all -- the Lord's Prayer and nine psalms, across which the artist first previewed the sermon-esque deliveries that would become his trademark. Producer Joe Gibbs finally supplied the missing ingredient in 1977 for the seminal single "Heavy Manners." Utilizing the rhythm from Naggo Morris' "Su Su Pon Rasta," the producer spun a deeply dubby sound, the bass line as heavy as a rhinoceros and just as dangerous. Over this fierce, dread backing, Prince Far I sarcastically addressed the trenchant of laws enacted by the government to stem the tide of violence that had covered the island. On his new album, Under Heavy Manners, Prince Far I delivered Rastafarian diatribes and scathing political comments, supported by The Roots Radics that laid down the thunderous rhythms, from which Gibbs created the doom-laden, dread-laced atmosphere. It got him a cult following in europe and a deal with the Virgin label's subsidiary Front Line. The first fruits of this new union appeared in 1978 with the Message From the King album. Self-produced, the record was nearly the equal to its predecessor.
Prince Far I launched his own label, Cry Tough in 1978, as a home for his own work and for other artists with a similar philosophy. Utilizing the superlative Roots Radics (who appear as the Arabs), Cry Tough unleashed a stream of ferocious singles.Meanwhile back in Britain, Adrian Sherwood, established his own Hit Run label, domestically releasing Cry Tuff singles. In 1979, Health and Strength should have been released, but wasn't because the master tapes disappeared from Front Line's London office, the album remained lost until 1998. In that year, a former employee came across an old cassette he had dubbed previous to the tapes vanishing. Prince Far I obviously was not very happy with Front Line and having now fulfilled his contract with them, he moved on.. To Trojan but from then on he would work alongside Adrian Sherwood. with the Creation Rebel and Singers and Players, he recorded a number of singles between 1979 and 1981, as well as the album Prince Far I & Singers and Players, which was released on Sherwood's new label On-U. (The Roots Radics, aka the Arabs, aka Dub Syndicate.also recorded for On U)
The following year's Voice of Thunder , with "Ten Commandments" of particular note is released aswell as the third and fourth volumes of Cry Tuff Dub Encounter featuring further scintillating voyages into the heaviest of dub's doom. In 1982, Prince Far I collaborated with the British band Sons of Arqa for the "Wadada Magic" single. Later that same year, the group and artist paired again during the Jamaican's British tour, this time on-stage in Manchester for a stunning show captured on The Musical Revue album. Prince Far I returned to Jamaica and released his final album in the new year, Musical History. The plans for future recordings with the Sons of Arqa never came about as on September 15, 1983, Prince Far I's lfe came to an abrupt end when he was killed during a robbery at his home. In 1991, Adrian Sherwood sampled some of the artist's old vocals for the Dub Syndicate's album, Stoned Immaculate. The band even took him on tour in 1996 and again, through the magic of sampling, Prince Far I lived on providing the thunderous vocals to the group's musical set.
Prince Far I - Under Heavy Manners ( 126mb)
01 Rain A Fall 2:41
02 Big Fight 3:31
03 You I Love And Not Another 3:45
04 Young Generation 3:06
05 Shine Eye Gal 2:41
06 Boz Rock 2:51
07 Show Me Mine Enemy 3:23
08 Shadow 3:20
09 Deck Of Cards 3:16
10 Heavy Manners 2:58
11 Heavyweight Version 3:27
12 Johnny Reggae 3:18
13 ET Version 3:21
14 Same Knife 2:59
15 Different Dagger 2:59
16 Emmanuel Road (Goosie Gander) 3:29
17 Mighty Two Version 3:33
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
elsewhere
Prince Far I - Silver & Gold 1973-1979 ( 05 * 98mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment