RhoDeo 1150 Roots

Hello, we're still on that island with a huge place in the global music catalog, Jamaica. A production hothouse and they say the Weed makes you slow and lazy-go figure. Without the ganja driven reggae music Jamaica would have remained a Caribbean backwater and dare i say would never have given us Bolt, the fastest man in the world.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The Heptones were formed in Kingston in 1965, with a lineup of Sibbles, Barry Llewellyn, and Earl Morgan. At first they called themselves the Hep Ones, but a one-word name seemed to make more sense to fans, and the change was made accordingly. Things started to take off for the group in 1966 when they caught on at Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One, the pre-eminent hit factory of the rocksteady era. Dodd helped train the group in the art of harmony singing, and also guided budding songwriter Sibbles, who developed a sly, sarcastic sense of humor. The Heptones had their first hit later that year with "Fattie Fattie," that was banned from Jamaican radio but thus sold nonetheless. They went on to record vast amounts of material for Dodd over the next five years, including their first-ever LP, On Top, in 1970.

As the hits piled up, Sibbles became a staff songwriter and arranger, played bass with the Studio One house band on a multitude of recordings, and worked as an assistant producer and talent scout as well. In 71 Sibbles decided it was time to move on and started cutting music with a range of producers In 1975 they released their label debut, Night Food, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry which featured mostly new versions of old Studio One material. The follow-up, 1977's Party Time, followed a similar blueprint, and also included an eye-opening cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released." It proved to be the group's biggest-selling album in the international market, but the 1978 follow-up, Better Days, sold disappointingly by comparison, and Sibbles departed for a solo career not long after. The remaining members soldiered on for some time without much success and that was it..until in 95 the original line up reunited and recorded Pressure !

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The Heptones first drew attention for the singles and albums they cut for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One label during the late '60s. Poised on the cusp of a cultural shift, Leroy Sibbles (also a bass-wielding session man for Dodd) and partners Barry Llewellyn and Earl Morgan tackled a combination of the sort of pained love songs then in vogue and fresher "reality" material, a mix arguably heard best on On Top. The album's first side in particular is a stunning example of the Heptones' craft. Backed by the Jackie Mittoo-led Soul Vendors, the group's growing social consciousness is voiced on a handful of pre-roots classics. Propelled by lively drum flourishes that resemble an update of the Rastafarians' nyahbinghi percussion, Sibbles makes direct reference to the lynching of African ancestors on the album-opener "Equal Rights," while one of his finest vocal performances is reserved for the side-one-closer "Soul Power." the album established the Heptones as a reggae act of the highest order and the years have proven its timelessness.

The Heptones - On Top (flac 193mb)

01 Equal Rights
02 Pure Sorrow
03 Heptones Gonna Fight
04 I Hold The Handle
05 My Baby Is Gone
06 Soul & Power
07 A Change Is Gonna Come
08 When You Are Down
09 Take Me Darling
10 We Are In The Mood
11 Sea Of Love
12 Pretty Looks Isn't All
13 Party Time
14 I Love You
15 Oil In My Lamp

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

In 1972, the great harmony trio the Heptones were helping to usher in the transition from rocksteady to reggae. Having recorded huge rocksteady hits for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One, they now went into Joe Gibbs' studio with the Now Generation band (which included guitarists Mikey Chung and Geoffrey Chung, keyboardist Robbie Lyn, drummer Mikey "Boo" Richards, and other luminaries of the period) and recorded a landmark of early reggae music. The album isn't perfect -- the vocals are a bit weak on the vintage sufferer's anthem "Our Day Will Come,". But the vast bulk of the album is excellent: "Be the One" is a pitch-perfect slice of classic roots and culture, followed by an unusually spacy dub version titled "The Road Is Rough"; "Save the Last Dance" is a gloriously cheesy pop cover in the grand tradition of rocksteady and early reggae; and "Freedom to the People" is nicely paired with a great DJ cut on the same rhythm featuring U-Roy.

The Heptones and Their Friends - Meet The New Generation! (flac 211mb)

01 The Heptones – Hypocrite
02 The Heptones – Save The Last Dance
03 Julie Ann & The Heptones – The Gardener
04 The Heptones – Our Day Will Come
05 Nicky Thomas & The Heptones – Have A Little Faith
06 The Heptones – Freedom To The People
07 The Heptones – Every Day And Every Night
08 Peter Tosh & The Heptones – Maga Dog
09 Nicky Thomas & The Heptones – God Bless The Children
10 The Heptones – Love Has Many Faces
11 The Heptones – Be The One
12 Nicky Thomas & The Heptones – Mama Song


***** ***** ***** ***** *****

More than a band, the Skatalites were and are an institution, an aggregation of top-notch musicians who didn't merely define the sound of Jamaica, they were the sound of Jamaica across the '50s and '60s. Although the group existed in its original incarnation for less than 18 months, members brought their signature styles to hundreds upon hundreds of the island's releases. The Skatalites officially lined up as guitarist Jerome "Jah Jerry" Hinds, bassist Lloyd Brevett, teenaged pianist Donat Roy "Jackie" Mittoo, drummer Lloyd Knibbs, trumpeter Johnnie "Dizzie" Moore, Cuban-born tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook, alto saxophonists Lester Sterling and Cuban born Roland Alphonso, and trombonist Don Drummond. Moore, McCook, Sterling, and Drummond were all alumni of the Alpha Cottage School for Boys

The Skatalites came to fruition in June 1964, according to the members' own reckoning, although they have given conflicting stories about just how it happened. Ranglin credits Moore, Knibbs credits himself, but there's no doubt who came up with the name -- that honor goes to McCook. Drafting in vocalists Jackie Opel, Tony DaCosta, Doreen Schaeffer, and calypso star Joseph "Lord Tanamo" Gordon, the group debuted live on June 27, 1964, at the Hi- Hat club in Rae Town

With the growth of Dodd's Studio One label, the group soon found themselves with almost more gigs than they could handle, touring the island as the backing band for most of the label's artists, whilst also performing on-stage themselves. It must have been grueling, the constant driving to and from venues and playing a minimum of two sets a night, but in truth, the Skatalites were having a whale of a time. And in between the gigs, the band seems to have spent virtually all their waking hours recording. Besides working for Dodd and Reid, the group also played on a multitude of records for Prince Buster and Duke and Justin Yap. The actual number of recordings they performed on is anyone's guess, an approximation made more difficult by the fact that the musicians normally went uncredited on the singles themselves.

The Skatalites - Ska-Boo-Da-Ba (flac 122mb)

01 Ska-Doo-Da-Ba 2:45
02 Confucious 2:55
03 Chinatown 2:38
04 The Reburial 2:45
05 Smiling 3:18
06 Ska-Ra-Van (Caravan( (Take 3) 2:26
07 Ringo Rides (AKA Ringo) 2:12
08 Surftide Seven (In A Mellow Tone) 2:43
09 Lawless Street (Instrumental) 3:19
10 Marcus Junior 2:50
11 Ghost Town (You Can't Sit Down) 2:16
12 China Clipper 3:21
13 Ska-Ra-Van Caravan (Take 1) 2:38
14 Lawless Street (DJ Version) 3:16

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

***** ***** ***** ***** *****