"Ritual of blood in the blues dance Broke glass splintering, fire Axes, blades, brain blas' Rebellion rushin' down the wrong road Storm blowin' down the wrong tree And Leroy bleeds near death on the fourth night In a blues dance, on a black rebellious night, it's War amongs' the rebels Madness, madness, war"
2) Inglan Is A Bitch
"Inglan is a bitch dereĀ“s no escapin it Inglan is a bitch no baddah try fi hide fram it"
3) Sonny's Lettah
"So mi jook one in him eye and him started fi cry me thump him pon him mout and him started fi shout me kick him pon him shin so him started fi spin me hit him pon him chin an him drop pon a bin - an crash, an dead"
Check out:
and:
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-07-04 20:27 by turnersmemo.
In all our search for originality & obscurity, lets not forget ol' Saint Bobba himself.. Here in Roots Rock Reggae, with movin' pictures aka video clip
One of my favorite reggae singers is Max Romeo, and the compilation Open The Iron Gate includes some of his best work. It's based around Max's 1975 LP Revelation Time and adds 4 bonus tracks form the same period as the album. Many of the songs (those who were originally were released as singles) come complete with their dubs. Sadly King Tubbys dub of Three Blind Mice is not included.
Many of the song have political themes, just listen to Warning Warning: [media.putfile.com]
"Your life here on earth have been filled with luxury and pleasure You have made yourself fat for the day of slaughter You've not paid the men that work in your fields The cries of those that gather your crops Have reached the ears of Jah, Jah Almighty Heads a go roll down Sandy Gully one of these days Heads a go roll down Sandy Gully that's what Marcus says"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-07-06 17:19 by turnersmemo.
Quote Baboon Bro Max could have been a kinda Bob Marley; but as I get it he is somewhere not richer than myself.
Yeah, it's a sad fact that many great jamaican artists and musicians have been exploited by their producers and record labels! The way this happened is very accurately depicted in the movie The Harder They Come.
The reissue label Blood & Fire (who released the Max Romeo compilation mentioned above) at least made sure that the artist got paid. Sadly this label is now virtually defunct.
Thats ashame about Blood and Fire...didn't know that. They put out some GREAT stuff! Here's Bim Sherman's Mighty Ruler (and dub) from Blood and Fire's "Junior Byles & friends" compilation. I bought this about 10 years ago on vinyl, and suppose it can now be considered "rare".*
** I just looked it up on Ernie B's, and you can get a used cd copy for $19.99, and a new original vinyl pressing for $29.99 - not too bad. I paid about $12-$15 brand new for it at the time. Just goes to show, even comps. and reissues can become collectible eventually.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-07-06 21:25 by Hairball.
Excellent turnersmemo, thats an awesome album. As a matter of fact I almost put up the tune Truths and Rights up there, but kept digging and found Purify Your Heart. TONS of cool stuff on youtube!
KING STITT - Fire Corner
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-07-07 21:52 by Hairball.
red777photo's comment to the irie song above: "The Congos formed as the trio(3). "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) (b. Roydel Johnson, 1947, Hanover, Jamaica), Cedric Myton (falsetto) (b. 1947, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica), and Watty Burnett (baritone) (b.early 1950s, Port Antonio, Jamaica).[1][2] Myton had previously been a member of The Tartans in the late 1960s (along with Prince Lincoln Thompson, Devon Russell and Lindburgh Lewis), and Ras Michael's group, and had recorded with Thompson's Royal Rasses in the mid-1970s.[3][4] He formed the Congos, initially as a duo with Johnson, recording the single "At the Feast" for Lee "Scratch" Perry.[1] Perry expanded the group to a trio with the addition of Burnett, this line-up recording the classic roots reggae album Heart of the Congos in 1977 at Perry's Black Ark studio.[1] The album featured illustrious backing singers such as Gregory Isaacs, The Meditations, and Barry LLewellyn and Earl Morgan of The Heptones.[4] The album has been described as "the most consistently brilliant album of Scratch's entire career".[5]
Perry's previous productions by Max Romeo and Junior Murvin had been huge commercial successes thanks to a deal with Island Records, but Perry was in dispute with Island at the time the Congos' album was finished, so it was released on his own Black Ark label, limiting its success overseas, and causing a rift with the group.[1] The Congos went their own way, organizing a limited pressing of the album themselves. United Kingdom label Go Feet eventually reissued the album in 1980, and although the group had recorded new material since leaving Perry, Heart of the Congos proved a hard act to follow and their other releases suffered as a consequence. Albums such as Congo Ashanti were sparser and sounded ordinary compared to Perry's kitchen-sink-and-all massive productions.
Burnett quit the group, soon followed by Johnson, who embarked on a solo career. Myton continued to record as The Congos with various other musicians until the mid-1980s.
In the mid-1990s, The Congos reformed, with Myton and Burnett joined by Lindburgh Lewis, several albums following in subsequent years.[1] In 2005 Myton recorded Give Them the Rights with a host of backup singers and star session players such as Sly and Robbie and Earl "Chinna" Smith, very much in the spiritual 70s roots vein. In 2006, the UK reggae revival label Blood and Fire released the album Fisherman Style featuring a remixed version of the classic cut "Fisherman" from Heart of the Congos plus such legends as Horace Andy, Big Youth, Dillinger, Prince Jazzbo, Luciano, Freddie McGregor, Gregory Isaacs, Max Romeo, Mykal Rose, Dean Fraser, Sugar Minott, and U-Roy doing their own new versions over the original rhythm.[6][7] "
My Baboon, nice idea about purchasing the reggae rather than downloading it, thought the same thing myself, however not sure how much that will help the artists at this point. Many of the greats died pretty much broke. Don't know for sure but I bet there are cases where record companies are still making money off album sales from some of these reggae artists.
I am sure people like Toots, Burning Spear or Israel Vibration are ok now financially cause they still tour and are active.