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articles tagged “reggae”

“Place Call[ed] Africa” by Junior Byles

If I had to pick one reggae artist who most deserves more attention then (s)he has received, it would probably be Junior Byles. He was gifted with a beautiful voice and an ability to convey a lot of emotion with it. Which he did, on some deadly serious songs like “Beat Down Babylon,” “Demonstration,” and “Fade Away.” Even a love song like “Curly Locks” has as a subtext a plea against discrimination.

Most of Byles's early work — indeed, much of his finest output — was produced by Perry, and it deserves a wider audience.

The two met in the late 1960s when they were employed by music executive Joe Gibbs, Byles as lead singer of the Versatiles, Perry as Gibbs' house producer. When Byles decided to start a solo career, in 1970, he turned to a now independent Perry to help him.

“People Funny Boy”

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In 1968, reggae pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry launched his first record label, Upset Records, with the single “People Funny Boy.” The title might seem odd, but try this: mentally insert a comma so that it reads “People Funny, Boy.” It's a complaint, as in “boy, people are funny.” And who was Perry complaining about? His former employer, Joel Gibson, AKA Joe Gibbs.

Working for Joe Gibbs

Two years earlier, Perry had begun working for Gibbs, ostensibly a music producer. In reality, Gibbs was not a music producer, but an executive producer — he financed the operation. Perry was the music producer. He scouted talent, supervised sessions, arranged and wrote songs, and promoted records that appeared on Gibbs' Amalgamated and Pressure Beat labels.

“Rightful Ruler” by U-Roy and Peter Tosh

In 1969, Lee Perry produced one of the first ever deejay records, “Rightful Ruler” by U-Roy and Peter Tosh. And as I wrote in my list of recommended U-Roy records, it is a remarkable record.

First, recording a deejay artist on a reused rhythm track was a novel idea at the time. Second, the rhythm track, originally used for a song called “Selassie,” was substantially changed for U-Roy's cut. Most early deejay records use an instrumental mix of a record as the backing track, replacing vocals with deejay rhymes. For “Rightful Ruler,” Perry did much more:

Lee Perry Recommendations

Reggae and dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry passed away in August of this year. Perry is my single favorite musical artist. I'd have a hard time counting the number of albums and singles I own that feature him as a vocalist, producer, or mixer. Since I have so much of his music, I've decided to write about songs or albums he recorded that I think you should hear.

Another NPR Obit, Another Factchecking Fail

Readers of this website — by my best guess, all two of you! — will note that I have twice criticized NPR for errors in obituary/remembrance pieces for reggae artists, first for deejay U-Roy and a second time for singer Bunny Wailer. Well, I'm at it again. This time, the subject is my single favorite musical artist, Lee “Scratch” Perry.

NPR Pays Homage to Bunny Wailer, but Shortchanges His Early Career

NPR's afternoon news program All Things Considered aired a remembrance of Neville Livingston, known to reggae fans as Bunny Wailer, who passed away

Bunny was one of the founding members of The Wailers, whence came his adopted last name. He wasn't as well known as his bandmates Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, but NPR nevertheless felt he deserved recognition for his contributions to the group. Yet the piece largely passed over those contributions, making it seem like he was only a backup singer until he went solo.

That is a misconception that I'd like to correct.

“Wake the Town”

A couple of days ago, I chided NPR's “Here and Now” program for choosing a less-than-stellar record to excerpt in their U-Roy obituary. After hearing the piece, I compiled a short list of U-Roy recordings from my collection that, in my humble opionion, would have been better examples of his work. And certainly worth listening to even if you're not producing an on-air tribute to the deejay originator.

U-Roy Obituaries Fact Check

First, a note of gratitude to NPR for devoting (at least) two on-air segments and one website story to Jamaican deejay U-Roy, who passed away .

U-Roy got his start in the Kingston dancehall scene in the early 1960s. At the time, sound system deejays typically worked with just one turntable, so the music stopped whenever they changed records. To fill the gap, deejays chatted and rhymed, exhorting patrons to join the dance or telling them what record they were about to play. They began to add their patter in the middle of songs, cleverly interacting with the recording as if the singers and players were with the deejay, performing live. Then came dub music, where sound engineers created remixes with most of the vocals removed. Dub provided almost unlimited space to rhyme, or toast, over the record. It wasn't long before deejays were making their own records, commiting their witty boasts and rhymes to vinyl.