Jamaican music has a long history of sexual lyrics dating back to the calypso and mento tunes from the likes of Lord Kitchener and Count Lasher. Often termed “rude” reggae its legacy is still evident to this very day, a part of the Jamaican musical culture that began with its arrival and persists to present day.
Amalgamated
“Franco Nero” by The Destroyers
Count Machuki. The Destroyers. On Amalgamated, produced by Joe Gibbs. Really doesn’t get much better. Machuki was the original and, in For The Suits opinion, best of the Jamaican DJs. He started out on Tom Wong’s “Tom The Great Sebastian” sound system before moving onto “Tokyo The Monarch” and ultimately Coxsone Dodd’s “Downbeat” sound system. The guy was responsible for King Stitt getting his start as a DJ, invented beatboxing and unfortunately never got all the respect he deserved. Had he been around when cats like U Roy and King Stitt were becoming huge during the DJ craze he’d certainly be far better known today. But he left the music business shortly after this track was recorded. Count Machuki, the boss.
FCF: Amalgamated
This cut right here was the first ever release on the UK Amalgamated label, home to a number of crucial productions by Joe Gibbs and engineered by the likes of Niney and Lee “Scratch” Perry. Errol Dunkley, the vocalist on this impassioned plea for honesty, was only 16 when the track was released. It’d be a big deal except he started his career at 14 and by the time he got to this track he had already worked with some of the biggest producers in Jamaica at the time such as Sonia Pottinger (whom he recorded his first track for) and Prince Buster. Pretty decent way to kick off a label we’d say.
Lee Perry
Certainly one of the most, shall we say, interesting figures in the Jamaican music industry “The Upsetter” is celebrating his birthday today. Lee Perry begun his long and storied journey through music business selling records alongside another legendary figure, Prince Buster, for Studio One label owner Coxsone Dodd. Over time Perry started proving himself very helpful around the Studio One studios and eventually began to produce tunes for Dodd. But, as was to become a theme in Perry’s career, he ended up falling out with Dodd over money and the little issue of Dodd thinking Perry was a little bit “off” in the head. So Perry left and joined Joe Gibbs Amalgamated label, where many credit him for creating the famed rocksteady sound debuted in Roy Shirley’s hit “Hold Them”. Although the track is credited to Gibbs, it’s a safe bet Perry had more than a little bit to do with the track. Perry decided in 1968 he didn’t like Gibbs too much anymore and left to create his own label, Upsetter, and record “People Funny Boy” a tune recorded to badmouth Gibbs. And, along with “Nanny Goat” by Larry Marshall, it happens to be credited as one of the first examples of the reggae sound. This was only the start of a incredible run for Perry as he went on to record some absolute monster skinhead instrumentals with his Upsetters house band, consisting of cats like Gladstone Anderson, Glen Adams and Alva Lewis. Their “Return of Django” single hit number 5 on the UK charts near the end of 1969, certainly helped on by their popularity with skinheads. It was far from the only big tune for the Upsetter label, as Perry put out a number of huge tunes on the label throughout the early 70’s before going on to once again create a new sound, this time dub. Happy birthday, Scratch.
The Pioneers
Two things The Pioneers were certainly never short of was 1] Talent and 2] Aliases. Pioneers, Reggae Boys, the Soul Directions, the Soul Mates and there is likely a few more. These cats actually broke up prior to hitting it big after their initial foray into the music business went bust. Luckily Sydney Crooks isn’t the sort of guy to give up that easily. After his brother, Derrick, left the music business and other founding member Winston Hewitt moved to Canada Sydney began to work for Joe Gibbs. Being around music rejuvenated Sydney and Gibbs convinced him to give recording another try and so Sydney decided to record the rocksteady classic “Give Me Little Loving”. There was one slight problem: Sydney wasn’t comfortable doing lead vocals, preferring to focus his talent on the harmonies. In a lovely little bit of sheer chance the man who is known to all as the lead singer of the Pioneers, Jackie Robinson, happened to be sitting outside the studio. Sydney recruited him to sing lead vocals after an impromptu bit of singing on the street and the rest is history. The group went on to leave Gibbs and start recording with Leslie Kong, bringing in George “Dekker” Agard (he of “Foey Man” fame). We all know the outcome. Classic tune after classic tune was the result with tracks like “Long Shot (Kick De Bucket)” being staples in the skinhead packed dancehalls of the day. This tune right here is actually produced by Byron Lee, as it happens, but it’s one of their finest.
Joe Gibbs
It’s somewhat odd that in a music industry noted for it’s long standing rivalries and feuds between artists, producers and label owners that the community, however short lived, developed between the same parties has created one of the most vibrant and celebrated music industries. Joe Gibbs, and his entire fanbase, can thank those links for some of the greatest rocksteady and early reggae tunes ever created. Gibbs received his start in the music industry with a loan from friend, and For The Suits favorite, Bunny Lee. Mr. Lee helped out with some of the cash to get Amalgamated up and running and then the recording expertise of a young Lee “Scratch” Perry led to a musical education for Gibbs. It also led to Gibbs’ first hit “Hold Them” by Roy Shirley. Some even credit the Shirley track as one of the first rocksteady tunes ever. This is where the feud part starts: after a falling out between Perry and Gibbs, Gibbs had to find a new recording engineer. Lucky for all Gibbs found Winston “Niney” Holness. Coupled with only the best backing bands, either the Hippy Boys or Lyn Taitt and the Jets, and talented vocalists and trios like Ken Parker and the Pioneers, the Amalgamated label went on to put out some of their top tunes. Not bad for a cat who stumbled into the music business and built his own recording studio thanks to an Electronics Engineer degree.
Lyn Tait on Amalgamated
One of Joe Gibbs finer productions, and the incredible Lyn Tait and the Jets provide the instrumental on it. We’ve got a Joe Gibbs profile coming up as soon as some technical difficulties are resolved.
For The Suits 