Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown & Al Campbell – The Exit/Hold Your Corner

Posted on by jbass508

Dennis Brown & Al Campbell – The Exit/Hold Your Corner

Doctor Birds Records

CD/DL

Released 12 January 2024

Two albums produced by Prince (now King) Jammy, with Campbell’s being previously unreleased. Space is even found for four bonus cuts from Leroy Smart and The Mighty Rudo taken from the Jammy archive. Ian Canty writes…

By 1986 Lloyd “Prince Jammy” James was a fixture of the Kingston music scene. Jammy had successfully moved out from the shadow of his mentor and friend King Tubby in the late 1970s and since then had become one of Jamaica’s premier producers. A year earlier he had even spearheaded the digital revolution method with his Wayne Smith production Under Me Sleng Teng. Meanwhile, Dennis Brown had crossed over to the mainstream with A&M in the early part of the 80s. But it never seemed the right fit for him and as he always kept his ear to the ground in Kingston, he was well aware of the current trends and developments taking place in the capital.

The Dancehall sound attracted him back to his roots and subsequently he recorded for some of the island’s main producers including Joe Gibbs, before cutting a number of Jamaican hit singles for Jammy. Given these successes, an album was on the cards and nine track collection The Exit (retitled History for its US issue) soon emerged. Dennis is unsurprisingly in fine voice here, meeting the challenge of the new technology head-on by imbuing it with his own individual charm, busy brio and joyful performing style.

Too Late kicks things off with Den holding court upon a full and lively rhythmic mix. Jammy’s expert touch with the digital sound is immediately made clear too. We Should Make Love follows and drifts appealingly towards a more spiritual direction, firmly backing up Brown’s Rasta credentials. This number is proof that Roots and Dancehall could easily be squared in the right hands. The skipping beat of History gives it good momentum, with Dennis teasing out the lyric in a soulful way and a slightly more reflective Up Full One lilts away effectively as well.

Side two of the original vinyl opened with Tracks Of Life, where Den’s voice hovers above a strident electro rhythm pattern. Material Girl was a hit in Jamaica as a single, so it was a natural to be included on the album and although it does come over a bit gimmicky, you can’t deny the craft of Jammy with the modern sound. Title track The Exit comes next and the synth handclaps here are a bit on the heavy side. Even so, Brown’s excellent voice carries the tune. The odd pattern of Dance All Night is at least unique and a hugely likeable I’ll Be Waiting There finishes up a long player of thoroughly modern (at the time) Reggae which still comes across as a pleasing, listenable platter today.

Moving onto the second section of this disc, the prolific Al Campbell had emerged with vocal group The Thrillers, who recorded for Coxone Dodd during the Boss/Skinhead Reggae era. Between then and the unreleased Prince Jammy album Hold Your Corner, he had worked for a variety of Kingston producers like Phil Pratt and Striker Lee as a solo singer and provided backing vocals on many sessions.

Buss Them Shut, the opening cut of the projected Hold Your Corner collection, provides a suitably dread introduction to Al’s work with Jammy. Campbell’s relaxed delivery fits the song and instrumentation perfectly. Stop You Fussing And Fighting may be a bit “on the nose” where Reggae song titles are concerned, but the energy the performance is given forms it into something very agreeable, with an easy-going Equalise It following on.

Al thrives on the archetypal Dancehall of Hot Love, before Big Wheel veers far more towards commercial Pop Reggae. Can’t We Test We Again follows in a similar manner and Kiss Me, Kill Me takes the pace down further to a sedate but good-natured stomp. The exotic Power Struggle takes things up a notch though, a fine and sunny sound, with the jaunty Hold Your Corner setting forth next with real purpose. A cool item in the form of Carbon Copy signs off Al’s long player.

Hold Your Corner has some good moments and is very listenable. As to why it has remained in the can, well, whilst it is well performed and produced perhaps it is a little short on memorable material. It does sag a little in the middle after a strong start too. Still, a lot worse has made it to the shops and it certainly doesn’t really let the side down after Dennis’ album.

To round off the CD we have two tracks apiece from The Mighty Rudo and the rather better-known Leroy Smart. Smart’s velvety-voiced and exuberant Crucial Lover and She Only Want Something both pass muster. For his part Rudo offers a Dancehall masterclass in She Done With It and his second offering I Love You is a Synth/Reggae beaut.

What we have here is a Dennis Brown album that shows his mastery of Dancehall, plus a fair Al Campbell one and some wizard bonuses. Jammy was of course overseeing things and as he played a crucial part in the development of digital recording techniques in Reggae, he had the sound down to perfection. Overall this is a satisfying example of state of the art Reggae from the middle of the 1980s.

Get a copy of Dennis Brown & Al Campbell – The Exit/Hold Your Corner here

Dennis Brown – Let Me Love You The Joe Gibbs 7″ Singles Collection 1977 – 1981

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Dennis Brown – Let Me Love You The Joe Gibbs 7″ Singles Collection 1977 – 1981

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Doctor Bird Records

2C/DL

Released 18 August 2023

All the A and B sides Reggae superstar Dennis Brown recorded for Joe Gibbs from 1977 to 1981, including Money In My Pocket, the re-recording that was a 1979 hit in the UK. Ian Canty writes…

From the early 1970s onwards Bob Marley was spending much of his time away from Jamaica in order to court the Rock world. This left a gap to fill in the island’s music scene that Reggae’s highly-talented Crown Prince Dennis Brown was more than ready to step into. He cut his first record back in 1969 for Derrick Harriott, the Solomon single undertaken before the precocious youngster was even a teenager. His star was then aided in its ascendency by recording at Studio One with Coxsone Dodd. Den’s prodigious work-rate meant he did the usual round of Kingston’s producers too, before teaming up with the Joe Gibbs operation for the first time in 1972.

Despite enjoying a great deal of success with Gibbs, Dennis still recorded for other producers such as Sonia Pottinger and developed a close relationship for a time with Niney The Observer. Brown also found time to launch his own DEB label, but he found himself back with Gibbs and engineer Errol Thompson in 1977. This renewed association coincided with one of Dennis Brown’s most fruitful periods. Much of it is documented here on Let Me Love You, a set which brings together all the tracks recorded for single release under Gibbs’ auspices. Roughly speaking, Dennis’ beautifully voiced A sides came with Dubs or DJ versions on the flip, meaning there is plenty of variety to enjoy here.

This collection begins with 1977 45 Rolling Down, a mid-pace skanking version of a Bacharach/David number that Dennis imbues with perfectly balanced emotion and poise. The rhythm is then reused for a Dub called Rain and credited to The DEB Players, a pseudonym for Gibbs’ usual collection of prime musicians. The excellent Ghetto Girl is one of key tracks of the era and is followed by a fine version this time by The Mighty Two i.e. Gibbs and Thompson themselves.

A solid cover of I Hope We Get To Love In Time comes next and Ain’t That Loving You, a big tune for Alton Ellis, came with its bawdy DJ cut Hole In The Bucket by Kojak And Liza. The Heptones’ song of tolerance Equal Rights sounds just made for Dennis’ natural warmth and empathy, with the great Big Youth in expansive form on the effortlessly cool Equal Rights Style on the other side. John Holt’s Man Next Door was of course later ably covered by The Slits, but Dennis manages to put his on stamp on the tune and the update of his own Money In My Pocket scored him a well deserved UK hit during 1979. The famed Joe Gibbs & The Professionals handle is used on the Dubwise flip Runnings Irie, another inventive flipside.

Long player Words of Wisdom was issued around this time and featured Money In My Pocket as well as the charming Dennis Brown & Dhaima duet 45 A True. The Sharks’ How Can I Leave You gets a sensitive, state of the art outing and Prince Mohammed’s version of it Bubbling Under shows his prowess for a nicely fluid bit of toasting. A simple but beguiling piano line underpins the romantic Should I and Dennis again reached back to his past to recut one of his classics in Cassandra. Finishing up the disc with two takes of full-on Roots sound So Jah Say, one from a live gig in Montreux, this is a dazzling display of late 1970s Reggae.

By the time disc two Let Me Love You kicks off with Dennis’ own boogieing Your Man, the timeline reaches the tail end of 1979. A rattling Dub Assigned To Love comes courtesy of Gibbs & The Professionals and they also provide a laidback Created Dub, the flipside to Brown’s fine Errol Dunkley cover Created By The Father. Rocksteady sound Say What You’re Saying and a sunny I’m Coming Home from 1980 both impress, with DJ U Brown doing a smart job on the former’s rhythm as Honey Money. Then we reach the title track aka Love Me Always, where Dennis heads up an elegant glide of a tune and is in ice-cool but commanding form.

Alton Ellis’ 60s number Girl I’ve Got A Date is remodelled well and its reverse Blind Date is a lithe example of Dub. The sparse percussive basics of Open Up signpost the way things were going with the emergence of Dancehall, with the warm sound of A Little Bit More being versioned as Love Dub. It is the last of the contributions here from Joe Gibbs & The Professionals as the final four items here are credited solely to Dennis Brown.

Foul Play from 1981 was the title track of Dennis’s first LP for the A&M label. What is immediately apparent is that this is a busy, very upbeat and commercial sound, but the subtle organ trills of The World Is Troubled perhaps give it the edge. Another accessible track On the Rocks follows and finally Get High On Your Love, which features some Soul/Funk influences, puts the full stop on this set.

Let Me Love You presents some of the best of Dennis Brown’s work at a time when his popularity was arguably at its apex. He was equally at home with romantic songs as he was with Roots Reggae and whatever the material, he could essay it with confidence, gravitas and real style. With the Gibbs and Thompson set up behind him, the sky was the limit. On Let Me Love You, Dennis Brown really hits the heights.

If you want to hear more of Dennis Brown – Let Me Love You The Joe Gibbs 7″ Singles Collection and why wouldn’t you, click here

Various Artists – Irie Greatest Hits – Doctor Bird

Posted on by jbass508

Various Artists – Irie Greatest Hits

Doctor Bird Records

2CD/Download

Released 15th July 2022

Reissue of a classic 1979 Roots Reggae compilation featuring Dennis Brown, Culture and Hortense Ellis, plus a surfeit of bonuses taken from Joe Gibbs’ other productions from 1978/1979 over two discs. Ian Canty writes…

In the pre-Dancehall Roots Reggae era Joe Gibbs was at the top of the tree of Kingston music producers after an unprecedented run of success throughout the 1970s. Based out of his studio in Retirement Crescent and had his crack backing outfit The Professionals to provide just the right musical touches. He also had his right hand man/top engineer and fellow member of The Mighty Two Errol Thompson to make sure everything came out sounding just right and as a result virtually everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. With 1978 going into 1979, all looked bright for JG.

Although 1978 was a good 10 years on from Rocksteady and the sound of Reggae had become thoroughly modernised, the songs from a decade previous still were regularly pressed into service and updated for the Roots crowd. A mid-paced tempo was shared by both genres, so even on a Jamaican music scene always obsessed with the new it was hardly surprising that these trusty grooves were ripe for a dust off. The two discs of Irie Greatest Hits are riddled with new versions of classic Rocksteady smashes.

Irie Reggae Hits, the album this set is based around, bought together some of Joe Gibbs’ biggest recording stars from 1978/9. It came housed in a cartoon sleeve where the unfortunate placement of a bong makes the character look a little like a Rasta Johnny Fartpants. But the LP itself is as top notch a Roots Reggae collection as saw release during the sound’s heyday. We should also recognise that it is also as wonderfully arranged, played and sung as the best pop music. Starting with a beautifully realised Come On Little Girl by Dennis Brown and The Mighty Diamonds’ similar cool and luscious Lovely Lady, you could hardly wish for a better introduction.

Culture come next with This Train (Is Bound For Glory), which truly sparkles with a great brass-led backing and the band’s heavenly singing. Then Ruddy Thomas And Marcia Aitken follow as a pairing and then each register a solo effort. The easy-going duet The Closer I Get To You is practically pure soul with just a reggae backbeat, with the strident sound of Ruddy’s Every Day Is Just A Holiday impressing.

Good they may be, but for me Marcia’s alluring, sinuous Danger In My Eyes tops them, it is absolutely brilliant. Hortense Ellis, sister of Alton, then recuts Ann Pebbles’ I Can’t Stand The Rain for Roots and My Number One by Earl Sixteen, who now works with Dreadzone, lilts finely in a lovelorn style. Trinity mines the Three Piece Suite rhythm again on DJ cut Slim Thing and Lloyd Parks’ upbeat take on syrupy pop number The Greatest Love ends Irie Reggae Hits.

On the first disc of this set with have an additional 11 tracks taken from Joe Gibbs’ late 1970s archive. Loving Pauper by Ruddy Thomas is a good one that glories in its firm rocksteady roots and he also sensitively sings Mama Say here. Dhaima, an alias for Nashville native Sandra Matthews, sweetly sings Rasta tune Ina Jah Children. Originally a hit for Delroy Wilson in 1967 as I’m Not A King, Marcia Aitken flips the gender in a great cover as I’m Not A Queen, with another romantic duet with Ruddy Thomas on The Bee Gees’ Emotion coming later.

Dennis Walks’ Almighty I is a classy Roots number and Junior Delgado puts in a typically stirring performance on I’ve Got A Feeling. Money Worries by studio doorman Enos McLeod is yet another bright rocksteady cover and Let It Be by Bobby Melody, actually a version of The Melodians’ 1967 tune You Don’t Need Me, again shows the reliance that the late 1970s had on the sound of ten years before. Althea & Donna had struck gold with Uptown Top Ranking in 1977 and their self-penned Love One Another is given enough good-natured energy to shows there was a bit more to them than just one hit wonders. This disc concludes with ex-Bleechers singer Leo Graham and his agreeably knotty rhythmed Hard Times.

Disc two of this set begins with Dennis Brown’s fab 1978 hit re-recording of his Money In My Pocket. Dhaima returns to version Money… as Can’t Buy My Love and The Mighty Diamonds’ Just Like A River benefits from coolly-applied keys which helps their voices fly. Alton Ellis’ rocksteady I’m Just A Guy is given a refit for Roots as I’m Just A Dread by Inner Circle’s Jacob Miller and later on he gives us a joyous Keep On Knocking.

The tense structure of Junior Delgado’s Armed Robbery helps set up an excellent, heartfelt vocal and Marcia Aitken’s chiding tune Narrow Minded Man gives us a valuable female Reggae perspective. Some prime brass and a DJ talkover assist in to making Althea Forrest’s solo effort Down Town Things pretty darn good and Holiday Style by Jem & Dean appears to be an effort to capitalise on her UK hit with Donna Reid. It’s a good record that has the sparse feel of Dancehall, but sadly didn’t replicate Althea & Donna’s success. David Isaacs features with the typically honey-voiced More Love and Dreadlock Time by Junior Byles shows the artist in his element, relaxed but totally in control.

Pat Kelly imbues It’s Good Day with real warmth and he’s helped by an inventive backing track which toys with Dub effects. Despite having a recording career that stretched right back into the mid-1950s Cornel Campbell was still able to adapt to the changing times, as the excellent Mash You Down proves and Philip Fraser’s dubby Sleepless Night is a delight. Finally two absolute legends of Roots music close out Irie Greatest Hits. Black Uhuru had made their first records in 1977 for Prince Jammy, but come 1979 they stopped by the Joe Gibbs set up for a righteous Rent Man, If Junior Murvin is best-known for his stint at Lee Perry’s Black Ark, his neat Cool Out Son has his classy voice juxtaposed against a satisfyingly rough rhythm and it is a great way to end this set.

I found Irie Greatest Hits a really entertaining trip through the final years of Roots with some of the genre’s top exponents caught on fine form. The sleeve note by Harry Hack profiles each tune, a nice detail that Reggae buffs will no doubt find helpful and interesting. Irie Greatest Hits finds Joe Gibbs in his pomp. Roots would soon lose favour to Dancehall and Lovers Rock. But if you are looking for examples of 1970 Pop Reggae at its finest, you have definitely come to the right place.

Irie Greatest Hits can be obtained via clicking here