The roots explosion of the 1970s brought not just a great influx of fresh young singers and deejays into the Kingston recording studios, but the arrival of a large number of exciting new producers.
Many operated with the minimum of financial backing, and each was compelled to make his mark with a distinctive sound of his own - even if most were using permutations of the same pool of seasoned session musicians.
Some important innovators like Vivian Jackson and Augustus Pablo have since found the broad audience they always deserved, while others such as the quirky Glen Brown have at least been the subject of intelligently compiled and annotated compilations.
Foremost among the great originators who up to now have been almost totally ignored outside of the reggae cognoscenti has been Jimmy Radway, whose finest work has now been gathered on Keep The Pressure Down.
Born in Kingston in 1947, this incredibly consistent - if not particularly prolific - producer recorded a series of seminal singles from talented singers Errol Dunkley, Leroy Smart, Hortense Ellis, Desmond Young, and the more obscure Scatty Bell, as well as the most popular deejays of the day, Big Youth and I-Roy.
A former upholsterer, his strongest rhythms were also reconstructed for an awesome dub set mixed by Errol 'ET' Thompson that appeared in a very limited press on Pete Weston's Micron imprint, and has been reissued a couple of times by European labels, but never with the packaging and promotion it warrants.
The initial production on Radway's Fe Mi Time label was also his first hit - Errol Dunkley's much-versioned Black Cinderella reached the top spot on the Jamaican charts in early 1972.
Before January was over, it was treated to cuts from Big Youth, fresh from the Lord Tippertone sound system, and the melodica player Augustus Pablo.
Later, I-Roy's brilliant Sound Education toast appeared on the same rhythm. |
Thanks to the informative liner notes here, we now learn that the original song was inspired by a girl Radway knew, both of whose sisters were prostitutes, but who was determined to resist that way of life.
The nagging trombone figure that contributed so much to the rhythm's popularity was from Vin Gordon.
Distinctive horn arrangements - usually involving Bobby Ellis on trumpet and Richard 'Dirty Harry' Hall on tenor sax - were a distinguishing characteristic of many Jimmy Radway productions.
The memorable organ-dominated rhythm for Radway's other Dunkley track, the impassioned Keep the Pressure Down, was never as popular, but sounds just as magnificent, and remains long overdue for other producers to revive.
The incisive sufferer's lyrics were again from the pen of Radway, confirming his truly creative approach.
Big Youth is also in fine form on Tribulation.
One of his scarcest outings, it appeared previously only on a blank-label pressing of the rhythm's first cut, Hortense Ellis' Hell and Sorrow.
The trio of titles from the gritty-voiced Leroy Smart - Mother Liza, Mirror Mirror, and Happiness Is My Desire - arguably amount to his greatest work, mainly thanks to Radway's superior lyrics.
A pity they didn't make an entire album together.
Desmond Young's popular Warning and Scatty Bell's Black I Am were two of 1975's greatest roots records, and again it can only be regretted that Radway didn't record more with either.
Unfortunately, he eventually tired of the bear pit of the Kingston recording scene and quietly backed away.
:: Steve Barrow & Peter Dalton
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