Clem Bushay

Clem Bushay – Dread In Session - 1975

Dandy Livingstone and Laurel Aitken took UK produced reggae music from the sixties to the early seventies.

But from 1973 onwards – a new set of UK producers/musicians came forward. Dennis Bovell, Larry Lawrence, and they were all successful.

Clem produced artists like Carl Bert, Junior English, Locks Lee, Owen Gray, Louisa Marks, Zabandis, and The Realms.

His biggest success was Louisa Marks ‘Keep It Like It Is’ that was initially credited as Laurel Aitken as producer. And was released on Trojan.

This album released in 1975, features, Anne And Annis Peters, Domino Johnson, Bob Davis, Delroy Washington, Carl Bert, Eugene Paul and Gene Rondo.

The production sound is inspired by The Now Generation who broke up in Jamaica in 1974. This much loved sound was still very popular in the UK then.

And full credit to Clem for bringing this sound back. George McCrea’s international chart ‘ Rock You Baby’ is reworked very in the Now Gen style, Anne and Annis.

Domino Johnson’s ‘Summertime’ is not the classic, but a brand new song. The production style leans towards the new ‘XYZ Band’ style that featured members of Now Gen. This is excellent production – on par with anything that Lloyd Charmers was producing in Jamaica.

Back to ‘Now Gen’ for Bob Davis ‘World In My Arms’. Another truly tune, that Geoffrey Chung would have been proud to have produced.

Would love to know who the session band is on this! The Cimarron's got a very good sound back then. Delroy Washington is next up for the Now Gen sound. His ‘Have You Ever Loved Somebody’ shows what a great singer/songwriter he was. Why this was never released as a single is baffling. It must have been just a lack of funds.

Carl Bert shows the same thinking as the Now Generation production. It was not a band with one sound, it had two This time it’s the militant sounds. That the Now Gen band enjoyed success with Randy’s and Lee Perry.

‘I Man A Bawl’ and ‘Higher And Higher’ are comparable to the sort of tunes that were being released by artists like Junior Byles and Max Romeo.

Bob Davis comes back for a couple of great tunes. ‘Come On Back To Me’ and ‘Loving Girl’ and show that Clem was trying to fine tune this great sound he got into something that was more current.

Eugene Paul is a great singer – a big part of the early seventies UK scene. And he shows what he’s all about here. A remarkable talent.

Gene Rondo is yet another singer very much of that era in the UK. Such a great voice, and Clem really does a great job on production – on these two tunes on this excellent set.