Jamaicans

Jamaicans 

Jamaicans - Ba Ba Boom - Jamaican Gold

It was with Hopeton Lewis that the the Jamaicans scored one of there biggest hits - ‘Boom Shaka Lacka’  - yet The Jamaicans (Tommy Cowan, Norris Weir, Martin Williams) had already had a number of great works to there credit starting in the Rock Steady era.  This CD on Jamaican pulls them altogether but sadly omit’s the tune with Hopeton.  All the early tracks on this set are Rock Steady - and then if you want to hear the difference between Rock Steady and Reggae apart from the temp check out ‘Woman Get Home’ No one ever played an organ like that in Rock Steady!!! 

The remaining tracks are all reggae right up into the early seventies so this is a nice mix of Treasure Isle recordings and Dynamic.

Tunes likes ‘Feel The Festive Spirit’ don’t sound like much to celebrate but come close to the vibes found on ‘Boom Shaka Lacka’  and that makes it something special!!! Reality tunes are also present in the form of ‘Love Uprising’ ‘Sing’ Freedom’ and ’Sunshine Love’. A nice surprise is there cover version of Billy Dyce’s ’Take Warning’ its not got the power of Billy’s tune - but the vocal harmonies add something to the tune. Even the final track ’Black Girl’ recorded around 72 as a bit of that reggae vibe from just a few years earlier. It sounds like one of Perry’s productions at Dynamics.