Royals

Royals - Pick Up The Pieces - Wambesi

Roy Cousins and the Royals go back a long, long way, recording for Buster, Duke Reid, Joe Gibbs, Lloyd Daley and Byron Smith. Yet it was when they recorded ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ for Coxsone that things started to happen for Roy and The Royals. ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ became a hit. With its very distinctive bass line and great vocals it was hard for it to miss. Yet recording a hit for Coxsone can cause problems. And so within a year or so, Roy Cousins, the postal worker, became Roy Cousins the producer. Roy started up the Wambesi label and began to record a whole series of great Roots tunes. The group during this time were - Roy Cousins, Errol Wilson, Keith Smith and Bertram Johnson. The magnificent ‘Promised Land’ was the first big hit for Wambesi. Then Roy decided to recut ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ and his cut is as good as the Studio One cut! Vocal groups were not in favor during the Roots era, so it took a while before this excellent set, a compilation of all their great tunes in the Roots era, was released. And it is a must!!!!