12″ Warrior Records (1978)
The Royals are one of those groups who I believe don’t get the recognition they deserve. The group’s line up has varied over the years but at its heart was Roy Cousins.
Hailing from Kingston, from a young age Roy Cousins sang with the local church choir, and his classmates included the likes of Bernard Collins, Lloyd Parks, Naggo Morris, and Ansel Collins to name a few.
In 1964 Roy put the Royals together with Errol Green, Berthram Johnson, Trevor McFarlane and Maurice Johnson, recording ‘House On The Hill’ and ‘We Are In The Mood’. They later recorded as The Tempests at Studio One, and after various line up changes recorded for the likes of Bunny Lee, Lloyd ‘Matador’ Daley, and Byron ‘Baron’ Smith. However only a handful of material saw release.
Roy then decided the way forward was to release his own material, financed through working at the local post office. He released a number of singles on his Tamoki and Wambesi labels before releasing ‘Pick Up The Pieces’, after which the group finally started to get some of the recognition they deserved. The following year they released the album ‘Israel Be Wise’, which features ‘If You Want Good’ and ‘Ten Years After’.
As Roy Cousins himself says, ‘We only deal with good vibes….with peace and happiness’. Recorded at Channel One and produced and arranged by Roy, this is a classic piece of steppers from the golden era of roots. Naggo Morris is on lead vocals, complimented by The Royals trademark tight harmonies, all over a fearsome bass line that never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand when I hear it dropped on a sound. Essential!
Conviction Roots
