Yvonne’s Special 7″ / Thompson Sound 12″ / Observer 7″ (1981)
As we approach what would have been Dennis Brown’s 60th birthday, for this Track of the Week I’ve chosen a corker from ‘The Crown Prince’.
Of the many artists I wish I’d got a chance to see live, Dennis Brown tops that list. From his first release ‘No Man Is An Island’ as a child at Studio One, he worked continuously, voicing at least 78 albums at 37 different studios over 30 years. His output was prolific. He has voiced absolute killers in all styles of reggae, many of which I have previously featured as Track of the Week.
Looking for further information on this tune had me scratching my head a little. On Thompson 12″ it’s stamped with D. Brown as the producer, but there is also the 2005 reissue 7” on the Observer label, which lists Niney as the producer. For the album ‘More’, the excellent X-Ray Music website lists the album as Dennis Brown produced and mixed by Sylvan Morris, which seems credible and good enough to me.
There really are a host of tunes I could have picked, but this one I’ve been playing a bit recently. The slow, heavy, early 80’s bassline coupled with distinctive vocals, combined with recent political events, as he cries out ‘why fooools’ seems to have struck a chord with me. And it has a nice heavy dub to go with it too.
More info:
Dennis Brown on X-Ray Music
A Tribute to The Crown Prince of Reggae
Conviction Roots
