As well as the upcoming talent behind the board, plenty of new artists were
eager to shine in the studio. Since the established labels already had their
house bands, the new boys had to find their own talent, musicians with something
to prove - and they proved it playing reggae.
Perry was the first of the new crop to hit big, in his case as a recording
artist. "People Funny Boy," an obvious dig at Dodd, sold well, and gave Perry
the impetus to start his own label, Upsetter Records, in 1969. In short order
he made it a viable entity with two more hits - "Tighten Up," by theUntouchablesand "Return of Django" from the upsetters, his house band, which included
two brothers Carlton and Aston Barrett as the rhythm section.
The success helped Perry woo a group he'd worked with at Studio One - the
Wailers. After some initial success, the Wailers had found life under Dodd
difficult.
Dodd had befirend Bob Marley, even putting him in charge of pairing
singers and songs for the label, but he'd kept his distance from the more
volatile Peter Tosh and the Rastaman Bunny Wailer.
In 1966, Marley moved to
America, where he worked at the line in a Chrysler plant in Wilmington, Delaware.
It was his chance to earn good, steady money, which he did until he lost his
job. After discovering he wasn't eligibile for welfare, then receiving a draft
notice, he returned to Jamaica and music, writing new material, some of which
would appear on Wailers' albums in the 70s.
By late 1967 the Wailers had left Dodd, and the following year formed their
own label, Wailin' Soul, which proved a failure, in part because all three
members spent time in jail - Tosh for obstruction during a demonstration against
the regime in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Wailer and Marley for possession
of marijuana. Even though the label collapsed, the Wailers weren't discouraged.
They began again with the Tuff Gong label. While it didn't make them rich,
they made enbough to survive, and they also signed with Jad, the company run
by singer Johnny Nash as songwriters, earning $50 JA each per week.
That the band had ability was beyond doubt; the problem was that they were
unable to put together the lucrative overseas deals which would catapult them
to the next level. Their rebellious attitude scared off potential partners.
So when Perry came along, they leaped at his chance. The Wailers and the Barrett
brothers became friendly, and Aston Barrett became the Wailers' arranger.
The success helped Perry woo a group he'd worked with at Studio One - the
Wailers. After some initial success, the Wailers had found life under Dodd
difficult.
The collaboration with Perry never brough chart success. However, in artistic
terms, Perry helped them reach a place no reggae band had reached before,
and very quickly. The bud was there - it would just take a little longer before
it flowered.
While Perry was working his distinctive brand of magic, King Tubby was taking
the young reggae in another direction. The DJ (a man who ?toasted' or rapped
over instrumental tracks) had long been a staple of the sound systems, and
Tubby had one of the best in Ewart Beckford, known as U-Roy.
Tubby had discovered that acetates, known as dub plates, could be manipulated.
The vocal track could be left off, creating a new version' of the song, something
for U-Roy to toast over. When he put the two elements together in a studio,
he came up with something new. "Wake The Town," record at Duke Reid's, was
the first toasting record (although producer Keith hudsonclaimed to
have recorded U-Roy a year earlier, on a version of Ken Boothe's hit "Old
Fashion Way," retitled "Dynamic Fashion Way"). It went directly to the top
of the charts, ushering in a new style that would be one of the parents of
hip-hop.
Others followed the path. Big Youth,who began as a U-Roy imitator
before finding his own style, broke through with "S.90 Skank" (named for a
moped), andI-Roy(Roy Reid) followed with "Musical Pleasure." But
it was U-Roy who led the pack for the first half of the 1970s. He was one
of the most political toasters of the time, putting out records like "Sufferer's
Psalm" (1974), which used the 23rd Psalm as a springboard to condemn capitalism.
It sold 27,000 in the Caribbean; not earth-shattering but respectable for
such an overtly political disc.
In the U.K. Trojan focused on the very commercial end of reggae, "music,"
noted writer Sebastian Clarke, "with a beat, a soft melody and strings behind
it." It proved to be a potent combination. From 1970-75, Trojan registered
23 top 30 hits from the likes ofJohn Holt,Bob and Marcia,Ken Boothe, Desmond Dekker, and Dave and Ansell Collins.
There were
also two subsidiary labels, Attack and Upsetter, for the work of producers
Bunny Lee and Lee Perry. It was an affirmation that the music could reach
out beyond the Afro-Caribbean community, and the success helped lay the groundwork
for a revitalized. Bob Marley and the Wailers, whose records would appear
on Chris Blackwell's label, Island.
From concentrating on Jamaican music, Blackwell had ventured into white progressive
rock in 1967, and quickly become one of the U.K.'s premier labels in the field.
But he'd retained his love of Jamaican music, and held on to one artist he'd
singed in 1965 - Jimmy Cliff.
He'd moved Cliff to England and carefully groomed him to become an international
artist, getting rid of the patois speech. And Cliff did establish a strong
following in France and Scandinavia. By 1967 he'd had a British hit, "Give
And Take," and released Hard Road to Travel, which showed him as a
soul balladeer. With the end of the decade he was established as a hitmaker
("Wonderful World, Beautiful People," "Many Rivers To Cross," and his cover
of Cat Stevens's"Wild World" all charted) and a songwriter, penning
for Desmond Dekker ("You Can Get It If you Really Want"), the Pioneers ("Let
You Yeah Be Yeah"), and even venturing into the political arena with "Vietnam,"
which Bob Dylandescribed as "the best protest song ever written."
Cliff decided to return to Jamaica, and change his image by making Another
Cycle in Muscle Shoals, one of the homes of soul music, in 1971. However,
the world wasn't ready for a reggae star going soul (that would have to wait
for Toots in Memphis a few years later), and the record stiffed. Instead
he turned to acting, starring in writer/director Perry Henzell's film The
Harder They Come.
