The story of the great roots reggae harmony trio Black Uhuru is one defined by many unexpected twists and turns. In its best known form, led by Michael Rose and with founding member Duckie Simpson and the black American female vocalist, Puma Jones, the group would enjoy the greatest popularity of any act in the wake of Bob Marley’s untimely death in 1981, but the origins of the group lay in the turbulent Waterhouse district during the mid-1970s. Duckie first formed the group as Uhuru, the Swahili word for unity, with Garth Dennis as lead singer and Don Carlos to join him in harmony; after cutting an adaptation of the Impressions’ “Romancing To The Folk Song” at Dynamics, “Time Is On Our Side” at Randy’s for Clive Chin, and “Slow Coach” for Raymond “Benno” Anderson, Dennis drifted into the Wailing Souls and Don Carlos went solo, leading Duckie to recruit rising Waterhouse vocalist Michael “Tony” Rose as lead singer, and Errol Nelson from the Jays for harmony. Their debut album, Love Crisis, was produced, voiced and mixed at King Tubby’s studio by Prince Jammy and remains and outstanding example of Jammy’s roots reggae production phase. The song “Hard Ground” vamps on a similar theme to Marley’s “Talking Blues”: Rose sings of a life of everyday hardship, with destitution and homelessness the pervading factors. On the extended dub portion and dub the instrumental cuts that follow the alternate vocal take of this enthralling 12-inch EP, you can hear the non-standard instrumentation that helps make the work so innovative, with Winston Wright’s harpsichord melody emphasising the hopelessness of Rose’s emotive lyrics, the commanding rhythm and understated bass and guitar from Robbie Shakespeare and Chinna Smith completing the picture.
Roots vocalist Barry Brown has an inimitable style that has long made him a favourite of reggae enthusiasts. Drawing from the popular phrasing of Horace Andy, but morphing it into his own delivery through the kind of wordless slurring that occasionally resembles the sound of a quacking duck, Brown found his way into the Jamaican music scene through the many amateur west Kingston talent contests of the early 1970s, along with fellow aspiring talents such as Johnnie Clarke, Sugar Minott and the African Brothers, and the Mighty Diamonds. He also honed his vocal skills on local west Kingston sound systems such as Tape Tone, together with other young dancehall-oriented youth such as Barrington Levy, Sammy Dread, Roy Taylor and Tristan Palmer. There are still conflicting claims as to who was the first to record Brown, with production veteran Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee and Sugar Minott among the contenders, but in any case, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, he produced a range of captivating work for various producers, much of which is rightly coveted today. ‘Ital Rock’ appeared on Barry’s 1983 LP I’m Still Waiting, issued by Rocktone International, a spin-off of Sugar Minott’s Black Roots outfit, based in Queens, New York (with a further branch in Toronto); the B-side has Dean Fraser’s previously unreleased electrifying saxophone cut, rescued from dub plate obscurity by Jah Fingers.
As is the case with fellow ‘enforcers’-turned-producers, Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes and Philip ‘Fatis’ Burrell, George Phang had been involved in the internecine street battles that had split Kingston into rival politically-aligned zones during the 1970s, when the broader effects of Cold War politics were played out in Jamaica. Following some encouragement from Sly and Robbie, Phang changed focus, putting the politics aside to concentrate on music production, becoming one of the most important producers of the early 1980s in the process. Phang took over the rhythm twins’ Power House label around 1982, and with the duo forming the mainstays of his productions, the result was guaranteed audio dynamite, as this killer devotional track by Barrington Levy from 1983 so amply suggests—a beautiful extended slice of late roots, heading towards the emerging dancehall style.
Drummer and music producer Desmond Mahoney is another of the unsung heroes of British reggae. Born in Jamaica, he moved to the UK in 1967 and began his professional career playing drums in a band called Young Ones From Zion. He was a founding member of Black Slate when the group formed in 1974, played with them through their glory years and after running a sound system in North London for many years, returned to the fold when the group reformed a few years ago. His first foray in music production probably came during a brief period in Toronto in 1978, working with a band called the Ishan Lions, but he was back in the UK in time for Black Slate’s breakthrough material, which brought them onto Ensign in the UK, Barclay in France and Alligator in the USA. At the same time, he continued to arrange and produce for a number of British reggae artists operating in both the roots and lover’s rock modes; female duo Nya & Natty’s ‘One Love Stylee’ seemed to bridge the two styles quite successfully on this greatly sought-after 12-inch, first issued in 1981 on the S&G label, then based at a record shop in Bow.
