How did you die?’ the Trinidadian man asked the Jamaican.

I froze to death mon, said the Jamaican.

That’s awful! How does it feel to freeze to death? asked the Trinidadian.

Well brother, it was very uncomfortable at first but when the cold hit, my whole body started to shake and I got pain in my fingers and toes. Eventually, it came, a very calm way to die. I got numb and then I just driffed off, like dying in a sleep.

So how did you die Mon?’ asked the Jamaican.

I had a heart attack, says the Trinidadian. You see, I did believe my wife was cheating on me, so one day I show up at home unexpectedly. I ran up to the bedroom and found her alone knitting. I ran down to the basement, but no one was hiding there.

I ran up to the second floor, but no one was hiding there either. I ran as fast as I could to the attic, and just as I got there, I had a massive heart attack and died.

The Jamaican man shakes his head. ‘Kiss mi neck!’ he says.

‘What do you mean?’ asks the Trinidadian.

‘If you had just checked the freezer, the two of us would still be alive!!!

The wife was upset about this and decided to talk to her about the raise.

She asked: Now Marie, why you feel you deserve a pay increase?

Marie: Well, ma’am, three reasons why I want de increase.

The first one, mi iron better than you!

Wife: Who said you iron better than me?

Marie: Your husband says so.

Wife: Oh.

Marie: The second reason……..ah cooks better than you.

Wife: Nonsense, who said you were a better cook than me?

Marie: Your husband again

Wife: Oh.

Marie: My last reason is that I am a better lover than you.

Wife: (really furious now): My husband says that as well??

Marie: No ma’am, the Gardener.

Wife: How much yuh seh you want again?

A longtime music lover, he started to attract more customers by playing records outside the shop — mostly American R&B and jump blues, as well as some calypso. With business booming, the couple soon moved to a larger location on Bond Street, which was dubbed the Treasure Isle Liquor Store. Reid began hosting his own radio show, Treasure Isle Time, and also started a mobile sound system business, carting his records and stereo equipment from dancehall to dancehall in a Trojan flatbed truck (which gave him his secondary nickname, the Trojan). It was as a dancehall DJ that Reid first created his image; he openly carried weapons, often wore a cape, and sometimes entered his gigs by having his associates carry him in.As his rivalry with Coxsone Dodd intensified, Reid made more and more trips to America to seek out obscure R&B sides and shuffling sax instrumentals. Exclusive holdings became more and more important to a sound system’s success, and Reid and Dodd both scratched out the titles and labels on their records, renaming them to protect their true identities. In one famous anecdote, Reid chanced upon a copy of one of Dodd’s signature tunes, and debuted it at a sound-system battle with a shocked and dismayed Dodd. Reid was often charged with more unscrupulous tactics; gangs of toughs (or “dancehall crashers”) would sometimes start trouble at his competitors’ dances, hoping to get the party shut down by police (and maybe smash some equipment in the process). Yet Reid also had the music audiences wanted, and he won Jamaica’s top sound-system battle three years running, from 1956-1958.As American R&B evolved into rock and soul, it became increasingly difficult to find the kinds of records that played to Jamaican tastes. Thus, it made increasing business sense for sound system owners to make their own recordings of local artists who could deliver more of what listeners wanted. Reid built a recording studio directly above the Treasure Isle Liquor Store, and began releasing original material starting in 1959.

He formed a house band and issued singles by the likes of Derrick Morgan and the Jiving Juniors over the next three years. During that time, the R&B-styled shuffle grooves of the late ’50s were giving way to the syncopated ska sound. At the same time, records — initially thought of as the exclusive property of the sound system they were cut for — became increasingly profitable once they were offered for sale to the general public. Reid, who had previously approached records as a secondary enterprise, shifted his focus to make them his top priority starting in 1962.From 1962-1965, Reid’s labels — Treasure Isle chief among them — issued numerous ska hits by the likes of the Skatalites, Stranger Cole, the Techniques, Justin Hinds & the Dominoes, and more. However, it wasn’t until the arrival of Alton Ellis and the genesis of the slower rocksteady beat in 1966 that Treasure Isle was able to overtake Dodd’s Studio One as the most renowned label in Jamaica.

The peak years of rocksteady (1966-1968) witnessed many of Reid’s finest productions, done for a virtual who’s who of the style: Ellis, Phyllis Dillon, the Melodians, the Paragons, the Ethiopians, and the Jamaicans, among others. Most of them were backed by Reid’s new house band, Tommy McCook & the Supersonics, which were led by the former Skatalites saxophonist.As rocksteady faded and Rastafarian roots reggae began to take over, Reid found himself in a quandary: the new music wasn’t at all to his taste, particularly the social-protest lyrics, and that stance increasingly made him seem part of a musical old guard whose time had passed. Fortunately, there was another trend brewing in the dancehalls: DJs were starting to insert their own rhyming patter, dubbed “chatting” or “toasting,” over popular records.

Paragons lead singer John Holt brought the pioneer in this area, U-Roy, to Reid’s recording studio in 1970. Reid was quickly convinced to record U-Roy, and hit upon the idea of simply having the DJ chat over pre-existing rhythm tracks from past Treasure Isle hits. The results were wildly popular; at one point, four of U-Roy’s early singles hit the Jamaican Top Five all at once. Reid continued to record U-Roy through the early ’70s, plundering his substantial back catalog for material, and also released records by other early DJs, most notably Dennis Alcapone. Unfortunately, Reid fell seriously ill in 1974; after suffering for the better part of a year, he passed away in 1975. Numerous retrospectives of his production work have since been issued on CD.

I had never heard Courtney before this disc, and I was pleasantly surprised. Courtney immediately evoked images of a Johnny Osborne/Barrington Levy hybrid – the vocal control of both and some of the individual trademarks of each.
Reggae is a music that has lots of imitators and coattail riders: One Pint sounds frighteningly similar to Half Pint and in ‘95 who could tell the difference between Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Merciless, and the myriad other Cookie Monster DJs? Well, the imitation here works very well – Courtney is a strong artist in his own right who used a combintation of styles from Osborne and Levy to form his own. The DJs of the mid-’90s were like analog tape-tape dubs while Courtney’s similarity is more like Junior Reid was to Michael Rose: a high-quality digital copy.

On “Modern Girl,” Courtney croons: “I need a modern girl with the old fashioned kind of loving, / To put me in bed at night and wake me up at morning.” Solid riddims are provided by Robert Ffrench. This is some good roots style loving where Courtney really stands out as his own man.

Some worthy imitations come on “Just My Kind of Girl,” which bears a striking resemblance to Barrington Levy’s “A Ya We Deh,” and “Down in the Dance Hall,” where Courtney adopts the “Get up, stand up, and dance” chant that Levy trademarked on “Do the Dance” in 1984. There’s even a healthy dash of Half Pint on “Bad Boy Business.”

Sure, Courtney Melody is a generally a hodge-podge of some of the best dancehall singers of the ’80s, but he does manage to stand out on his own as well. And this disc is just plain fun – positive vibes and strong vocals make every track a joy (except the updated “Modern Girl” called “Modern Connection,” which features so-so performances from Ffrench and Heavy D).

During this time he made his first recordings for the legendary producer Lee Perry, The Upsetter.  One of the songs ‘Judgment Day’ was then released, the other has since remained as a cult anthem among UK roots sound system followers, as an unreleased dublate special for Lloydie Coxson’s Cosxon International Sound System.  The Song entitled ‘From Creation’, a life confirming lyric of reality, consciousness and faith, whcih has often been versioned by artists like Barry Brown and Don Carlos, who scored a sizeable hit with his version in 1984 for producer Blacka Dread and which was re-versioned in 1998 again for Blacka, this time with the original singer Colour Red revitalising his song alongside versions by Don Carlos, Everton Blender, Jr. Reid and others on a modern digital style riddim supplied by the UK’s master riddim section Mafia & Fluxy with overdubs by Dean Frasier and mixed in ja. 

Colour Red has taken a backseat for many years now but has been consistently doing his works, sometimes for himself, other times for various producers.  He has also toured and supported many leading artists such as Burning Spear, Johnny Osbourne, Sugar Minott, Earl Sixteen, Jennifer Lara and Macka B.

Right now through the encouragement of engineer Burtie Grant he feels the time is right to step forward in conjunction with Iauwata Anha Selasse MD, a talented keyboardist sought by many professional touring bands.   He has linked with The Disciples, formerly known for their works on the UK dub scene with Jah Shaka.  Together they have produced an inspiring set of songs in a strict roots and culture theme.  As a debut album, this will set a standard for UK roots reggae music, on a par with anything out there… so watch out Luciano, Bushman, Jamali for….. The Colour Red is coming…..

Clive Hunt & The Dub Dancers starts with a dub poem (by Ras Neto) condensing the history of reggae over a collage of cut-ups, including fragments of musical landmarks like Sleng Teng and Real Rock. This sets the scene for an all-encompassing sonic memoir of dub studio techniques, where the organic and melodic work with the chaotic, mechanical, and the downright violent.

Dub is conventionally viewed as a hedonistic, apolitical form – but Hunt clearly disagrees. The impersonal crashes and SFX library screams used in second track ‘Baghdad In Dub’ are palpably anti-war, and the album’s occasional lyrical interludes (some herb discourse by Clive himself on  ‘Satta I’, and Icho Candy’s stream-of-consciousness anti-violence rhetoric for ‘Guns And Guns’) leave the potential of versionism as societal critique in no doubt.

Evolution and change are recurring themes. Lazy Dennis Bovell-style jazzy guitar gives way to frantic, scratchy dissonance during ‘Dub Tribe’, and the tight instrumentation of ‘Dreadnaught Dub’ becomes increasingly muddied by a pile-up of delay, before reverting to instru-form for the final few bars. There are unusual surprises too – check the country-rock guitar phrase in ‘Satta I’, the gorgeously soulful penultimate piece ‘Rockers Dub’, and ‘Grooving Dub’’s dissection of Richie Spice’s ‘Grooving My Girl’, turning a catchy pop song into a fragmented work of art.

Hunt takes a little of everything – flutes, bleeps, reverse-reverb, binghi-drums etc – yet maintains an overarching mood, while pushing the boundaries of aural good taste with the sure touch of a longtime studio man. There are perhaps a few too many tracks (though none are filler, an uninterrupted listen to all sixteen may be a little draining) but on the whole this is “dub with character” in the best tradition of Scientist’s Dub Landing I and Shaka Meets Aswad. Recommended.

At age 12, Courtney John penned his first song.

In the nineties he co-founded FiWi Music, a record label known for producing quality reggae music.

Known as one of todays best songwriters in reggae, Courtney John has written hits for Marcia Griffiths Shining Time and Beres Hammond Cant Stop A Man.

In 2004 Courtney John was featured in the New York Times Magazine/ Jamaica special, as one of reggae musics artist to watch.

Since the Millennium Courtney Yogie John has consistently delivered successful remixes of many Urban, and Pop artists.

The lead single for the anticipated sophomore album Unselfish is creating a major storm in grassroots market around the world.

Unselfish the album is due summer 2007.

Smith was involved in the music business from an early age; at the age of 8, he was a deejay for the local sound Observer. Like many other great reggae musicians, Smith learned his musical skills from a combination of sound system culture and schoolwork. At age 15 he sang in school with Nadine Sutherland, who urged him to move to Kingston to pursue a singing career. It took five years for Smith to follow this advice as he had difficulty leaving his mother, with whom he had a very close and loving relationship.

Arriving in Kingston at the age of 20, Smith was thrown into the digital revolution of reggae music. His first track, “Indian Lady,” was released on George Phang’s Powerhouse label, Final Mission LP on the extremely popular version the old Heavenless riddim recorded by Sly & Robbie (the riddim from Half Pint’s Greetings). Though it didn’t become a major hit, producers discovered Smith’s unique and convincing singjay talent. During the next five years (from 1985-1990) Smith put out a long line of tunes. His biggest hit was the 1988 tune “Dangerous,” released on the progressive Redman label. A cheering audience watched him perform the song live at Sting ‘88. This song was even adopted by a British boxer called Nigel ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Benn and used as his entrance music, a tune that sounded out his intentions in any forthcoming fight.

Conroy Smith never become an acknowledged reggae legend. The “curse” of the late-’80s digital era was that none of the talented artists from this period of reggae music ever received the kind of acknowledgment enjoyed by the roots singers of the 1970s (except perhaps Tenor Saw). Perhaps it’s because this period of reggae never produced any international superstars. Yet unlike most other reggae artists of the period, Smith’s catalogue consists of strong tunes that even today sound fresh and hard-hitting.