Birth Of Reggae Music

This majestic rhythm was brought from Channel One to Wackies by Sugar Minott. First to voice it was Jah Batta - his bathetic version makes a comic interlude in Chris Coy's 1983 film about the label, when he mimes the lyrics to his companion, strolling in the park - originally released on Junior Delahaye’s Sun Force label, the production credited to Batta, aka Tony Omeally. (The flip was the Jezzreel cut here, reworking The Upsetter’s classic Fever b-line. Even this you need.) Max Romeo’s myth-making is more in tune with the genius of the rhythm. The song appeared originally on his album One Horse Race, mastered in London at PRT, and issued in New York on the Island In The Sun imprint, in 1985. And it’s up there with Melt Away as the best side he made away from the Black Ark; and surely the best of his twelve years away from Jamaica, from 1978 -1990.