yardie's reggae collection
- artist page
DELROY WILLIAMS (1948 - ) I STAND BLACK * * * *
Delroy Williams was born in 1948 in the Westmorland Parish, Jamaica. He moved with his mother to Kingston at an early age, and he stayed there up to the late 80's when he moved to the US. In Kingston he founded the Afri-Tones with George Allisson and Ricky Grant. The latter soon left the group and Shirley Forbes joyned them. They cut some material for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One under the name The Madlads. But soon the Rastafarian Delroy changed their name to The High-Lites. Among the material recorded they cut "Ten To One" and "You'll Never Know". By the early 70's Forbes quit and at this point Williams went solo. During the first half of the 70's Delroy cut some material for different proucers. In 1976 Augustus Pablo recorded Delroy's single "I Stand Black". Soon other tracks were recorded to become a complete album with the same title (1977). This strong set recorded at Channel One and Harry J presented ten tracks: "I Stand Black", "Little Less Talking", "Mountain Top", "Heathen Valley", "Crucial", "Breaking My Heart" (inexplicably not present in this re-release), "Idren's Feel Nice", "Foxe's Hole", "Jah Children Love" and "Learn". The album was produced by Pablo and engineered by Sylvan Morris, Barnabas (also known as Stanley Bryan, Ranking Barnabas and Barnie Bass) and King Tubby. The musicians were: Style Scott, Anthony "Benbow" Creary, Albert Malawi, Carlton "Santa" Davis and Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace (drums); Errol "Flabba" Holt, Robbie Shakespeare, Junior Dan and Leebert "Gibby" Morrison (bass); Fazal Prendergast and Bingy Bunny (aka Eric Lamont) (rhythm guitar); Earl "Chinna" Smith (lead guitar); Steele (aka Wycliffe Steely Johnson, Steely, Steelie Johnson) and Augustus Pablo (piano and organ); Nambo Robinson (aka Ronald Robinson) and Dean Frazer (horns); Delroy Williams, Teo Benjamin, Garth Swaby and Norris Reid (percussions); Augustus Pablo (strings); Augustus Pablo (melodica). This set presents basecally pure Roots from the delicate voice of Delroy. Half of the songs are actually very strong Roots and they deserve the right attention. On those songs, strong arrangements (from both Williams and Pablo) and great musicians, permit Delroy to shine. At the end this is an album to listen to quite carefully, even if not all the material reaches the higher levels. But this re-release does not end with the almost entire original set (as stated above one track is unfortunately missing). Five more bonus tracks are added: "All The Time" (12" version), "Think Twice" (12" version), the mesmerizing "This Love", the keyboards filled "Your Mind", and "Babylon Boy" (12" version). Delroy Williams cut just a bunch of songs, therefore this is an unmissable opportunity to listen to an almost forgotten great voice from the golden era of Reggae. 1. Heathen Valley
|
1977-1981 - Makasound - studio
- discs:1