yardie's reggae collection
- artist page
THE ETHIOPIANS OWNER FE DE YARD * * * /
The Ethiopians were Leonard Dillon, Stephen Taylor
and Aston Morris. In 1965 Dillon had recorded a couple of singles
as Jack Sparrow. The next year he met Taylor and Morris, forming the
Ethiopians, and they cut some songs for Clement
Dodd. Soon Morris left and they continued as a duo, cutting for
Sonia Pottinger. As Reggae came up they cut for J.J. Johnson and many
other producers. In 1975 Taylor died in a car incident but Dillon
kept recording. The Ethiopians, even if sometimes overlooked as some
kind of deep "retro" and very nostalgic sounds group, had
been firmly present when the music from Ska, passed through Rocksteady
to became Reggae. A sort of "out of time" attitude can be
appreciated throughout this entire set. Listen, for example, to "Incessantly"
or "Cherry Pee" and guess when they were recorded. After
the first listening, one would say late 60's. No! Those tracks were
recorded around 1985 / 1986! The epocal (historically speaking) Wayne
Smith's "Under Mi Sleng Teng", with its digital revolution,
was there; but the changes occurring by that time did not effect at
all Dillon's approach to nusic. Standing firmly faithful to the old
sounds through his career was a sign of great strength. This attitude
throughout twenty years can be appreciated while listening to this
fifteen tracks CD. The track "Owner Fe De Yard", actually
recorded around 1978-79 (!), with its horns underlining the rhythm
brings back and suggests an almost pre-Early Roots atmosphere. "I'll
Never Get Burned" is at the same time an "out of time"
track. Recorded in 1974 it brings a pattern that belongs to many years
early. Some sort of sounds will always survive. |
1966-1986 - Heartbeat - studio
- discs:1