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I have included audio from the first night’s performance, which ended in riot after just 4 songs. This is very rare audio relative to what I usually share.
April 18 – Zimbabwe Independence Concert,
Rufaro Stadium, Salisbury,
Zimbabwe
Setlist:
01. Intro
02. Positive Vibration
03. Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)
04. Roots Rock Reggae
05. I Shot the Sheriff
DOWNLOAD LOSSLESS (FLAC) AUDIO
Bob Marley and Carly Barrett, Africa, 1980
Please CLICK HERE to read Part 1 of the interview.
(AA) “Wire did so much for ‘Catch A Fire’ and ‘Burnin’.’ But he wasn’t on ‘Natty Dread.’ On ‘Natty Dread’ that was Bernard Harvey and Tyrone (Downie) playing organ on that.”
“So Bob makes his journey, the band is looking for a new singer/songwriter and Junior Marvin wanted to be the one.”
(WAR) “I always dug your style. You layed back in the shadows and did your thing. Junior was always up front.”
(AA) “He’s that type of guy.”
(WAR) “Did Bob want that? Did he like that?”
(AA) ”Personally, I thought it was a competition because one guy wanted to be as popular as the front man. And another guy would say “What’s wrong with this guy? Why can’t he just lay back and play guitar and get in where you fit in? But Junior Marvin studied drama and acting, and he had his own bands, and I think he was probably older than Bob. If I’m not mistaken he’s either the same age as Bob or older. He wanted it. I mean, that’s just his style. As soon as Bob made his journey, he stepped up and said ‘I’m going to put on these shoes, and this jacket, and I’m going to go out and be [the guy].’ And we went along with it for a while.”
(WAR) “You guys made some great music too.”
(AA) “I don’t think so. I don’t think so. On the first album ‘I.D.’ I was like ‘we went from…’”
(WAR) “Come on, ‘Have Faith in Jah’…”
(AA) “It’s not for me. When you do a record and someone takes all the royalties from your record…”
(WAR) “Who took your royalties?”
(AA) “I don’t want to get into it. I don’t want to mention any names. We never got paid for it. We didn’t get one dollar. Not one dollar. So we became a tribute to ourselves. I wasn’t having it. That’s not where I come from. My background is this: learn some songs, go into the studio, knock out some songs, go on the road, represent them.”
(WAR) ”You were trained at Berklee, right?”
(AA) “Yes I went there for free. There was an 8 month period where a friend of mine was going to Berklee. I moved up there and got a job. This was the early 70s and I was working with Aerosmith at the time. So before I went to Berklee I was working with Aerosmith and this guy said ‘I know of these ear training classes you can get into with Major Holley for free.’”
“So I said ‘How long?’ He said ‘probably for a year.’ They hadn’t established a system yet to check I.D.’s, this was the early days when Berklee was just getting into the system. There was Pat Metheney, Mick Goodrick, Al Di Meola. We had cats like Herbie Hancock. I wanted to be involved in that. So I went to these ear training classes for like 8 months and that was my Berklee education. I never graduated from Berklee. I never even went for a year. I got free training just by going to the seminars and classes until they asked for I.D.”
“But getting back to the point I’m making about ‘The Original Wailers.’ We became a tribute to ourselves with one individual up front. So I’m like ‘It’s not working for me.’ One individual, we don’t need to mention his name, I think he wanted to be Bob all his life. That’s the sad part about it. Again, I’m not trying to be the bad guy, but this was the reality of things and it just wasn’t working for me.”
(WAR) “Was he a jealous guy?”
(AA) “I don’t know if he was jealous, but he was very brave. I couldn’t drink that amount of gas to go that fast on a guy’s stage.”
(WAR) “You’re talking one of the greatest performers in the world…”
(AA) “It was confusing. We, the I-Three, everybody in the band was like ‘What is going on here?’
(WAR) “So it was something you guys noticed right?”
(AA) “We didn’t like it. So we dealt with it for a real long time and then I was like…you know, one of the main reasons I left wasn’t because of that, because he wasn’t in the band at that time. It was because of Don Taylor stealing all of Bob’s money, taking all his merchandise, counting all these ticket stubs in Australia and New Zealand where we played for 60,000 or 80,000 people and coming up short for the group.”
(WAR) “Was Bob aware of this? Because there is a rumor that there was a scuffle in Africa in 1980.”
(AA) “That’s all true. Bob was all about getting his music across to the people and performing. He didn’t care about the money. He was going to make his money off the publishing. Ticket money was all about ‘I have to play for these people so they can understand me,’ and so that is what we defended.”
“So then it became all about who’s going to be the next Bob Marley and Rita said it’s got to be Ziggy (Marley). Bob told me he wanted all his kids to go to school and be record executives for his record company. To manage us. But they decided to put the Melody Makers together instead. I made a statement that maybe I shouldn’t have, and I think Ziggy and maybe somebody else got angry because I thought he was too young and he should go to school and get an education like his father said. Their Dad wanted his kids to go to school, go to college, and be record execs for his record company. That’s what Bob told me. Whether anybody wants to believe it or not…that’s their problem.”
(WAR) ”Because everything was the Wailers? It was all supposed to be about the Wailers…”
(AA) “It was all about the Wailers, that’s what we believed. Island records made me believe it was all about Familyman, and Carly, and Tyrone, and then that was all a lie. It was Chris Blackwell’s scheme to psychologically…because that’s what he’s good at: business and psychology. So he psyched all these guys-his Jamaican friends that, ‘Oh I’m going to see you guys through for the rest of your lives. Just keep doing like, ‘Legend,’ and we’re going to keep bootlegging all these albums and make millions of dollars off you guys.’”
(WAR) “It’s awful..”
(AA) “We never got a dollar when they made millions.”
(WAR) “You never got any money from ‘Legend?’”
(AA) “We never got anything. And they still owe me $10,000 because I never got paid for the tour.”
(WAR) “What tour?”
(AA) “The ‘Legend’ tour, I never got paid for the second half of it.”
“Back to the name, back to the name. Now we have a frontman, we’re a tribute to ourself. The ‘I.D.’ album never came off the shelf. No one bought I.D., no one.”
(WAR) “I bought it.”
(AA) “Yeah, like 10-20 people. Now we know the songwriting is weak. Production was terrible on that record. It was engineered well. Terrible production when compared with ‘Exodus,’ ‘Uprising…’
“Familyman meets this groupie…”
(WAR) “This the woman from Baltimore?”
(AA) “She’s fucking out of her mind. She decided she was going to get a cash cow to work for her, cut the cow into steaks, you know, use every limb and organ to devour on her own…”
“And she did so. And he followed through with her. They had 7 children. She’s counting my merchandise money. She’s counting my…”
(WAR) “To this day?”
(AA) ”Not me. I got my own thing now. With those guys. She’s got like more than 100% control over that group.”
(WAR) “Still?”
(AA) “Yeah, they got stupid administration telling me that I can’t…you know their manager calls me and tells me that, constantly tries to sue me, telling me that I don’t have the right to use the name, but that she does and it belongs to her and whatever.”
“So the issue came down to…OK, I was on the road with Familyman and her for like 12 years.”
(WAR) “Did you ever get along with Familyman? Or was this like a constant thing?”
(AA) “Man, I…This is a guy I’ve known for 10 years, in the studio, on tour. I never even got in an argument with him. But if I did a 6-month tour, there would be like 6 salaries missing, and that went on for like 12 years. She took our merchandise. She deducted money from our salaries for herself because she was controlling our money.”
(WAR) “Now what time period are we talking? Late 80s through the 90s?”
(AA) “Straight through until even now. Nothing’s changed. This woman counts The Wailers’ money, but she’s not going to count ‘The Original Wailers’ money because the ‘Original’ title is going to go back to the ‘Original’ people. I incorporated ‘The Original Wailers’ because she incorporated ‘The Wailers’ name and she was going to fire me because she owed me money. She always owed me money and could never keep a salary base solid.”
(WAR) “She wasn’t a music manager right? Did she have a background in this?”
(AA) “No. I mean, she took guys like Third World to Africa and almost ruined their careers. She was just a broom-riding witch who decided there’s a cash cow here, I’m going to take advantage of it…”
(WAR) “How did she get involved though?”
(AA) “After 7 kids you’re involved. You’re financially involved.”
(WAR) “No, he’s involved.”
(AA) “But that was his problem. We didn’t care who he was married to. It was all about the band and the music. It had nothing to do with money, and records, and merchandising and stuff. The Wailers were about going into the studio, making that solid music that everybody loved, and that’s what we lived off of. Then Familyman was hypnotized by something.”
(WAR) “But you guys weren’t. How did she move in?”
(AA) “She’s, she’s, you know, a groupie and groupies can do whatever they want. Look at the groupie line that the Stones have. All the iconic people in the world. The groupies have children and they own all the real estate now. But that was his problem. It had nothing to do wih me. But she could not count my money and count my merchandise money. I decided that wasn’t going to be my life. I departed, I formed ‘The Original Wailers,’ because I wanted to give back to Bunny, Familyman, Tyrone, Wire, Carly, Seeco, that was the whole issue. I thought ‘The Original Wailers’ was better than The Wailers.”
“The Wailers was any Wailers, The Original Wailers was Bunny, Marcia, Judy, Rita, Wire, Familyman, Carly Tyrone, Me. That’s The Original Wailers as far as I’m concerned. I don’t care what anybody else has to say. I lived it. I was there. I slept on the floor for a year until they released Natty Dread. Chris Blackwell….see I slept on Bull Bay Beach because there was…”
(WAR) “You came from London right?”
(AA) “I flew from London…”
(WAR) “Weren’t you working with Traffic at the time?”
(AA) ”I was working with Traffic on Aiye-Keta with Remi Kabaka. I met Chris (Blackwell) through Richard Branson. I worked for Richard Branson first. Now when I worked with Richard Branson it was totally together. It was Richard Branson and Simon Draper. Those guys handled me like a king. They gave me my royalties, they gave me everything. I had nothing to say about Draper and Branson, but when I went to Island there was this whole other psychoilogical thing going on. There was a slave master who had a whole bunch of slaves, you know, Third World, Inner Circle, Aswad. He had all these musicians and songwriters…”
(WAR) “And he sent you to work on the plantation type deal…”
(AA) “And he didn’t give us our 40 acres and a mule, and that’s what we were promised. And it was a continual promise of that. So I decided to call our group ‘THE Original Wailers’ to give it back to who it rightfully belongs to. If it’s Bunny Wailer…”
(WAR) “That’s admirable.”
(AA) “But that name does not belong to some bitch who’s trying to count all of our money. That’s out. That’s not going to happen anymore. She’ll never count my money again. And that’s what she’s doing with The Wailers. She’s counting their money, garnishing their wages, taking all their merchandise, videos, and everything, and putting it in her pocket, living in million dollar real estate and buying a lot of expensive jewelry and I’m not going to aid and abet to that.”
(WAR) “Is he still with her?”
(AA) “I have no idea and I don’t care. I’m more interested in Aston as a bass player. His family and his friends are for him. His business structure is for him. I have nothing to do with that. The only thing I want out of him is to get the band back together so people can realize who he is, who his brother was, and by the way, ‘Miracle’ was dedicated to Carlton Barrett. The whole album is dedicated to him, the world’s greatest drummer. The world’s greatest drummer who was assassinated for his royalties, by his wife. That’s a whole other story.”
“I’m going to get back to the issue of who this belongs to. It belongs to any musician who put in that 10 year decade of hard work that it took to put Bob at the top of the food chain. We are not doing this for money. We are not making any money here. When people come see us play, they go buy ‘Blackheart Man, they go buy ‘Catch A Fire’ and ‘Burnin’’, they go buy ‘Natty Dread.’ These are the records we are playing live.”
(WAR) “So you guys are playing Wailers stuff?”
(AA) “We’re playing original stuff. We brought on a songwriter like Desi Hyson who brings a whole new electricity…”
(WAR) “Well, let me just say about the album…”
(AA) “But I’m not finished with The Wailers thing. It just became a cash cow for somebody to divide and psychologically separate musicians from what they were rightfully meant to do, which was represent Bob Marley. Now we’re representing some woman who wants to count and garnish our wages.”
“For decades…Bob’s been dead for 35 years, and the whole time people are trying to take The Wailers and go somewhere with it. She, for one, knows nothing about reggae music. She doesn’t even like Bob Marley’s music. That’s a statement she’s made to me right in my face. She says ‘I don’t listen to Bob Marley’s music,’ So I said, ‘Well what the hell are you doing with this whole movement then?’ She said ‘It’s all about money for me,’ and she told me to sue her because she’s not going to pay me what she owes me. Rather than sue her, I went out and put this whole ‘Original Wailers’ thing together and that’s what I’m doing. Selling the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers from the past to the present, and at the same time playing and producing my own music. I think it’s a great marriage for me and we are only representing those iconic figures. And it’s not just about Peter, Bob, and Bunny. It’s about all the musicians. It’s about Ronnie, and Reggie, and Freitas, and Winston Wright, you know, Tyrone Downie, Earl ‘Wire’ Lindo, Carlton Barrett, Aston Barrett, it’s all about these musicians who made these songwriters. That’s who I defend. And to hell with whoever doesn’t agree with me.”
“Now ‘The Original Wailers’, The Wailers, Bunny Wailer, the I-Three, we all need to come together. What’s wrong with getting everybody together and having Bunny up front? Have all those musicians back together. What’s wrong with that?”
(WAR) “Nothing.”
(AA) “Nobody wants to defend that. But would Clear Channel and Live Nation get behind that? One million percent. People don’t want to see that. They want to see us fighting. They want to see us talk bad about ourselves. I’m not doing that. ‘Miracle’ is all about the upliftment of reggae music. Reggae has taken a wicked beating since we lost Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Bob, Peter…whole bunch of guys that passed. These are endangered species, we have to keep their memory alive.”
(WAR) “So you’re on a mission here. You’re not just out here touring and playing.”
(AA) “It’s about uplifting The Wailers so people know what Bunny Wailer is about. Let’s honor the musicians that made Bob, Peter, and Bunny the crown winners. People who spent decades of their lives sleeping on the floor so they could succeed. Let’s give them something. Let’s leave something for their children. But there’s too many people who don’t want to see it happen. Everybody wants another Bob Marley. It will never happen. You can try your whole life, it will never happen.”
“The mission I’m on is getting the original band back together. But we’re getting a huge fight.”
(WAR) “What do you mean you’re getting a huge fight? From who? I mean is Familyman on board with that?”
(AA) “Uhhh, I believe he would be. It makes sense to put Bob Marley’s band back together.”
(WAR) “What about Rita?”
(AA) “We’re going to sell records for her. We’re going to sell records for Island. We’re going to sell records for the estate. We’re going to sell so many records.”
(WAR) “So this would be a Tuff Gong venture? Or Island?”
(AA) “Tuff Gong. Island has nothing to do with this. I sland couldn’t have anything to do with this because he hasn’t given us a penny, nothing, since Bob’s journey. Nothing. Not a dollar. This has to be disclosed. The plantation and the evil slave mentality of all these years these Jamaican musicians never got their royalties from Europe. There’s this lawyer, Andre Bertrand, what he did was groundbreaking. He sent royalties to people who never got a royalty check.”
“Bob, Rita, Marcia, Judy, Tyrone, Wire, Carly, Aston, these are the jewels. People need to know what songs they wrote, what songs they performed, what songs they produced.”
Please stay tuned for Part 3 of the Al Anderson interview where Al discusses ‘Miracle’, executive producing, and plans for the future.
(AA) “OK after ‘Catch A Fire’ and ‘Burnin’’ was ‘Natty Dread.’ Let’s look from Natty Dread forward, I defend that. I didn’t have anything to do with ‘Catch A Fire’ and ‘Burnin.’’ I slept on the floor for a year until it was distributed. And after it was distributed, 5 songs went to number one that I played on. I became the session cat to play with in England. Then they sent me to Jamaica and it was all downhill from there in terms of progress and success. There was no success. We had a number one album in England and we couldn’t even get arrested…we did get arrested.”
(WAR) “Did you enjoy this time in your life?”
(AA) “I would never look back on it. I learned the language, I got the most incredible food, I was the fittest ever. The Jamaicans did way more for me than the black Americans did. Hands down. Hands down. I learned more spirituality from them, more levity, how to live. Look at Jamaica compared to America’s concrete jungle, come on man, I mean it’s paradise there. I got more out of living there than I did living in my homeland. That’s why I patronize this music. There’s some rotten elements, but on the other side of that they’re some of the most beautiful people I ever met. That’s why I’m on a journey to bring it back – rocksteady – to the place it’s supposed to be. I’m not the only one either. There’s a bunch of musicians. There’s a whole bunch of white reggae artists that are doing the same thing too. We are all united about keeping reggae music alive. Guys like Gentleman, SOJA, Movement, you know, B-Side Players, there’s a bunch of white reggae acts…”
(WAR) “American reggae acts are making a surge right now.”
(AA) “They are. But where did they get it from? They got it from The Wailers, and a whole bunch of other elements.”
(WAR) “There’s just too much in-fighting. The Rita-Familyman lawsuit, there’s so much bitterness.”
(AA) “OK the issue was this. There was Bob, Carly, and Familyman. They were the producers after Peter and Bunny left. They didn’t want to give him any money. He had to go to court with a woman who is taking his wages now. He made a big mistake. You don’t sue anybody in England, you sue them in France with Andre Bertrand, and you win. She didn’t want to share the success of them winning in England with anybody so they couldn’t win. There’s no way you can win. The Lord of the court knew what her intentions were because the whole time she was there for a month of the lawsuit she was scribbling on a piece of paper and not even looking at the judge and convincing who was the most viable man to receive any awards. His explanation was a disaster. He couldn’t even talk to the Lord on the level of the Marley’s and Chris Blackwell’s representation. Chris went to court and said, ‘I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember. Did you give them royalties? I don’t remember. Tours? I don’t remember. I had bands like U2 and Grace Jones…all these other successful acts like Robert Palmer. I don’t know what Bob was doing.’”
“He’s full of shit. He went to court and told The Wailers that he didn’t remember to pay us. Now this lady with Familyman who is in court has no explanation whatsoever for what they are doing there to sue the Marleys for $160 million. How can you go to court knowing, and after we had already written off all our rights to the Marleys…?”
“My signature was forged, from the beginning. That’s a whole other bag of shit.”
(WAR) “Right.”
(AA) “The issue is she didn’t know what to say to convince Aston to win a court case. She was just like, ‘we’re going to win because my Dad is a businessman and, you know, he told me that this was convoluted and this was slavery mentality.’ England has always dealt with slavery, you know? They owned Jamaica for many years, and now Jamaica has its independence. We wanted to be independent from all these people, make our music, and give it to whoever we wanted to. That’s why Stevie Wonder came in, was trying to introduce Bob to Berry Gordy. Michael Jackson came in, was going to introduce him to Quincy Jones and Walter Yetnikoff at CBS, where they were going to offer Bob major figures. But here comes…We were surrounded by spies and murderous type people.”
(WAR) “This was when you first came on board in ’74, right?”
(AA) “’75”
(WAR) “Jackson and Stevie Wonder, that was ’75.”
(AA)” That was later, ’76.”
(WAR) “Alright, so you say there were spies all around you?”
(AA) “They were sent from Island, they were sent from all over the place. Any place that had something to do with Bob, they were everywhere. There were groupies, spies, supposed managers, publicists, all confusing the issue. But see he knew where he was going, he never strayed. He stayed in gear and kept driving. He did all the tours. He never missed a gig.”
(WAR) “Even when he was so sick.”
(AA) “Man, never missed a gig.”
(WAR) “And those were some of his strongest shows, you know?”
(AA) “Dude, you had to be on stage with him and see how he was suffering. Sometimes he would hold his head, and, you know when he stretches his hand out? He was feeling the worst at those times.”
“Of course, his family is going to want to embrace their father’s success. Of course, Island is going to want to count all the money. Of course, Universal doesn’t want to pay anybody. They don’t want to pay The Wailers. Man, that’s the last cats that are going to get paid. We’re not in-fighting, we’re not fighting with anybody. We just want to continue Bob’s mission, the way he wanted it. The way he told me he wanted it. And it’s not about 15 different impersonators, impersonating him, impersonating his music.”
(WAR) “What is ‘Miracle’? What’s the miracle?
(AA) That we are still alive. Familyman’s alive. Marcia and Judy, they didn’t get shot. Rita got shot, but lived. We’ve been threatened. We’re still here. That’s the miracle. It’s a miracle that we’re still alive. It’s a miracle that this album was made and dedicated to Carlton Barrett, the world’s greatest drummer, who was shot by his wife over his royalties. He never got a dollar. His children don’t have any money. Familyman’s got 50 kids, and they don’t have any money.”
“I represent them. Whatever they want to believe, I worship them. I look up to these cats. I don’t look down on anyone.”
(WAR) “Talk about Desi (Hyson). How did you guys meet? How did he get involved?”
(AA) “I did Desi’s first solo album with a guy named Lenny Shillingfirth from Rocket. Lenny was an amazing brother of mine and I was in competition with Desi’s band Moja Nya. There was Munakas (sp.), Earl Moore, Desi had Moja Nya, and I was playing with a band called Full Hand. Out on Long Island at this place called My Father’s Place there was a bunch of shows, big reggae scene.”
(WAR) “When was this?”
(AA) “Wow, when was this? This was like mid-70s, when I wasn’t playing with Bob I would play with a band called Full Hand.”
(WAR) “I didn’t know that.”
(AA) “Yeah, there was Mojo Nya, Munakas, and Full Hand. Everybody had great musicians, and great music, it was a great time.”
(WAR) “Yeah, My Father’s Place. That was a classic, classic venue.”
(AA) “Yeah, Eppy Epstein, you know. This was a great time. This is when I introduced Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger to Peter Tosh, because Peter was there and he didn’t know who they were. After I introduced them, it was a done deal.”
(WAR) “History.”
(AA) “These are the days that I worship most because it was productive and things started to happen. So Desi was working on his first album with Karl Pitterson and Karl asked me to come in and play some slide guitar. I said, ‘For who?’ He said, ‘Desi.’ I was like, I know Desi. And so we needed a lead singer and he just came out of nowhere like bam.“
(WAR) “What was he doing at the time?”
(AA) “He was doing his own thing. I was doing stuff with Lauren Hill, and Ben Harper…Look, I just want to play music. I’ve been playing guitar since I’m 17 years old. And I played with some really weird people. I’m not rich, and I’ll never be rich. I’m 58 years old. The money has passed me by already. It’s all about the music for me.”
(WAR) “Do you still enjoy it?”
(AA) “Man, look at me. It’s what I do. I can’t do anything else. It’s all about music, it’s all about playing the guitar. I’ve got 2 kids to feed.”
“Notice I’ve never strayed from reggae music. Lauren (Hill) moved to reggae music, Ben (Harper) moved to reggae music. All the people I play with are doing reggae music.”
(WAR) “Erica Newell.”
(AA) “She’s super.”
(WAR) “’Our Day Will Come’ off the new album, how did that come about?”
(AA) “I called Erica and I said ‘I got a song for you. I didn’t write it, but I think it’s going to suit you.’ It’s a song that my mother and father used to love. ’ She just kills it.”
(WAR) “Now she toured with you as The Wailers. Are there any plans to get her back on tour with you guys.”
(AA) “Erica, oh yeah. She’s a business woman, a professional, and she is in demand. If she isn’t busy she’ll give me a call and say ‘Hey I need something.’ When that happens, I’m elated. She has an open invitation. She’s another person who understands me musically. Work with anyone, and have fun, and that’s where it’s at.”
“Go to the website www.originalwailers.com to get the album. There’s 2 free songs and you can download the album.”
(WAR) “Thanks Al. Have a great show.”
(AL) “Thanks, man.”
Carlton Barrett was my favorite member of The Wailers. I have written several tributes to this man, who many consider to be the greatest reggae drummer that ever lived, and one of the greatest drummers ever. Like many brilliantly gifted artists from the golden age of reggae, Carlton met an untimely, and brutally violent end at the hands of his own wife. The motive for the murder of Carlton Barrett? Royalties that he would probably never see anyways.
Here is a real gem among Wailers historians, collectors, and fans alike. Carlton Barrett’s last rehearsal with The Wailers Band from April 10, 1987. He would be brutally murdered in his front yard just 7 days later. Carlton “Carly” Barrett, legendary reggae drummer and founding member of The Wailers Band, was dead at 36. Ironically, this was the age of Bob Marley when he passed 6 years prior.
Shortly after his murder, Carly’s wife, Albertine, her lover, a taxi driver named Glenroy Carter, and another man, Junior Neil, were arrested and charged with his killing. Albertine and Carter escaped the murder charge, and were instead convicted and sentenced to 7 years for conspiracy. After just one year in prison, they were released in December 1992 on a legal technicality.
Roger Steffens’ Carlton Barrett Tribute Show
“Feel It In The One Drop” by Midnight Raver
Credit to Dubwise Garage for digitizing this audio!
Now that we are living in a digital age, many people do not bother with vinyl records anymore, and I believe it is a mistake. There is no sound like vinyl. Fortunately, Sony sells an excellent stereo turntable (PS-LX300USB USB Stereo Turntable) capable of ripping vinyl records to digital media. So, I decided to digitize one of my favorite Augustus Pablo albums, a compilation released in 1998 titled “Red Sea.”
Although this masterpiece of an album is out-of-print, you may be able to find a copy HERE.
“Red Sea” is an album by Augustus Pablo released in 1998, containing material recorded between 1970 and 1973. It was produced by Herman Chin Loy. Chin Loy is a Chinese Jamaican record producer who co-owned the Aquarius Record Store at Halfway Tree with his half-brother Lloyd A. Chin Loy in 1969.
The music on the album is among the earliest instances of Pablo’s revolutionary use of the melodica as a viable musical instrument. Chin Loy is often credited as being an influential figure in the discovery and nurturing of Pablo’s talent. He was the first to record Horace Swaby, whose recordings, like those of other keyboard players who recorded for Chin Loy, were released under the name Augustus Pablo, the success of Swaby’s releases causing the name to stick.
Chin Loy was responsible for one of the first dub albums, Aquarius Dub, released in 1973, and mixed at Dynamic studio by Chin Loy himself. In the 1970s, Lloyd A. Chin Loy built the first 24-track recording studio in the Caribbean.
1 “Red Sea” (Swaby)
2 “Iggy” (Swaby)
3 “East of the River Nile” (Swaby)
4 “Soul Vibration” (Swaby)
5 “Song of the East” (Swaby)
6 “Uganda” (Swaby)
7 “Youth Man” (Swaby)
8 “Invasion” (Swaby)
9 “I Man” (Swaby)
10 “African Rock” (Swaby)
11 “African Zulu” (Swaby)
12 “405″ (Swaby)
13 “Reggae in The Fields” (Swaby)
14 “Darker Shade of Red” (Swaby)
Personnel
Augustus Pablo – keyboards, Melodica
Uziah “Sticky” Thompson – drums
Aston Barrett – Bass Guitar, Guitar
Clive Chin – Percussion
Carlton “Santa” Davis – drums
Ranchie McLean – Guitar
Herman Chin Loy – Backing Vocals
Val Douglas – Bass Guitar
Mikey Richards – drums
Alva Lewis – Guitar
Ranford “Ranny” Williams – Guitar
Mikey Chung – Guitar
Glen Adams – keyboards
Lloyd Charmers – keyboards
Geoffrey Chung – keyboards
Bobby Ellis – Trumpet
Vin Gordon – Trombone
Tommy McCook – Saxophone
Aquarius Record Shop
What do you get when you pair the greatest bass player on the planet with the greatest drummer on the planet? The Sound of Macka Dub.
That’s right. You wouldn’t know this unless you listen very closely but Carlton Barrett plays drums on 2 tracks from the ‘Just A Passing Glance album. The 1991 stunner of an album, produced by Doctor Dread and engineered by Errol Brown and Jim Fox, was recorded at Tuff Gong in Jamaica. Recording at Tuff Gong with Errol Brown gave them access to a wide array of samples, tracks, and riddims recorded while Carly was still living (he was brutally murdered in 1987). So you have access to drum tracks by the greatest drummer reggae has ever produced. Why not use them?
Well they did, and the resulting tunes “You Are My Sunshine” and “Frontline” shine brighter for it….
Bob Marley as seen on his VERSUS FUNKSTAR DELUXE (Edel 1999) and SUN IS SHINING THE REMIXES (Tuff Gong/Palm 1999) cd covers, tracks from which are included in my latest metamix SUNS ARE SHINING
Burning daylight is here to back weh all foggy roads & misty mornings with a nineteen track sunny side salute to Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Lee Perry, The Upsetters and many others. In line with Midnight Raver’s Millennial Milestone Fete here’s many great and scarce selections taken from DAT tape and other clean sources ready to melt away all blues and negativity in these trying times. Studio may be kinda cloudy but the speakers and dreadphones beget a brighter forecast. Everyone’s going to see clearly now that the rain is gone and Bob and buds are on the box non-stop, version ‘pon version, disinfecting the stagnant status and finding cracks in everything that need exposure and lightness. Be a rainbow too. To the rescue. Here I and I am. Spring into Summer. Suns are shining!
Check Midnight Dread on Facebook for more of your Daily Dread. Midnight Dread also now broadcasts & streams new shows daily at 12am with some repeated in Doug’s Best of All Worlds noon slot (Pacific Times). Much more here: http://www.midnightdread.com
For my extra special contribution to the Midnight Raver Millennial Posts Musical Stampede I and I offer this tough and tight quick list / long view of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ most amazing performances captured live (outside of One Love Peace & Smile Jamaica) on film or video. These complete concerts or rehearsals should be made widely available as soon as possible in the fullness with state-of-the-art transfers of both sound and image at the highest standards in line with the depth of the lyrics and musicianship. Granted, a couple of these have seen some limited release in either geography or selection and thanks to YouTube can be constricted to fit on most any current receiver device but all call for bigga big up screen THX (give thanx) surround style reproduction to reincarnate every soul. Lively up Skip!
Visit Midnight Dread on Facebook for your Daily Dread ‘like’. Doug broadcasts & streams new shows daily at 12am, 6am (Pacific Times). More here: http://www.midnightdread.com
Pop music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle Joel Selvin wrote and published this column in the newspaper’s Sunday Entertainment tabloid magazine style ‘Pink Section’ the week Bob passed in May 1981. Joel reviewed most of Bob’s local live concerts for the dominant Bay Area morning daily through-out the 1970s. We’ll save those for other days. Today, it’s Joel’s usual brand of interesting observations and newsworthiness plus some behind the scenes revelations, wrong impressions (I was at the first Wailers’ show in October 1973 and it was not that heavily attended, for one) and goofy gossip, all broiled into an entire column probably most noteworthy for the last three paragraphs on Johnny Nash, who I hadn’t heard before attended one of the later legendary Matrix concerts and got snubbed. Selvin has it totally right that without Scott Piering leaping in to save the day after the debacle with Sly Stone, it’s hard to imagine how else The Wailers would have redeemed a bad situation and started a growing and phenomenal interest in their music and live reggae that then exploded across the country.
‘Underground’ FM radio pioneer Tom Donahue also gets major credit for using the airwaves in late 1973 to infect thousands with reggaemylitis that could not or didn’t know to see the Matrix presentations. His Sausalito Record Plant live broadcast with Bob, Peter, Joe, Carly, Aston and Wiya around the same time became fodder for most of 1991′s fantastic TALKIN’ BLUES cd, a perfect document of exactly what the Matrix shows were like with stunning versions of many Wailers’ classics especially “Rastaman Chant”, “Walk The Proud Land” and “You Can’t Blame The Youth”. It’s hard to believe it now but in October 1973 literally almost no one in the San Francisco Bay Area knew anything about this group. THE HARDER THEY COME had been playing regularly around the bay yet The Wailers were not in the movie. When I saw a tiny paragraph in the Chronicle saying a Jamaican band was all of a sudden playing that night in North Beach I walked a couple miles with my wife-to-be Deeling from our little basement pad on Nob Hill to the Broadway venue (that later became The Stone) located not far from Carol Doda’s famous topless club. A hippy folk singer opened before the restless crowd waiting to see reggae live anywhere for the first time. The curtained opened and there they stood, strangers all to the assembled watchers.
Those lucky enough to witness the event were about to be wonderfully blind-sided with top-ranking talent and rhythm execution beyond most anything imagined and different from what Perry Henzell’s film revealed about Jamaican music. It was beyond mesmerizing. For many our lives were changed forever. I bought CATCH A FIRE and BURNIN’ the next day and put most all my rock records up in a trunk in the attic. In about a year I was on the radio with THE REGGAE EXPLOSION on KTIM, perhaps the nation’s first regular commercial radio reggae program. The days of derivative devolved rock & roll that all sounded to me like re-hashed inferior Led Zeppelin & Jimi Hendrix wannabes was over. Music as good or better than what reigned supreme from 1966-1968 returned with a conscious vengeance. Peace, love and revolution is back brother! Far out man.
Story by Sybil E Hibbert
Sybil E Hibbert is a veteran journalist and retired court reporting specialist. She is also the wife of Retired ACP Isadore ‘Dick’ Hibbert, rated among the top Jamaican detectives of his time.
ALBERTINE Barrett, widow of Carlton Barrett, a former drummer in Bob Marley’s Wailers Band, was on October 18, 1991, jailed for seven years along with the two men charged with her for conspiracy to murder her husband.
Carlton Barrett was a well-known musician on the dancehall circuit at the time of his death. He was gunned down at his gate at 12 Bridgemount Park Avenue, Kingston 8 about 9:30 pm on April 17, 1987.
The late Justice Ellis (retired senior puisne judge) in passing the seven-year prison term on Barrett and the other two accused, remarked at the time that the case raised the frightening spectre of contract murder.
He said that a contract murder was very difficult to solve because the contractor was a stranger to the victim and police investigators therefore had little to go on to find the killer.
“You were the author of the plot,” the judge told Barrett as she stood in the prisoner’s dock awaiting her fate. She had been recently married, the court was told, and was seven months pregnant.
His Lordship added before imposing the sentence on her: “Your attorney, Tavares-Finson, in eloquence and sincerity, mentioned that you had lived a life of living hell with your husband, but it is my view that you could have (with)drawn from that without resorting to what you did.”
56 Hope Road (Photo by Lindsay Donald)
Sentenced with her were Glenroy Carter, 39, her reputed lover and taxi operator of 15 Grayden Avenue, Kingston 10, and Junior Neil, 39, also called “Bang”, a mason, of 19 Seaward Drive, Kingston 11, whom the prosecution alleged was responsible for snuffing out the life of the deceased.
But by 1994, after hearing evidence and legal submissions for 12 days — following two previous trials and a successful appeal to the Jamaican Court of Appeal — a jury retired for 25 minutes and returned a not-guilty verdict in favour of all three accused. They were then acquitted.
Justice Bingham (later judge of appeal now retired) presided at this trial in the Home Circuit Court.
The Crown had alleged that the three accused conspired in 1987 to kill Carlton Barrett. Cautioned statements were allegedly given by the three accused to the police in which they were alleged to have said that there was an agreement to kill him for a payment of $20,000. These statements were tendered in evidence.
It was also part of the Crown’s case that prior to the murder, Carter, a Jamaican who resided in the USA, was on vacation here when he met the accused Albertine Barrett and they became lovers. It was further alleged that the accused, Junior Neil, was contracted to carry out the killing.
In their defence, the three accused denied giving the statements voluntarily to the police. They claimed they were beaten and forced to do so.
Barrett and Carter were tried twice for the murder.
In the first trial, the jury failed to arrive at a verdict. In the second, Justice Panton (later president of the Court of Appeal) ruled that Barrett’s cautioned statement was inadmissible, as the prosecution had not proven that coersion played no part in the taking of her statement.
The judge said then that he laid no blame on Detective Superindent Donald Brown (later ACP retired), who had testified. Carter’s statement was admitted into evidence and he was freed by the jury.
Barrett was defended by attorneys Tom Tavares-Finson and Dr Paul Ashley; and variously by attorneys K D Knight, QC (later government minister), Bert Samuels and Norman Harrison. Neil was represented by attorneys C J Mitchell and Gayle Nelson.
Paris 1977
The Crown’s case was presented at various times by Lloyd Hibbert, deputy director of public prosecutions (now judge of the Supreme Court); Yvette Sibble, assistant director of public prosecutions; Lancelot Clarke, assistant director of public prosecutions; and Crown Counsel Cheryl Richards.
A Home Circuit Court judge and jury later heard from Detective Superintendent Brown that a team of detectives headed by him began carrying out intensive investigations immediately after the murder.
Brown had given evidence later, at an ‘in camera’ trial, that the investigations led to the arrest of the three accused and they each gave cautioned statements admitting that they were involved in a plot to kill Barrett.
Giving evidence in the hearings was Oswald Brown, a justice of the peace (JP), who testified for the Crown. He said he was present when Barrett and Carter gave cautioned statements to the police.
Harold Nembhard, also a JP, said he witnessed a cautioned statement given by Neil.
In these statements, which were tendered in evidence and read to the jury, the three accused allegedly admitted conspiring to murder Barrett.
Carter and Albertine Barrett were alleged to have said in their statements that they went to the corner of Seaward Drive and Molynes Road where they saw Neil, o/c “Bang”, and asked him if he knew of anyone who could ‘bump off’ a man.
Albertine Barrett is alleged in the statement to have given “Bang” a photograph of her husband, as well as the licence number and make of the car he drove.
56 Hope Road
All this evidence was revealed at a subsequent trial, the result of Justice Patterson ordering a retrial.
All three accused were this time convicted for conspiracy to murder Barrett, a jury having failed to arrive at a unanimous verdict in respect of murder against Barrett and Carter.
At that first trial in 1988, when the case was called, Deputy DPP Hibbert had informed the court that there was a new indictment — conspiracy to murder Carlton Barrett — in respect of Neil, who would be tried at a later date.
Neil was remanded in custody pending the outcome of the murder charge filed against the other two accused.
The retrial took place in 1990 when Carter and Barrett were freed by a jury of the murder charge.
But by 1991, after the conviction of all three for conspiracy to murder resulted, an appeal to the Court of Appeal succeeded. Again, a new trial was ordered.
Finally, in November 1994, a Home Circuit Court jury, after hours of deliberation, returned not-guilty verdicts in favour of all three accused persons and they walked free.
Testifying in his defence, during the period, Neil told the judge and jury that he was beaten by the police and then given a statement to sign. He said that a piece of concrete with wires was tied to his testicles and he was told to walk.
“It feel like it was drawing down my belly, drawing down inside of me. I could not take it anymore and so I signed,” Neil told the court.
He added that Superintendent Brown showed him where to sign.
Barrett wept as she told the court, in sworn testimony, that her husband, who had been a drug addict, used to beat her.
She related several acts of cruelty done to her by him over an extended period, but she denied plotting with anyone to kill him. She admitted that she had been engaged in an affair with Carter while living with her husband but claimed she knew nothing at all about how he met his death.
Carter, who also gave sworn testimony in his defence said that he had heard that the police were looking for him, and on April 22, 1987, he went to the Constant Spring Police Station. There, he gave a statement to the police, denying that he knew anything about the murder of Carlton Barrett. He was also questioned about his family, he stated.
He said that after he was questioned, he was taken to Red Hills police station and on April 24, he was given a statement to sign. He said he signed it because he thought it was the statement which he had given to the police on April 22.
Sweden 1977 (www.bob-marley.es)
Carter further told the court that he could not read and denied that he had given any cautioned statement to the police.
He said he met Albertine Barrett in January 1987 and they had a relationship. But he insisted that he did not know anything about the murder of her husband.
The two accused said the police forced them to sign the cautioned statements and both said they were beaten by the police.
They were cross-examined by Deputy DPP Hibbert, and Assistant DPP Sibble.
Carter also called a witness to support his claim that he was at home at the time when Carlton Barrett was killed.
However, there was an interesting turn of events in this torturous trial when, in June 1990, Bert Samuels, appearing for Carter, sought and was granted permission to withdraw from the case on the grounds that he was not properly instructed by his client and so could no longer appear for him.
Samuels also pointed out at the time to Senior Puisne Judge Chester Orr (now retired) that Carter was languishing in custody because he could not take up his $100,000 bail and that, too, affected the possibility of counsel getting proper instructions.
Tavares-Finson, counsel for Albertine Barrett, told the court then that he was ready to proceed with the retrial, whereupon the case was set for mention in the Home Circuit Court on June 25, 1990 so that a lawyer could be assigned to represent Carter.
But by December 1990, when the matter next came before the court for trial, Samuels was vigorously making a no-case submission on behalf of Carter, after such a submission by Tavares-Finson and Dr Ashley had been earlier upheld by the trial judge on Albertine Barrett’s behalf.
Justice Panton had earlier ruled that there was a case for Carter to answer. But after giving evidence on his own behalf, supported by a witness, Carter as found not guilty of Carlton Barrett’s death.
Four years later, all three accused successfully appealed their conspiracy to murder charge, and were finally set free.
Richard Williams examines the roots of reggae drumming in this article from the April 24, 1976 issue of MELODY MAKER.
The post The art of the Jamaican drummer appeared first on MIDNIGHT RAVER.
Jacob Miller had a short, yet explosive career, helped along in no small part by his association with several legendary producers. Discovered by the Swaby brothers – Horace (Augustus Pablo) and his brother Garth – while recording with Coxsone Dodd… Continue Reading
The post Jacob Miller decries “False Rasta” and “Too Much Imitator” appeared first on MIDNIGHT RAVER.
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The post THE USUAL SUSPECTS: Part III appeared first on MIDNIGHT RAVER.
Fitting with the Olympics this week that I chose to recall Keith Hudson’s “Torch of Freedom,” a blaze yourself out of hell track that is two parts testosterone, 2 parts adrenaline, and one part bad as a mutha fucka. I… Continue Reading
The post “Runnin’ with the torch of freedom…” appeared first on MIDNIGHT RAVER.
We at MIDNIGHT RAVER are saddened by the news of the passing of the great Uzziah “Sticky” Thompson. His contributions to the sound and the evolution of reggae over the past 50 years is immeasurable. Truly was one of the… Continue Reading
The post Uzziah “Sticky” Thompson passes appeared first on MIDNIGHT RAVER.
Vivian Jackson AKA “Yabby You” was a man with such unique talent that he continues to make news in reggae circles even today, four years after his death. It was 1972 when Yabby You gathered Wailers bassist Aston”Family Man” Barrett,… Continue Reading
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This live MD radio tribute from the week Bob Marley flew away home is available now for the first time since its original 2 1/2 hour broadcast featuring rare interviews, concerts, & Bob’s life story. It was produced, compiled, &… Continue Reading
The post Bob Marley Memoriam Midnight Dread #71 May 17-18th, 1981 KTIM From Simmer Down To Coming In From The Cold appeared first on MIDNIGHT RAVER.
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