VARIOUS ARTISTS

Reactions  (0)

Review written by Benoit Georges on Monday, November 20th 2006 - 11 295 views The English label Pressure Sounds carries on down the road of Jamaican reissues and devotes its 52nd instalment to the Chinese-Jamaican singer and producer Tommy Cowan. A member of the 60s rocksteady trio The Jamaicans, Tommy Cowan also worked for Byron Lee at Dynamics Sound. In charge of promoting American labels’ releases in Jamaica, he noticed the lack of promotion given to local artists. To remedy this, in 1975 he set up The Talent Corporation with Warwick Lyn and Gayman Alberga, whose aim from then on was to produce and promote local artists, in short to help Jamaican musical creation. Producer, sound engineer, lyricist, distributor, Tommy Cowan was responsible, among other things, for "Same song", Israel Vibration’s first album, released in 1978. The compilation "Life goes in circle" thus offers a quality retrospective of Tommy Cowan’s work by bringing together 13 singles, some accompanied by their versions. The selection runs from 1974 to 1979 and so covers several styles of reggae. Big names immediately catch the attention, such as The Abyssinians with Love comes and goes, a sublime track entirely representative of the group’s style that deserved to be presented with its dub, Jacob Miller with a Ghetto on fire full of "gimmicks", Earl Zero with the rasta anthem City of the weak heart and the more militant hit Please officer, typical of the "flying cymbal" style (both with their dub versions), Leroy Smart, or a superb Dennis Brown who gives the compilation its name. Also worth noting is the excellent version of I Kong’s The way it is (already featured in volume 50 of the same collection) by Augustus Pablo. The inspiration of American soul, an integral part of the Talent Corporation’s musical culture, is more prominent on the opening track Jerusalem by Devons Irons, with its funk accents, and on Ken Boothe’s Speak softly love, a magnificent cover of the theme from The Godfather that appeared on the very international album "Everything I own". The compilation ends with a tribute to the singer Roman Stewart, who died in 2004, and to his hit Hit song, presented with the 1975 original version, the toasted version by the great Dillinger and finally the dub version. The selection of singles shows both the diversity of the Talent Corporation collective’s approaches and the exceptional musical quality that sticks to it. More than a simple compilation, this 52nd instalment from Pressure Sounds also offers some fine discoveries, like this False rumour by a duo with the very generic name of Two rasta man. It is also an opportunity to cast a spotlight on Tommy Cowan, a rather overlooked figure of Jamaican music who is unanimously credited with a thoroughly rasta modesty coupled with a genuine professional ethic.

No comment