Various - The Lion Roars

Various Artists
The Lion Roars (Roots Records, RJMCD101)














The Lion Roars" is a collection of productions from the early dancehall era by U Brown and Jah Thomas, both of whom are/were better known as deejays, but also created a substantial and influential body of work as producers, taking their place in the evolution of sound system reggae from roots to dancehall alongside the likes of Junjo Lawes, Linval Thompson, Channel One and Prince/King Jammy. The sound on this compilation is broadly similar to that of the Pressure Sounds compilations "When The Dances Were Changing" and "The Crowning Of Prince Jammy" and the Greensleeves compilation "The Biggest Dancehall Anthems 1977-79", in fact many of the tunes on it using the same riddims as those on the latter (which mostly consists of Junjo productions).

Barry Brown's "Movements of Jah" kicks off with a high tempo recut of the classic "No No No" riddim, with Barry wailing in typical righteously charged style about the well-worn but always fresh subject of triumph over sufferation through the power of a vengeful creator God. Anthony Johnson's well known sound system favourite "Gunshot" is reminiscent of Michael Prophet's "Gunman", with a similar combination of serious anti-gun lyrics combined with a sweetened delivery over a bouncy, jaunty major chord riddim. Early B's "History of Jamaica" is a typically witty, fast-paced recitation of patriotic facts over a classic minimalistic early-80s style drum and bass with the odd echo effect.

The mood is taken downtempo for Steve Knight's mellow love song "Love You Endlessly", a fairly generic lyric enlivened by upful guitar and a punchy horn riff, and Al Campbell's "Words Of My Mouth", another update of a vocal he cut several times for various producers (sometimes under other titles such as "Wicked Feel It Now"). These fairly unassuming tunes, however, are vastly overshadowed by Junior Keating's sublime "Conquering Lion", one of the most powerful and moving repatriation roots tunes of its era - deeply dread and hands-in-the-air devotional in its message of hope in the face of sufferation, and reminiscent in sound of Studio One roots at its best - simply one of the heaviest late roots era tunes around.

The next few tunes are more typical early 80s dancehall fare, with Jah Thomas's own "Dance On The Corner" an enjoyable but generic deejay cut of "Real Rock", while "African Jump" by Bongo Herman is an echoey, percussive instru/dub in the vein of much Scientist and Roy Cousins material. "There's Much More To Live" by Vincent Taylor (lead singer of The Revealers) has a dark, rootsy riddim reminiscent of early Jammys productions, tempered by Taylor's meditative vocal and some backing/harmony vocals harking back to the 70s, while in contrast "Leave The Badness Alone" by the relatively unknown Singie Singie has a much later feel than most of the material on this comp, being strongly reminiscent of the post-Sleng Teng style epitomised by Pressure Sounds' "Firehouse Revolution" release (review soon come!), with a sing-jay style vocal similar to the likes of Red Rose or King Kong, fast, skippy drum machine riddim and percussive cut-up vocal samples.

"Palaving Spree" by Ranking Toyan is another solid loverman deejay tune in typical Toyan style, while Carlton Livingston's "Ram Jam Session" joyfully advertises the dancehall over a slow but bouncy version of the "Answer" riddim. "Steal Away Girl" by Sugar Minott is another good vibes lovers tune, while "Baby I Love You" by Delroy Wilson is a sweet complaint of lost love, but over a similarly mellow and bouncy riddim ensuring the mood remains "nice" rather than turning tragic, and Johnny Osbourne's "Take Me To A Rub A Dub Session" returns to the theme of extolling the niceness of the dancehall-ruling and people-pleasing sound.

Dickie Ranking's "Too Much Badness" is another strong anti-violence lyric using the same deceptively minimal riddim as Yellowman's "Mr Chin", nicely embellished by plenty of echo and satisfying percussion floating in the background, while hornsmen Bobby Ellis and Deadly Headley provide a playful yet meditative instrumental to U Brown's (oddly not included) "Weather Balloon", aptly entitled "Blow Your Balloon", and nicely showcasing the "light", yet satisfying brass arrangements (taking over from the more sombre traditional roots sound) that exemplified the early dancehall era. The selection closes with Brown's self-produced "Jah Is My Father", a half-sung reiteration and celebration of monotheistic faith that manages to be witty rather than preachy in the best unpretentious 80s "reality" deejay style.

The problem that many of these tunes have is that, while undeniably nice and showcasing nicely the raw yet light, playful and humorous yet still musically solid and stripped-down, bass-led early dancehall style, they are so typical of it that they tend towards the generic, with nothing to really distinguish Jah Thomas's and U Brown's production styles from one another or from any of their major contemporaries - thus, the tunes which stand out by virtue of slightly differing in style or having particularly strong messages in "word sound power", such as "Conquering Lion", "Movements Of Jah", "Gunshot" and "Leave The Badness Alone", are instant stand outs whereas the rest somewhat blend into each other. However, this compilation contains enough outright killers and has consistent enough quality among the non-stand-out tracks to still be definitely recommended for anyone into the roots-to-dancehall period of music, and is complemented by extremely nice artwork and comprehensive sleeve notes (although they don't include, slightly annoyingly to me, original release dates for each track (which are presumably all taken from 7")), making the apparently new Roots Records reissue label one to watch out for...