Tell Me What You Want To Be

I do intend to get back to some Chicago music (and even another visit to George Washington Carver Area High School), but first another visit to JA and Billy Boyo, the "high school MC" from my last post. I'm passing on two of his strongest singles, including one of my favorite reggae records ever. Please, grab this!
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In the early 1980s, the dancehall explosion in Jamaica brought scores of artists who, instead of chasing the international stardom of Bob Marley or the cult of roots reggae collectors abroad, brought the focus back home. Deejays and singers of the new reggae style were more focused on the hometown audience, rocking mics at the dance over the "version" (dub or instrumental) side of crackly, JA pressed 45s. The lyrics could touch on "roots and culture," but you were at least as likely to hear a 3 minute tribute to the virtues of Clarks shoes as repatriation themes or devout Rastafarian tributes.

Both Billy Boyo singles that I'm sharing today are in that vein, with Billy talking smack, celebrating and big upping the rest of the singers and deejays associated with Junjo's Volcano Sound System. Volcano ruled the dance for those key years, setting trends for the whole island and playing all the latest Junjo productions and Scientist mixed rhythms. (For a taste of that scene, you can find a video of a Volcano set at the legendary Skateland here or get a glimpse of Billy Boyo in 1983, freestyle chatting at a dance here.)

Yellowman / Billy Boyo
Lost Mi Love / Billy Boyo In The Area
Rhythm: Dirty Harry
Label: Jah Guidance ‎– JG0128
Vinyl, 7", UK, 1982(?)

Side A  -  Yellowman  -  Lost Mi Love
Side AA  -  Billy Boyo  -  Billy Boyo In The Area

Both tracks on the first single ride Junjo's 1982 re-cut of the Dirty Harry rhythm, although I don't think they were released in this format at the time. I suspect this is a UK pressing from the late 90s or early 2000s. Regardless, the single has become pretty rare and pricey to hunt down despite being a later issue. On it you get "Billy Boyo In The Area," one of the key tracks from our hero's split LP with Little Harry, the only album Billy was to release in his lifetime.

If you still had any suspicions that Billy Boyo was a novelty act after my last post, one listen to "Billy Boyo In The Area" should set you straight. King Yellowman was probably the biggest artist in Jamaica during the 1980s dancehall years and his "Lost Mi Love" on this "double A side" single should also get plenty of play. Junjo's version of Dirty Harry (first cut a decade earlier by Glen Brown) really shines with a mix that puts the thick bass line up front and... features cowbell?

Little John & Billy Boyo ‎– What You Want To Be (Disc Jockey)
Dug Out ‎– DO-RI003
Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Repress, UK, 2010

A1 - Little John - What You Want To Be
A2 - Little John & Billy Boyo - Disc Jockey
B1 - Professor & The Roots Radics - Combination

It would really be hard to overstate how much I love this one... The original 12" of "What You Want To Be (Disc Jockey)" came out in the UK in 1982 on Rusty International. It's one of several combination tunes that Billy Boyo recorded with fellow youth and singer Little John. This reissue was released in 2010 on the always high quality (and now sadly defunct?) reggae reissue label, Dug Out.

If I had to pick a single record to show a new listener the brilliance possible in 1980s dancehall, this might be the one. Two charismatic vocalists over an inspired take on the Every Tongue Shall Tell rhythm- this one really deserves to be much better known.

Little John begs for you to "tell me what you want to be" before the mix enters into science fiction territory and Billy Boyo joins him to provide the answer: "Disc Jockey." It may not be deep, but I smile every time I hear this song and it's guaranteed to move the party next time you DJ. I know we're all quarantined in our homes right now, but I dare you to play this one LOUD and see if you don't start dancing, singing along with your own made up lyrics and receiving thank you notes from the neighbors. (I also like to think that this song was part of the inspiration behind our nine year old filling most of a composition book.)

My son's book of rhymes is locked. Don't bite the lyrics!

The label lists the A side as two separate tracks, but I kept them as a single file here. Jamaican 12" singles were often "disco mixes" that not only extended the length, but spliced together two different songs that a producer had released over the same rhythm (often a singer then a deejay or the vocal cut followed by a dub). In that spirit, I left the two tracks running one right into the next as they are on the vinyl.

The explosive echos on side B are credited to both Professor and The Roots Radics. In the early 80s, the Roots Radics were the backing band for countless dancehall productions and managed to reinvent Jamaican musical styles, even as they regularly revisited classic rhythms from an other era. Many of the rhythms originated in the rocksteady years (roughly 1966-68), but they slowed the tempo, dropped the horn sections, and transformed these tunes into dance floor shaking, minimalist mixes built around one of the greatest rhythm sections ever found in popular music. (Bold statement? No, it's a fact. I checked.)

Professor (sometimes known as The Crazy Mad Professor, but not the same guy as Guyana born, longtime London dub producer Mad Professor... Hey, are you taking notes?) was an mixing engineer, turning knobs and working magic on the tapes brought over to King Tubby's from the Channel One recording studio. If you read credits in the liner notes of these classic dancehall records you see his name pop up, but Professor wasn't credited as an artist on records as regularly as fellow Tubbys apprentices Scientist and Prince Jammy. He was less prolific than those studio legends, but the dub workout given to "Combination" showcases Professor shredding the songs to pieces and pushing the studio to its limits. Not hard to hear the skill that would have brought him into the company of King Tubby and Co.
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I really hope some of you enjoy this. Links in comments below.
Be well!