The Originator Lingering...
Pressure Sounds – PSS 024
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Reissue, UK, 2008
(Originally released on Mego-Ann, JA, 1972)
U-Roy, the Originator, passed away a few weeks ago at age 78. There are plenty of obituaries out there. You can read much better writers than me talking about his place in reggae history or the credit that the foundation deejays, U-Roy above all, deserve for planting the seeds of hip-hop and more. (Mad Professor in Rolling Stone: “Without him, there would be no dancehall, no hip-hop, no rap, no Afrobeat.") By all accounts, this musical legend was a truly humble man and a pleasure to work with or talk to. Many of U-Roy's friends, the younger generation of deejays that he mentored on his King Stur-Gav Sound System, and current dancehall stars have been testifying online about how grateful they are to have known him. Steve Barrow, the writer of many liner notes in your reggae record collection and former head of the brilliant Blood & Fire records, wrote a short U-Roy remembrance for the Wire last month that is worth a read.
This is a 2008 repress of U-Roy's "Linger You Linger," a 1972 single that he originally released on his own Mego-Ann recited label. The man is near the height of his power here. If it sounds pretentious when people write about U-Roy's love of jazz directly informing his chatting style, this track may be one that redeems them for you. Between stacks of scatting rhymes, he gives the music time to breathe, flitting on and off the beat- this is the man who took the deejay art to a whole new level, years before your favorite MC.
Well, I'm coming your direction
with my my midnight attraction
And there's gonna be a big, big, dread demonstration.
What, baby? It's gonna cause a musical botheration
I tell you it might cause a whole lot of confusion...
U-Roy rides the rhythm from Dennis Brown's "Songs My Mother Used To Sing." (If you think you recognize the B side dub, Madlib flipped a sample from this for a track with J Dilla once upon a time.) The version side's instrumental take highlights the tough bass, some nice bluesy guitar work that you don't hear on your average reggae 45 and a great horn melody. This never got versioned again that I'm aware of, which is hard to believe.
Right now I'm the musical spinner
who came down for dinner
and maybe I can be a winner
never try to be a sinner
https://mega.nz/file/hLxiXCzD#C33_E0ADpQNGQJ7Cxzsjg_ROQAhp798bwkHFzTuclWk
https://mega.nz/folder/IawWHKhC#mR-sIO2wS5D96YKhuKdC0w
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