...and Movering.
U Roy / Strihev All Stars – The Right To Live / Movering
Black Art
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Jamaica, 1975
Info
I hate conversations about "authenticity." Pretentious discussions about whether something counts as "creativity" make me run. Nothing's new, we all steal ideas, who cares? Case in point: today's record, another single by the mighty U-Roy (RIP).
On The Right To Live from 1975, U-Roy lays down his own lyrics about living on the run and escaping a prison death sentence over a version of Cornell Campbell's I Gotta Keep On Running from the same year. Campbell's cut followed the Wailers' Keep On Moving from a few years earlier. Song writing credit on the U-Roy and Campbell discs are given to "Robert Marley," but the Wailers had in turn been riffing on the Impressions' 1964 Keep On Movin', written by Curtis Mayfield.
U-Roy's single was released on two different labels, one of which was Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Art. That would normally lead me to believe that he produced the track, but Perry seems not to have been involved. The Cornell Campbell rhythm that U-Roy toasts on here was actually cut for producer Bunny "Striker" Lee... unless you believe copies of I Gotta Keep On Running released on Bar Bell, where the label claims it was produced by bassist Robbie Shakespeare.
The version side, Movering, is credited to "Strihev All Stars." Who is that? Maybe a typo transformed "Striker" to "Strihev" and robbed Bunny Lee of his All Stars? If so, the typo somehow lived on since the Strihev crew were also credited on copies of The Right To Live released on the Micron label. My best guess? We have the Aggrovators playing a rhythm produced by Bunny Lee with a dub mix by King Tubby. Welcome to the convoluted world of reggae vinyl!
So- is it original? Who ripped off who? Did they create something new? Like I said: who cares? The song is great and I wanted to share it after hearing about U-Roy's recent passing. My only copy was so noisy though that I almost gave up. I didn't think I could coax a listenable recording out of it, but dug in and I'm relatively happy with the result. It was a lot of work to remove only the very worst of the pops and noise. To be honest, it still sounds like the record might have spent a decade or two stored at the bottom of a sandbox... But I'm pretty sure the song has never popped up anywhere other than the original 1975 singles so I'm willing to be pretty forgiving if it keeps a nice U-Roy track in rotation. I hope the quality of the music shines through any scratchiness for you.
'Cause the right to live is a fundamental right
Given to each and every man from creation.
And such a right must not be violated by any man
Not for any reason
Not for even high treason
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https://mega.nz/file/NC4xhKYY#c32UUJREmQP5oTsXDOYt4n0UFuLe5kU2Nj4fd0Sw4Eg
https://mega.nz/folder/QaB2HRRT#U8eauATGMoEvDXq1k40sSQ
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