A Few Favourite Albums: Best Dressed Chicken In Town - Dr. Alimantado (1978)

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Best Dressed Chicken In Town - Dr Alimantado

Greensleeves

Produced by Winston Thompson (AKA Doctor Alimantado)

Released 1978

 Listen to the Best Dressed Chicken In Town that was issued in 2001 on CD with four bonus tracks:

11 Ital Galore 3:38
12 I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali 2:58
13 Johnny Was A Baker 3:35
14 Tribute To The Duke 4.00

Original Tracklisting for the album:

Side 1

Side 2

Single released from the album

Best Dressed Chicken In Town

7" Yellow Vinyl 1978

A-Side: Best Dressed Chicken In Town

B-Side: Can't Conquer Natty Dreadlocks

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 (The Good Doctor Himself)

There are lots of links below to more music by Dr. Almantado and music that's associated to this album. Click on them to enjoy the sounds.

The Debut Album from Dr. Alimantado was actually a collection of previous recordings dating back to 1973 with Just The Other Day , Ride On (which was released as a single in 1974 on Ital Records - which was owned and run by Alimantado himself ) and Plead I Cause - which was originally titled Plea I Cause and issued as a B-Side to the 1973 single Jah Have Mercy on Ital. On the CD Reissue Ital Galore dates back to 1972 (the other bonus tracks: I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali was a single with the Soul Syndicate in 1974 on Ital; Johnny Was A Baker was recorded in 1975 at King Tubbys; and Tribute To The Duke was recorded in 1977 but there was a version released under the banner of Dennis Ferron and Doc. Alimantado in 1976 on Ital Sounds.

It was the first album released from UK based Reggae label Greensleeves which had been founded in 1977 by Chris Cracknell and Chris Sedgewick. They had actually begun as a small record shop in West Ealing in 1975 and like other shops like Small Wonder, Beggars Banquet and Raw would move into the process of releasing records once they had moved to Shepherd's Bush in 1977.

The title track (originally called Best Dress Chicken) had been released on the Sun and Stars label in the UK back in 1975 (and in Jamaica on the Capo label the same year though it had actually been recorded in 1974).

The album employed several major reggae hits as the basis for the tracks, including Horace Andy and John Holt's version of  A Quiet Place which was also a recut of The Paragons classic Man Next Door - Got To Get Away was its actual title and was released as a B-Side in 1968 on Duke Records in the UK (on Poison Flour and I Shall Fear No Evil), John Holt's Ali Baba (on I Killed the Barber), and Gregory Isaacs' Thief a Man (on Gimmie Mi Gun which had been released as a single originally in 1975 on Ital Sounds) and My Religion (on Unitone Skank).

Best Dressed Chicken In Town is among my Top Three Favourite Reggae Albums and although there were to be other albums from him this one, more than any of them, stands the test of time.

The S4L Top Ten Reggae Albums

I just realised when putting this Top Ten together that all the albums stem from the 1970s, that just goes to show how much great Reggae music was around in them days!

Click on the links to listen to albums #4-10.

#1. Best Dressed Chicken In Town - Dr Alimantado

 Greensleeves

Released 1978

#2. Two Sevens Clash - Culture

Joe Gibbs

Released 1977

#3. M.P.L.A. - Tapper Zukie

Klik Records

Released 1976

#4. Natty Rebel - U-Roy

Virgin Frontline

Released 1976

#5. African Dub All-Mighty Chapter 3 - Joe Gibbs and the Professionals

Joe Gibbs

Released 1978

#6. King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo

Yard Music

Released 1976

#7. Under Heavy Manners - Prince Far I

Joe Gibbs

Released 1976

#8. Jacob "Killer" Miller - Jacob Miller

Top Ranking

Released 1977

#9. Dub From Roots - King Tubby

Total Sounds

Released 1974

#10. Police and Thieves - Junior Murvin

Island Records

Released 1977

45RPM: #30 Born For A Purpose/Reason For Living 12" - Dr Alimantado (1979)

I have a number of favourite Reggae 45's and maybe over time I'll post a few more in this ongoing series 45RPM. I've chosen this one because it is quite possibly my favourite one ever (just beating out Frankie Paul's Inferiority Complex).


Dr Alimantado wrote the song Born For A Purpose/Reason For Living in 1976 after an accident in Kingston, Jamaica where a bus had plowed into him. It was originally released on Ital Sounds Records in Jamaica and then in 1977 it was released in the UK on London based Reggae Label Greensleeves as two singles - one as Born For A Purpose backed by Reason For Living and the second as Still Alive backed by Life All Over.

Probably as a direct result of the success of The Best Dressed Chicken in Town album (which was actually a collection of Dr Alimantado's early singles released in Jamaica during the mid-70's) Greensleeves reissued the singles but this time as a 12" and combined both songs, so Born For A Purpose/Reason For Living appeared on the A-Side and Still Alive/Life All Over on the B-Side.

So impressed by Dr Alimantado and Born For A Purpose The Clash even name checked him in the song Rudie Can't Fail! - "Like the doctor who was born for a purpose Rudie can't fail"

A-Side

Born For A Purpose/Reason For Living

B-Side

Still Alive/Life All Over