45RPM: #104 Al Capone - Prince Buster's All Stars (1965)

Al Capone / One Step Beyond - Prince Buster's All Stars

Blue Beat

Released 1965

UK Chart #18*

*The song didn't chart until 1967! It spent 13 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

A-Side: Al Capone

B-Side: One Step Beyond

I can remember one day going into a junk show in Forest Hill to get out of the rain and digging my way through huge boxes of records (all without covers and some looking worse for wear!) and picking up a pile of old Trojan and Blue Beat 7" Singles for the cost of 10p each, and a Dozen for £1. This was at least a year or so before the rise of Two Tone and clearly the owner of the shop had no clue what treasure he had gathering dust.

Among the 12 that I purchased that particular day were two Prince Buster singles, the 1963 release Open Up Bartender (and it had a killer B-Side called Enjoy It better known as Enjoy Yourself and a song that The Specials would end up recording for their More Specials album)  and the 1965 single Al Capone with One Step Beyond on the B-Side.

They were both pretty messed up looking but were still playable (nothing quite like the sound of the crackle on an old Record is there!) and within the space of a year I had stumbled on a band called The Coventry Automatics/The Special A.K.A. who were playing a lot of these classic Reggae tunes with a bit of a Punky Edge. Their debut single incorporated Prince Buster's Al Capone into the song Gangsters, and as they say, it was a mighty fine tune!

Then there was Madness who had released as a B-Side their cover of Prince Buster's Madness and followed it with a massive hit single One Step Beyond.

I thought I'd stick this one up here today as tip of the hat to the memory of Prince Buster.

Cecil Bustamente Campbell 

(AKA Prince Buster)
     24th May 1938 - 8th September 2016

Prince Buster 24th May 1938 - 8th September 2016

I just heard the news that Prince Buster has died, aged 78. He had been unwell for a time due to a series of strokes and passed away in a hospital in South Florida. At least that's what the Jamaica Observer is reporting.

The Guardian were pretty quick in posting an Obituary! 

Here's his Debut Album for Blue Beat Records from 1963.

 I Feel The Spirit - Prince Buster

Blue Beat

Produced by Siggy Jackson

Released 1963

With so many good albums it's hard knowing what one to post here but I'm going with an update of his 1968 Album
FABulous Greatest Hits that includes 12 more tracks than the Original Release.

FABulous Greatest Hits - Prince Buster
Sequel Records
1993 CD Reissue with Bonus Tracks

Bring back the
Who is the
We want the
Bring back the Prince...

Remembering Desmond Dekker

Born Desmond Adolphus Dacres in Kingstown, Jamaica on this day in 1941. He died on 25th May 2006 at his home in London of a heart attack aged 65.

Dekker (whose name change came around 1963) had managed to get an audition for Coxsone Dodd of Studio One and Duke Reid of Treasure Isle but neither was succesful and he eventually signed a deal with Leslie Kong's Beverely label but it would be another two years before his first recorded work appeared.

(Click on the Links to enjoy the music)

That first single, 'Honour Your Father and Mother'. He followed that up with 'Sinners Come Home', and 'Labour For Learning'. He was breaking into the Jamaican charts with these early singles but his best was yet to come. Backed by The Cherrypies (aka The Maytals) his fourth single 'King of Ska' (1964) brought him further success and his music reached a new audience as he became one of the islands biggest stars.

In 1967 he appeared alongside his band The Aces on Derrick Morgan's 'Tougher Than Tough' and then solidified his status among the Rude Boy Culture with the release of '007 Shanty Town'. That single gave him a top 15 hit in the UK and his reputation grew with sold out concerts and a heavy mod following. 'Rudy Got Soul' (1967) and 'Rude Boy Train' (1967) continued the Rude Boy theme. In 1968 he scored his first number one hit in the UK with 'Israelites'. The single was also a top ten hit in the USA a year later. In 1969 relocated to London and continued releasing singles.

1970 he had another top chart single, reaching #2 with the Jimmy Cliff song 'You Can Get It If You Really Want' on the mighty Trojan label. When 'The Harder They Come' movie was released in 1972 Dekker's '007 Shanty Town' was part of the soundtrack. 'Sing a Little Song' (1975) would be his last hit in the UK reaching the top twenty.

Prior to going bankrupt in 1984 he signed with Stiff Records and produced 'Black and Dekker' in 1980.

On this album he was backed by The Rumour (Graham Parker's backing band) and Akrylykz (which featured Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals). The album was a bunch of cover versions and rerecorded versions of his hits. Robert Palmer produced the 1981 album 'Compass Point' and despite declining sales he still continued to tour backed by The Rumour.

In 1993 he recorded an album 'King of Kings' with The Specials.

There have been untold compilations of Dekker's music down through the years and his music regularly turns up on Trojan Boxsets.