Monday 15 June 2009

Majestic Toast

Had fun in the sun yesterday while listening to this; so thought I'd share it.

Probably The Originator's most accessable album, leaning as much towards rock steady as it does roots music; but U Roy's take on rock steady is by no means conventional.
With his trademark yelps and hollers, an unpredictable tourettic edge was brought to the somewhat narrow genre, brightening it up no end.

The skanking opener to this album really sets the mood, as 'Runaway Girl' is probably one of the most danceable songs ever recorded.

But the real highlight of the album comes from the second track: 'Chalice in the Palace', a wonderful piece of audacity from U Roy, toasting his thoughts on how he'd like to have a smoke with the queen of England:
'Ya Majesty, I really wanna have a toke with you.'

Not too sure how Prince Philip would feel about that...

U Roy - Dread in a Babylon (1975)

Runaway Girl
Chalice in the Palace
I Can't Love Another
Dreadlocks Dread
The Great Psalms
Natty Don't Fear
African Message
Silver Bird
Listen to the Teacher
Trench town Rock

CD rip to mp3s
Blehhh along with The Originator here

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

perfect mate... it was this album that got me into u-roy.

off to fill my pipe. cheers.x

roy rocket said...

Bom Shankar!

Have you been along to the Banksy show yet?

Anonymous said...

not yet... apparently it was heaving over the weekend.i find the whole thing canny ironic...local council offices are painting over a lot of his original street stuff.
anyway,have a good week and enjoy the sun.xx

Anonymous said...

Hi again, Roy
If you're in to this stuff, why not take a peak at this blog:http://sidewalkdoctor.blogspot.com
KJ from Sweden