The Songs
Tenement Yard - Jacob Miller= Jacob Miller's 1978 debut solo album
Dread Dread was United Artists first attempt to sell reggae music to a crossover audience. Oddly enough the cut
Tenament Yard and the other cuts on Dread Dread were actually Jamaican hits by Inner Circle, the band Miller sang for. United Artists released the Inner Circle material as a solo album by Miller, causing chaos for future reggae music archivists.
This video clip is from the movie
Rockers. I used it instead of the original single because it gives you a pretty good idea of Jacob's charismatic stage presence.
=====================================
Sweet Sensation - Melodians- This is an 1969 ska hit by the Melodians produced by Leslie Kong. The Melodians successfully reinvented themselves as a reggae group and recorded
By the Rivers of Babylon, perhaps the most covered song in reggae history.
===========================
Country Living - The Mighty Diamonds- "City life is not for me," lead vocalist Donald "Tabby" Shaw insists. "I'm going back to country living." And so the Mighty Diamonds bid farewell to Kingston and head off to where the skies can be seen. The backing Revolutionaries seem eager to accompany them on their way. Sly & Robbie lay down a toe-tapping rhythm that sets the piece jauntily on its way while the rest of the group keeps the melody bouncing gaily along.
Producer JoJo Hookim keeps it clean and bright, and
Country Living found much of Jamaica wishing for a return to country life in 1975 when the song was released. This early single was released in Jamaica around 1975. It was the same year Mighty Diamonds inked a deal with Virgin around this same time, however
Country Living wasn't released in the States or the UK until 1977.
