martes, 4 de febrero de 2025
Joe the Boss: Joe Mansano Productions Review
by Jo-Ann Greene
Trinidadian student Joe Mansano arrived in England in 1963 aiming for a degree in accounting, but within a few years he'd be pouring over records of a very different kind. Selling Jamaican singles out of a beauty shop in south London, Mansano was soon feted as the best record salesman in the capitol and by 1967 he handled his own shop, Joe's Records. The following year, Mansano took his first step into production, overseeing the calypso-tinged instrumental "The Bullet" by Rico & the Rhythm Aces. However, it was a slightly later production, "Life on Reggae Planet" that was the first to be pressed onto record and released by Blue Cat in late 1968. In May, 1969, the newly launched Trojan label gave Mansano his own Joe imprint, inaugurated by the release of Patti La Donne's "Friends & Lovers," backed by the instrumental "Hot Line." Joe shared its matrix number with the Duke imprint until the following year, when Trojan gave it its own, JRS. The Critics and Nyah Shuffle's "Behold" single was the first to bear these letters. By now, Mansano's productions were flooding the British reggae scene. Unlike his main competitor Dandy Livingstone, Mansano was strictly a producer with no pretensions to vocal talent. Perhaps that's why the bulk of his releases were instrumentals, laid down by the Cimarons or Rico & the Rudies, a penchant this extravagant, 56-song two-CD collection reflects. In Jamaica, keyboardists were already boldly pushing the hornmen aside, but Mansano refused to follow this trend, with many of his productions boasting stellar solos from trombonist Rico.
Equally notable beginning with his first recording: Mansano made use of DJs, notably Hopeton Reid who appeared under a dizzying array of aliases -- Joe the Boss, Pama Dice, and Dice the Boss among them. Mansano's other main DJ was Lloyd Campbell, also known as Lloyd the Matador (not be confused with Jamaican producer Lloyd Daley, who employed the same moniker). Reid's chatty style allowed for such innovations as dual DJing -- "Battle Cry of Biafra," and conversational discs like "African Meeting." There again, the producer wasn't averse to borrowing other's grand ideas, both the popular "Trial of Pama Dice" and its follow-up "Appeal of Pama Dice" were retorts to both Prince Buster's "Judge Dread" and "Wreck a Pum Pum." Musically, some of Mansano's instrumentals versioned popular hits, "Hey Jude" is a prime example, or were bouncy originals lit up by Rico's sizzling solos.
Mansano was hugely popular among the West Indian and skinhead crowd, and released a slew of seminal singles across the reggae age, although their popularity was never reflected in the British charts. This set compiles them all, and many, many more equally exciting numbers. A reggae extravaganza!
Track-List
Disc 1
01 Rico & The Rhythm Aces - The Bullet
02 Rico & The Rhythm Aces - Rhythm In
03 Tito Simon - Read The News
04 Rico & The Rhythm Aces - Return Of The Bullet
05 Joe Mansano - Life On Reggae Planet
06 Rico & The Rhythm Aces - Z.Z. Beat
07 Patti La Donne - Friends And Lovers
08 Rico & The Joe's All Stars - Hot Line
09 Joe The Boss & Rico - The Accused (The King Of Sounds)
10 Rico & The Joe's All Stars - Lash Them
11 Rico & The Joe's All Stars - Hey Jude
12 Pama Dice & The Joe's All Stars - Musical Feet
13 Pama Dice & The Joe's All Stars - Battle Cry Of Biafra
14 Rico & The Joe's All Stars - Funky Reggae, Part 1
15 The Joe's All Stars - Funky Reggae, Part 2
16 King Horror - Dracula, Prince Of Darkness
17 Rico's & The Joe's All Stars - Honky
18 The Joe's All Stars - The Judge
19 Girlie & Junior - African Meeting
20 Josh & The Joe's All Stars - Higher And Higher
21 The Joe's All Stars - Brixton Cat
22 The Joe's All Stars - Gun The Man Down
23 Joe The Boss & The Joe's All Stars - The Thief
24 The Joe's All Stars - But Officer
25 The Joe's All Stars - Reggae On The Shore
26 The Joe's All Stars - Sugar Serenade
27 Rico & The Joe's All Stars - Snake Poison
28 Rico & The Joe's All Stars - Rico's Torpedo
Disc 2
01 Rico's & The Joe's All Stars - The Proud One
02 The Critics & The Nyah Shuffle - Behold
03 Sexy Frankie & The Nyah Shuffle - Tea, Patty, Sex And Ganja
04 Paula Dean & The Nyah Shuffle - Since I Met You Baby
05 The Joe's All Stars - Since I Met You Baby
06 Paula Dean & The Nyah Shuffle - Jughead
07 Joe The Boss - Teahouse From Emperor Rosko
089 Ray Martell - She Caught The Train
09 The Joe's All Stars - Tony B's Theme
10 Joe The Boss & The Joe's All Stars - Skinhead Revolt
11 Lloyd & Pama Dice & Girlie - Trial Of Pama Dice
12 Joe The Boss - Son Of Alcapone
13 Joe The Boss - All My Enemies Beware
14 Girlie - Small Change
15 Girlie - Mind Your Business
16 Pamela Brown - People Are Running
17 The Critics - Schooldays
18 Delroy Williams - Don't Play That Song
19 Lloyd & Girlie & Joe - Appeal Of Pama Dice
20 Dice The Boss - The Informer
21 Dice The Boss - Cool It
22 The Opening - Tea House
23 Pama Dice - Brixton Fight
24 The Cimaron Kid - Bad Day At Black Rock
25 The Cimarons - Fragile
26 Clive Williams & The Heat Wave - Take Good Care Of My Baby
27 Billie Dice & Rico & The Heat Wave - In Loving Memory (Of Don Drummond)
Format - Mp3 320kpls
