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Prince Buster Productions Released In The UK, 1961-67: A Selective Review

16.6.61 Oh, Carolina/I Met A Man - Folkes Brothers with Count Ossie's Afro Combo - Blue Beat BB 30 Both tracks were recorded in the same session, with Owen Gray on piano and Bunny And Skitter on backing vocals. The same session produced Chubby aka Cassavubu (Blue Beat BB 64, 12.1.62). The session was the most notable promotion of Nyabingi drumming in Jamaica to that date and for several years after, although Lloyd Knibb of The Skatalites would provide some Burru-influenced beats for their recordings. 17.11.61 - Luke Lane Shuffle - Rico Rodriguez/Little Honey - Buster's Group - Blue Beat BB 56 Rico would collaborate with Buster for several years despite having moved to the UK. Little Honey is the earliest known Prince Buster vocal. 12.1.62 - Boss Girl - J.E. Stick and Drumbago All-Stars/Cassavubu - Count Ossie's Afro Combo Blue Beat BB 64 Cassavubu aka Chubby was the third track recorded at the Oh, Carolina session. It was released in Jamaica under the title Chubby, credited...
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Prince Buster - Six Reasons Why He Was Great

1) Buster brought mento's social commentary into ska. For example, compare 'Industrial Fair' by Alerth Bedasse & Chin's Calypso Sextet here  with Buster's 'Independence Song' here  and 'Hard Man Fi Dead' here . 2) As Andrew Hickey notes here , Buster was promoting Black nationalism and Rastafarian culture by 1960, at a time when Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid had no interest in it and when Rastafarianism was stigmatized in the mainstream culture. This ties in with Buster's love of Jamaican folk traditions, such as mento, as noted above. 3) Buster was an ambassador for Jamaican music in the UK and US. He was named in the Daily Herald on 22.2.64 and in the  Evening Standard  (by Maureen Cleave) on 7.3.64. The Blue Beat label, a subsidiary of Melodisc, advertised several of his productions, including 'Madness' and 'Carolina' (the 1960 recording with Count Ossie's Rastafarian musicians, voiced by the Folkes Brothers) in the Kensi...
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