DESCRIPTION:
One of my favorite 10" records, Sugar Minott vocals over some crisp Studio One rhythms. The rhythms are from way back - 1970 or thereabouts, the vocal tracks for all would have been recorded by Sugar Minott in the latter 1970's.

The first track 'All Kinda People' as an example first saw the light of day in the early 1970's as 'Mr Fire Coal Man' by The Classics, who would later re-record the same song over the same rhythm a few years later as The Wailing Souls.

In the late 1970's Stiff Little Fingers covered to excellent effect 'Mr Fire Coal Man' and added in onto the B-side of their 'Back To Front' 7" single.

All the songs on this extended play 10" record are of a high quality but my personal favorite has to be 'Fight Against Dread' and the dub version that follows.

'Fight Against Dread' is Sugar Minott's vocal of Jackie Mittoo's 'Hot Milk' rhythm, again a rhythm from the early 1970's.
On this topic search for Eddie Fitzroy 'Freedom Fighters' for the absolute pinnacle of this rhythm.

Once found play LOUD. Do so for this Sugar Minott version also!

Some history:

Sugar Minott was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and began working with local sound systems before he reached his teens. "I started singing when I was about 12, in an amateur talent festival near where I lived in Maxfield Park in Kingston," he recalled. "I reached the final with two others, but didn't win. It gave me some encouragement to go on, really." He cited as his musical inspirations Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson and Dennis Brown.

After a stint as a selector with the Sound of Silence Keytone outfit, picking records for the sound system and toasting over them, Minott teamed up with Derrick Howard and Tony Tuff to form the African Brothers, which gave him his first experience as a singer.

The trio recorded for the Micron label as well as for their own Ital imprint, working with producers including Keith Weston, Winston Blake and Rupie Edwards.

In 1974 the African Brothers cut 'No Cup No Broke' for Dodd's renowned Studio One, the pioneering black-owned music studio in Jamaica. When the group split up shortly afterwards, Minott stayed on with Dodd and worked as a singer and guitarist at Studio One. He began recording his own singles, notching up successes with 'Vanity', 'Mr DC', 'House Is Not a Home' and 'Hang On Natty', and followed these up with his first solo album, 'Live Loving', in 1978.

It was during this period that Minott earned a reputation as a pioneer of reggae's dancehall style, in which he would lay new vocal tracks over original 1960's and 1970's backing tapes instead of using a live band. Other artists had done this in live performance, but Minott brought the technique into the recording studio, triggering a revolution in Jamaican music. His efforts helped to boost the fortunes of Studio One at a period when the company was reeling from the defection of artists such as John Holt and Alton Ellis to other labels.

After cutting a second album, Showcase (which made innovative use of electronic drums), Minott left Studio One in 1979 and formed his own label, Black Roots. He saw this as more than just a record company, as it was linked to Minott's Youth Promotion project, an organisation designed to "help youth from going through the same struggle as me".

Another 1979 album, Black Roots, generated two of Minott's biggest hits, 'Hard Time Pressure' and 'River Jordan'. 'Hard Time Pressure' was a big success in the UK reggae charts, which prompted Minott to relocate to Britain for a time.

In 1980, his Roots Lovers album found him leaning towards the more romantic, soulful sound of lovers' rock.