Various Artists / Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamdown 1973-1980
Album: Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamdown 1973-1980   Collection:Reggae
Artist:Various Artists   Added:Sep 2011
Label:Blood & Fire Ltd.  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2011-10-02 Pull Date: 2011-12-04 Charts: Reggae/World
Week Ending: Dec 4 Nov 27 Nov 20 Nov 6 Oct 30 Oct 23
Airplays: 3 1 3 1 2 1

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 20, 2024: Some Songs Without Words
Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
4. Jul 22, 2020: Some Songs Without Words
Ain't No Sunshine
2. Jan 05, 2022: New World Disorder (rebroadcast from Jun 2, 2012)
Collie Stuff
5. Dec 23, 2017: Music Casserole (Bliues Marathon)
Mango Walk, Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
3. Dec 16, 2020: Some Songs Without Words
Mango Walk
6. Jun 23, 2012: New World Disorder
Baltimore

Album Review
Sadie O.
Reviewed 2011-09-29
Darker than Blue: Soul from Jamdown 1973-1980
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/29/11
Jamaican covers of American soul songs – some hits, some misses, some very sociopolitical (as were we all back then, but Jamaica was REALLY going through it…), some love songs.
1. 3:09 **bongo flourish, then Memphis soul strut with some serious farfisa action. Nice bass work, too – but not much “reggae” sound.
2. 2:53 ****schweeet! Bird whistles and disco-funk – a Jamaica-fied cover of Kool and the Gang. Yummy!
3. 3:06 ***big chorus of “yeah”, then slow, soulful cover of the classic, with a roots rock reggae groove. Great vocal harmonies.
4. 3:28 ***serious 4/4 plonking with a bit of bubble, fine treatment of a serious sociopolitical number.
5. 3:34 ***slick soul intro, then uptempo bubble, sweet singing with a serious message. Great little break midway through.
6. 3:27 **downtempo, wonderfully raw and primal lament.
7. 3:23 **** super funky soul strut with a nice midtempo skank beat and fine instrumentation. Grunts and wah-wah, ooh yeah.
8. 2:15 **pleasant midtempo bubble, sweet vocals – cover of a Bill Withers tune that was played to death back in the day, though… Cool echo on the vocals midway through earns it a star.
9. 3:02 ***nice midtempo strutting skank, fine vocals – definitely elevates this cover with Jamaicification.
10. 2:07 **midtempo skank with bird chirpies, falsetto vocals, love song.
11. 3:40 **sweet midtempo bubble, lovely vocals by one of the best vocalists in Jamaica in the 70’s, love song.
12. 2:48 **delightfully offkey midtempo shuffle, nice baritone vocals, falsetto backing vocals. Nothing too original sounding, though.
13. 3:38 **very similar to the James and Bobby Purify original – best part is Sly Dunbar’s fine understated and elegant drumming. (For a really great cover of this song see SF’s own Los Mocosos…)
14. 5:40 ****full on roots rock reggae, very swingy groove, fine remake by a great singer. Includes a really nice dub.
15. 2:59 ****downtempo skank, falsetto vocals, serious sociopolitics (Curtis Mayfield cover) – a fine example of 70’s Jamaican soul.
16. 7:00 ***downtempo bubble with lots of great percussion, positivity lyrics (and fine singing), extended version with fine horn section. Gonna put this on my “Legends of Cowbell” compilation…
17. 4:01 ****a classic – Tamlins powerful cover of a Randy Newman (!) song, great Sly and Robbie instrumentation and production, great vocals. Killer total package.
18. 3:52 ***the dancehall DJ version of the previous riddim. Clearly he’s been listening to the Sugarhill Gang, which is pretty funny given that they’d been listening to Jamaican DJs in the first place.

Track Listing
 ArtistTrack Name
1. Boris Gardiner Happening Feat. Leslie Butler Ghetto Funk
2. Chosen Few, The Collie Stuff
3. Carl Bradney Slipping Into Darkness
4. Ken Boothe Is It Because I'm Black?
5. Freddie Mcgregor Get Involved
6. Al Brown Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
7. In Crowd, The Mango Walk
8. Ken Boothe Ain't No Sunshine
9. Milton Henry Gypsy Woman
10. Junior Murvin Give Me Your Love
11. John Holt For The Love Of You
12. Alton Ellis It's A Shame
13. Jimmy London I'm Your Puppet
14. Delroy Wilson Get Ready (12" Mix)
15. Lloyd Charmers Darker Than Blue
16. Tinga Stewart Why Can't We Live Together? (Extended)
17. Tamlins, The Baltimore
18. Welton Irie Hotter Reggae Music