Wake Up Jamaica

Dennis Alcapone – Wake Up Jamaica
Reviewed by Sadie O., 7/10/10
Great old roots rock steady tracks from the early 70’s by one of the great toasting originators. Alcapone was essentially the next big toasting star after U-Roy and they had a bit of a rivalry. Alcapone was notable both for his exuberant whoops, and for interacting directly with the original vocals rather than dubbing them out more or less completely as most toasters did. Terrible sound quality, but great sound…
1. 2:41 ****very upbeat, essentially dubbed up ska, just plain fun.
2. 2:42 **big organ flourish intro, then midtempo bubble with organ up front, old-timey spiritual lyrics with wild yells interspersed.
3. 2:13 ****midtempo rock steady groove, wild toasting mixed with gorgeous original singing. Also appears to be a bit of very strange violin. Should be “Cry Tough”…
4. 2:36 **a bit downtempo with vocal harmonies. Sweet.
5. 2:34 **midtempo rub-a-dub with very sweet original singing at the start, tribute to the famed El Paso sound system.
6. 2:55 ***midtempo hip wiggler, with the alphabet based on things to do with sensimillia. Whee!
7. 3:09 **echo-laden vocal intro, rather downbeat rock steady, DJ boasting.
8. 3:00 **(suddenly much better sound quality than previous tracks) lovely original vocals, religious song, preaching toast by Alcapone.
9. 2:45 ****inscrutable spoken interchange, pretty original female singing, crazed toasting. Yay!
10. 2:26 ****jolly upbeat rock steady with sample from the US disco hit “Mr. Big Stuff”, fine lyrics, great fun.
11. 3:08 ***a bit downtempo Jamaican-style funk instrumental with whoops and yells.
12. 2:35***lots of original falsetto harmonies with nonsense toasting.
13. 2:46 ****”number 1 station” with a rooster crow – great radio stuff. A bit downtempo rub-a-dub, sweet singing and fine toast.
14. 3:04*tinkly piano and crap rendition of “Close to You”, spoken word wedding vows. Truly terrible – but almost so bad it’s good.
15. 2:34 ***terrible sound quality, but upbeat terrific ska riddim,original female singing and fun toasting.