Friday, October 17, 2014

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Thirteen - Evil Doers

Michael Prophet's (born Michael George Haynes in 1957) distinctive "crying tenor" caught the ear of Yabby You who proceeded to bring him to Channel One to record his first single "Praise You Jah Jah" in 1977.  He had his first hit, a cover of the Heptones tune "Fight It To The Top" shortly after and went on to record a bunch of serious roots music for Yabby before modifying his style to appeal to the then emerging dancehall sound of the early 1980s.  Henry "Junjo" Lawes helped launch his dancehall career and his song "Gunman," which served as a commentary on Jamaica's particularly violent election season of 1980, became his biggest hit. 

We're on to the thirteenth track in the 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular and it's a good one!  Michael Prophet gives us "Evil Doers", from his 1983 album Certify on the Burning Sounds label... and with the Roots Radics providing the Dirty Harry riddim and Junjo producing, it is a badass sampling of the early 80s sound that I love.

I was prepared to write a full-on diatribe on the evil doers in our society and world, ranging from politicians to terrorists, but after I spent a good 20 minutes typing it up I realized that it was a little too far off course for Spooktacular fodder.  I decided it was probably best to keep it simple... and spooky... mwuhahahahahahaha!  See you next week... but be prepared because the Spooktacular really kicks into horrific high gear on Monday!

Spooktacular Track Thirteen - Michael Prophet - Evil Doers 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

these selections are great as ever!! this one is track14 though!

John AKA Reggaexx said...

Just a numbering mistake on my part... it is the right track though! It has been corrected! Thanks for letting me know!