Friday, October 16, 2015

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2015 - Track Twelve - Hell Below

Derrick Harriott (born February 6, 1939) is one of Jamaican music's living legends.  Getting started in the music biz in 1955 when he teamed up with Claude Sang Jr., the duo went on to win multiple talent contests and eventually record for Jamaica's recording pioneer Stanley Motta.  In 1958 he formed the Jiving Juniors with Eugene Dwyer, Herman Sang (Claude's younger brother), and Maurice Winter and recorded for both Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd.  After some time spent in New York, Harriott returned to Jamaica and went solo, releasing his first single "I Care" in 1964 and went on to have a string of hits including such classic songs as "The Loser" and "Solomon."  In 1970 Harriott tried his hand at production with his newly assembled band the Crystalites and released the album The Undertaker, in a style very reminiscent of the Upsetters at the time and which proved to be enormously popular.

Now, from what I've read, the Crystal Generation was an amalgamation of players from The Crystalites and Harriott's other studio band the Now Generation and the song "Hell Below" has a strong early 70s soul vibe.  It comes from a recent issue of a soulful Derrick Harriott tune called "Let Me Down Easy" on the Crystal/Dub Store label out of Japan.  I have embellished by adding the sounds of hell for your listening pleasure and I think you'll dig it!  

Crystal Generation - Hell Below - 2015 Jamaican Halloween Spookacular Track Twelve

1 comment:

Christofari said...

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

My Halloween Anthem for 2015 right here. It's got everything. And your FX are the perfect icing.
I LOVE tunes like this, that tease you with some or other unfathomable mystery - like what's with the extraordinarily camp title announcement at c. 1:51?

BIG thanks for sharing this jewel. I'll be playing it to death and beyond over the next ten days.

P.S. will be in touch via e