ROBERT FFRENCH (Black Solidarity Presents) - Mr Babylon - LP - Vinyl

LABEL: Black Solidarity

CAT NO: BSLP002

BARCODE: 5060135761882

Tracklisting:

1. Joker Family
2. Radication
3. Mr Babylon
4. Single Life
5. Problem Is A Cry
6. Bad Boy Posse
7. Rebel Girl
8. The Favourite
9. Cut Eye Cut Eye
10. Me Raggamuffin
11. A Dance Without A Deejay
12. Mother In Law

ROBERT FFRENCH – Mr Babylon
(Black Solidarity Presents…)

LP – Black Vinyl
(12 Tracks)

12 killer cut’s from Jamaica’s legendary label…

Breaking rules from the outset Ossie Thomas had furthered his childhood fascination with music while still attending Oberlin High School and many more rules would be broken when together with Phillip Morgan he set up the Black Solidarity label in 1979 on Delamare Avenue deep in the heart of the Kingston ghetto.

By The Time Ossie Was Introduced To Robert Ffrench he Was Riding High On The Crest Of A Musical Wave. Robert Had Already Recorded ‘Set Me Free’ For The Black World Label When He Was Just Seventeen And Still A Full-Time Student At Kingston College But Ossie’s Production Of ‘Joker Family’, On A Tough Recut Of The Perennially Popular ‘Tribulation’ Rhythm, Now Catapulted Robert Ffrench High Into The Dancehall Charts.

Robert Ffrench Was Going To Kingston College With My Brethren Named Mark And Ffrenchie Did A Tune For A Next Brethren Named ‘Set Me Free’ But The Tune Never Worked Out So Mark Tell Ffrenchie: ‘Watch A Man … Come Round To My Corner ‘Cause My Producer Brethren Can Blow You Up And Get You In The Big Time’. So Robert Ffrench Come Round And He Was Like A Disciple And He’d Come To The Studio With Me And Triston Palma And Learn Everything… Learn All Of The Craft So Automatically We Just Put Him Out And Put Him Straight Into The Charts With That Tune Name ‘Joker Family’.

Every Time I Hear ‘Joker Family’ I Have To Laugh, You Know, When I Listen To The Lyrics… “My Family Them A Joker Family… When Them Go Abroad Them Don’t Remember Me!” Heh, Heh, Heh… And The Man A Call Names! ‘Noel And Pearl And The One Patsy’. It’s Ironic Man! We Had A Good Laugh When Him Make The Song… The Man A Sing About His Personal Relatives Saying When They Gone A Foreign.

So When Junior Reid Heard The Tune He Sang ‘Worry Them A Worry Them Foreign Mind!’” Ossie Thomas This Honest, Forthright Approach Was Typical Of Ossie’s And Robert’s Refusal To Conform To Stereotypes. Robert Would Go On To Record A Number Of Successful Seven-Inch Hits And A Very Successful Album, ‘The Favourite’, For Black Solidarity Followed By A Host Of Hits For A Variety Of Kingston’s Record Producers. Robert Later Emigrated To New York, But Ossie Remained On Delamere Avenue Where He Continued To Discover And Nurture Up And Coming Raw Talent.

“So You Must Know The Power That Me Have At The Time… Me Can Spot A Seller From A Mile Off And If A Youth Sound Good! I Used To Tell People That Dance Hall Was Like Styles And Fashions. If You Have A Wicked Style And You Have The Fashion You A Go Make It In The Dancehall! You Understand?” – Ossie