Augustus Gussie Clarke cut his teeth in the music biz cutting dub plates but he soon moved on to sit in the big chair. That of a music producer, and this big chair obviously sat well with him because he is held responsible for unleashing two monsters of the age, I-Roy’s Gussie Presenting I-Roy and Big Youth’s Screaming Target. Both made massive impact on the DeeJay scene. Both pressed by England’s Trojan Records. After a few earlier false starts for everybody involved, these true debuts proved the doubters wrong. That feat of sonic engineering came near the beginning of the Seventies, but as the decade disappeared year after year into becoming the 1980’s, Gussie’s rep kinda took a step back.
Big Youth's 1972 Screaming Target changed forever how my ears heard music. Oh course this happened to me in the early 80's. Hey I was 9 years old in 1972.
My wife's favorite chanter of verse and rhymes. I don't wanna scare any of my readers but at somepoint I used to wear a similar suit. Wonder how I didn't get gunned down! That was that New Jack Swing era of the 90's.
Then the “Me Decade” changed everything. The 1980’s started with brand new sounds. Brand new digital technology and most of all, the Casio Drum machine; it shook the world of riddim up. The island would never be the same. Deejays popped up everywhere. Everybody a DeeJay now and they are all spouting off the same rhetoric over the same preset beat. Natural selection weeded out the imitators quick enough. Left standing were a cast of young upstart producers and a whole new generation of fast talkers. They easily filled the big chairs. And they filled the charts with hit after hit. They all had fresh faces to promote. The emerging Dancehall style was becoming the new musical language spoken. Business JA style would still be as lawless as ever. Some things never change, but this sudden shift in musical taste must have caused some gray dreads to the Roots Rockers.
Gussie was now a seasoned professional, which meant he no longer had street level player cred. Gussie should have gotten trampled under that mad rush of talent and technology but no, he was completely reinvigorated. Gussie was old news no more.
Gussie helped a lot of the roots era singers’ transition over to the digital dancehall side. The Eighties were now in full swing. He made sure that the Dennis Browns and the Gregory Isaacs were not the last decade’s chart leftovers. With an updated re-cut of The Mighty Diamonds tune “Bodyguard” Gussie reintroduced the harmony trio to whole new generation. And without causing any disrespect to their original take. Never a stranger to new talent, Gussie is responsible for two of the international breakout Shabba Ranks best full-length releases, Mr. Maximum and Rapping with the Ladies. Both records were big world wide sellers for Greensleeves and both can found on their Reggae Legends series 4 CD box set. Later on that very welcomed into my home set.
This 12’ Ruler is dancing with your lady Dancehall. I say that due to the good balance of the playful male too female duets. This Gussie comp is still perfectly suited for a festive Friday night though. Ironically Mr. Gregory Isaacs, the King of Lover’s Rock, his included tunes are more of social politics and not of affairs of the heart. No overtly offensive slack tunes either.
I stumbled across this VP Records release long after I bought the Greensleeves disc. It's VP's version of the above record but with a few tunes switching places. Most notably for me is lead off tune by The Mighty Diamonds! I never get sick of hearing "Pass the Kutchie". That is a big big smile tune.
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