Trojan Us
2005
Natty Dread Anthology
About This Album
Cornel Campbell, one of the most overlooked and underrated of Jamaican singers, has long needed a collection like this, one that combines both his love songs and his conscious political material in one package. A key member of early harmony vocal groups the Uniques, the Eternals, and the Sensations, Campbell possesses a clear, soaring falsetto that carries a Sam Cooke-like elegance, and he is an excellent, melodic songwriter (and not exactly a slouch on guitar, either), which makes his relative obscurity a complete mystery. Campbell was only 11-years-old when he sang his first lead on "My Treasure" at Studio One in 1956, and he was the ultimate team player in his early groups, but his solo career didn't really take off until he began working with producer Bunny Lee in 1972. All but six of the 46 tracks on this anthology are Lee-produced (Linval Thompson and Tapper Zukie also have productions represented), and he continually provides Campbell with wonderful soundscapes to work from, including such highlights as "Natty Dread in a Greenwich Farm" (a reaction to Bob Marley's "Natty Dread"), "The Gorgon" (which started a popular series of Gorgon singles from Campbell in 1975), the beautiful "Stars" (and its mirror twin, "The Sun"), a 1982 recut of "Queen of the Minstrel," a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat," the odd, wry love song "Boxing," as well as several well-conceived political numbers with a Rastafarian bent like "Jah Jah a Go Beat Them" and "Malicious World." Campbell sings like an angel no matter what subject matter is before him, and even on the weightier sufferers' songs he brings a subtle undercurrent of hope and joy to the table, making him, in a way, a kind of island version of Curtis Mayfield. That Cornell Campbell isn't better known borders on criminal, but this impressive anthology should help rectify that. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,6,10,16,18,21 and 24)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,3,5,8,11,15,20,21 and 22)

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