the thread where you school me about lover's rock

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i know and really love jimmy riley and gregory issacs. who else should i check out, and are there any worthwhile comps ?

― mike bott, Thursday, 26 February 2004 05:28 (twenty-two years ago)

you mean specifically the British sub-genre or just any Jamaican love songs from the 70s?

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 26 February 2004 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Susan Cadogan is very excellent.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 26 February 2004 09:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Lover's rock was particularly strong on unlikely cover versions which improved on the originals. To whit:

"Just When I Needed You Most" - Barbara Jones (originally Randy Van Warmer)

"If Leaving Me Is Easy" - Lloyd Charmers (originally Phil Collins).

I'd also recommend:
"Silly Games" - Janet Kay (big hit in Summer 79)
"One Dance Won't Do" - Audrey Hall (1986 I think)
"Why Don't You Spend The Night" - Shirley James & Danny Ray (1981)

- as well as the recent-ish "Hustle! Reggae Disco" compilation, particularly Carol Cool's cover of Diana Ross "Upside Down".

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 26 February 2004 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, and "Just Don't Wanna Be Lonely" - Freddie McGregor.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 26 February 2004 10:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Dr C to thread!

― zebedee (zebedee), Thursday, 26 February 2004 11:18 (twenty-two years ago)

This was my Rough Guide from the RG thread :

A Ruff guide to Lovers Rock : (Actually a mix of Brit Lovers, with one or two class JA early Lovers sides chucked in)

1. Girl Of My Dreams - Cornell Campbell
2. Being In Love - Derek Harriott
3. Silly, Wasn't I? - Sharron Forrester
4. Tonight - Keith and Tex
5. A Single Girl - Silkie Davis
6. I'm Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got - Tony Tribe
7. After Tonight - Matumbi
8. Things of The Past - Phyllis Dillon
9. Silly Games - Janet Kay
10. Here I Am Baby - Al Brown
11. Being In Love - Derek Harriott
12. Why Must You Cry - Barry Biggs
13. Morning Sun - Al Barry and The Cimarons
14. Solitary Man - Skin Flesh and Bones
15. Love is Overdue - Gregory Isaacs
16. I'm Still in Love with You - Alton Ellis

For me, mid 70's Brit Lovers is utterly fantastic and pretty much neglected. As I've said before I think there's a HUGE gap in the market for the definitive 2CD Brit Lovers comp. I did hear of a couple of promising sounding comps that were out in the 90's, but are now out of print, but I can't remember what they are!. I have them written down at home and I'll post them later - it would be interesting to see if anyone has them.

I think the definitive late 60's lovers track is Keith and Tex's 'Tonight' (prod. Derek Harriott. I recently came across a couple of sensational versions of this : Augustus Pablo's 'Bedroom Mazurka' and Nora Dean's 'Peace Begins With'. Actually I'm not really sure that the latter is the same riddim, it's *almost* the same, but....anyone know?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 26 February 2004 11:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know "Peace Begins With", Doc, but there's a very good dub version of the rhythm on "Scrub-A-Dub".

The Rewind Selecta Lovers Rock series is a pretty good place to start, though I've only heard the first 2.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 26 February 2004 11:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I still haven't got Scrub A Dub.

**The Rewind Selecta Lovers Rock series**

Actually that sounds like the series that I was waffling about...must investigate.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 26 February 2004 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm looking for the track that Nino sampled on 'The Gun' - it features the line 'didn't I always show you love? more than you even dreamed of' or similar

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 26 February 2004 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

A man singing? Or a laydee?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 26 February 2004 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

female

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 26 February 2004 13:01 (twenty-two years ago)

this rings a bell - I will make it my bizness to hunt this one down!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 26 February 2004 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

six months pass...

...

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 06:09 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

Picked up a CD compilation today hitherto unknown to me - "The Lovers Rock Story", on the Kickin' label. Came out in 2004. Nice package & liner notes. Tracks by Brown Sugar ("I'm In Love With A Dreadlocks", "Hello Stranger"), among others. Dennis Bovell has a hand in most, if not all, of them. No "Caught You In A Lie", though, unfortunately. This also seems like the right place to bring attention to Pressure Sounds' UK reggae comp of a few years back, "Don't Call Us Immigrants".

― Edmundo (Edmundo), Saturday, 8 January 2005 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

nine months pass...

stevem - sorry it took me so long to run across this thread and your question!

the song you're looking for is Kofi - "Didn't I", which you can find on her Black ..With Sugar album (which also has "Looking Over Love")

and it was my love of "Didn't I", which I hunted down cos of the Nino sample, that made me decide to collect lovers rock.

― Paul (scifisoul), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

i was just about to say: paul kennedy to thread!!

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

ha ha, i'd forgotten this. many thanks once again Paul.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:38 (twenty years ago)

seven months pass...

hi there
wonder if you can help?
am after information about brown sugar's
'I'm in love witha dreadlocks"
date it was released/ in the charts and its availability today ?
cheers
b.s.

― brown sugar, Monday, 15 May 2006 08:35 (nineteen years ago)

how's the trojan lovers comp for an introduction?

― willem -- (willem), Monday, 15 May 2006 10:22 (nineteen years ago)

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