1988, CSA, licensed from Black Scorpio
Kingstonian Man
Ready Fe Talk To Them
Family Ram
Mr. Bely
Nuh Money Nuh Run
Move Up And Down
Hero Life
Plan Your Family
Any Pint Bottle - 40 Cents
Horseman Style
I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the synth skanks on Family Ram, which caught my ear right away – some time prior to that I had heard the tune Champion by a large collection of veteran artists and had been impressed by the style and ultra-gritty voice of this artist called General Trees who I didn’t know at the time. So I got my hands on Kingstonian Man, put it on, and was disappointed to hear that in his younger years his voice wasn’t THAT gritty, but left the record to play in the background regardless. Two tunes passed, then those synths hit my ears, and that was the exact moment that I was infected with the disease they call reggaemylitis. Rubadub has been my musical comfort zone ever since. Family Ram isn’t even a conspicuous tune (it’s good though) but that one very tasteful musical choice managed to rope me all the way into reggae and now here I am on bimkillhim.com.
But to set the scene for everyone else, in 1988 General Trees was the biggest household name under Scorpio (The Horseman Sound), which itself had a more identifiable sound than ever, and Trees was just coming to the end of the peak of his popularity, still a fan favorite at stage shows. Kingstonian Man should in theory be the perfect storm and Trees’ magnum opus, and were it done by just about any other artist who occupies some lower tier of reggae artistry, it would be, but it edges out as 'really good' rather than 'the best' by virtue of the standards in this discography.
The opening seconds of the record will come across as jarring and ‘different’ to just about anyone, even those who are well-versed in 80s dancehall. It almost sounds comical, with toms on the tresillo/clave/dembow beat, a major arpeggio bassline, and silly-sounding synths and sound effects. Still ready! Riddims like these make us wish that ragga didn’t get so hardcore so soon. And yet the lyrics are a brutal criticism of youths who get roped into badness, with some very sharp on-brand imagery from Trees:
Kingstonian man walk in a gang
Kingstonian man love them weapon
If them hail you one time, no look fe a second
Them no open them mouth when them a hail no one
A just a shake head or them cock off them hand
See more in Mr. Belly where Trees gets beat by his mum in his personified body parts for stealing dumplings from the pot in the ktichen, and then runs to his sympatheic dad for help. The way he strings one of the tune’s hooks into the story twice, for both the beating and the complaining to Dad, is an expert technique transplanted from children's storytelling, and well appropriate in music.
Special mention also to the recording setup in this record which has Trees’ voice coming through clearer than ever, yet still somehow a little grainy and gritty around the edges. Very little reverb or delay on the voice, no smoke and mirrors, just pure cool and pure skill. Even on tunes like Ready Fe Talk To Them where Trees is deejaying very quiet, it’s still crystal clear. Moral of the story for producers – don’t mix the vocals too quiet! And at this point Trees’ vocal prowess is a given and it doesn’t even register as impressive when he plays all up and down the register, quiet and loud, shouting and growling at times, in and out of the talking style, and super precise on the pitch and rhythm. Vocally he is the most accomplished deejay of the 80s and this album alone contains more than enough proof.
I wrote before about Little John’s Trembling Style, one of those tunes where he tried to make a new style of dance take off – and we know he failed because nobody has ever mentioned the ‘trembling style’ since. See also Move Up And Down on this record. Both instances are a shame because both tunes are actually really good. General Trees says Who nah do it, lawd, say you a clown, and now we all live in a circus.
Trees is one of the few deejays with a genuine passion for older and other styles of music and the ambition to try his hand at some real fusion styles – in the past we saw tunes like Bionic Teeth and Hello General Tree in blues fusion, and then Threes’ In De Place in calypso style, which comes back here with Any Pint Bottle – 40 Cent. This one became another hit for Trees and has appeared on many compilation albums since. Lyrics here are about finding empty bottles to sell to recycling centers for a forty cent payback, and the woes of finding bottles that are broken and therefore don't qualify, let’s add it to the list for this album:
Kingston gang fellas
Lyrics pirates
Incest and homosexuality
Getting beat up by Mum for sneaking a snack
Not having enough money for his girl
A new style of dance
The story of Paul Bogle and George William Gordon's involvement in the Morant Bay rebellion
Family planning (i.e. not having too many kids too young with some dude who borrowed his friend's cars to look rich and reliable)
Woes of bottle hunting
Running a horse race and ending up in deliberation with the stewards over a potentially broken rule
You might say the last two don't count because they are new versions of older Trees tunes - Plan Your Family is a digitized, 88ified cut of Outta Hand, which appeared on Heart Mind & Soul, and Horseman Style is a new recording of the same tune (and on the same riddim) from Ghost Rider. Being an acoustic 85 cut it sounds out of place in this otherwise mostly digital album, but it's a great tune so we don't complain too much.
To go back to the pressing question: is this the perfect storm and the best Trees album?? Well not really because it does have a lowlight (Nuh Money Nuh Run) - not even a bad tune, mind, just not up to the standard of the rest. Still a very very good record, worth a listen for anyone interested in 80s dancehall. If nothing else, you need it for the album cover!
Bim count: 0
My picks: Kingstonian Man, Family Ram, Mr. Belly, Any Pint Bottle – 40 Cents
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