I bought this record on ebay last week and I was going to wait until I got it in the mail to write about it, but the check just cleared today and it’s coming from California so it may be a while. This is an essential reggae album, it features Doctor Alimantado’s best work and some of Lee Perry’s best Black Ark work. Involved in Jamaican Djing from an early age, Alimantado named himself after his grandfather who was an English doctor. He was a prominent sound system DJ in the 70’s, and Lee Perry actually approached him after a DJ performance to record some tracks. Alimantado chose to release the record on Greensleeves when they offered to help him develop his own label (International Sounds Distrobution Association). He released a few more albums on Greensleeves into the 80’s and also released a series of dub albums titled In the Mix. I’m sharing the song “Unitone Skank”. I don’t think it’s the best song on the album, but it’s almost impossible to pick out the best song on this album. I think this song is solid and a good representation of the production (listen to the dubbing of the guitar and some of the vocals), and the album as a whole. I would also recommend checking out “I Shot the Barber” for the horn lines, and “Can’t Conquer Natty Dreadlocks”.
Dr. Alimantado - Unitone Skank
(It’s also somewhat interesting to know that while he was doing the research to trace his roots through the middle passage back to Africa Alimantado also discovered that he was a distant cousin to Marcus Garvey).
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