Double Top

Album review

A wonderful album this, albeit one with a rather peculiar history. Producer Roy Cousins first released Double Top in 1991, although the recordings within actually date from the mid-'80s. In fact, Junior Reid's tracks had actually appeared back in 1986 as one half of his Two of a Kind split album with Teezy. The Cornel Campbell numbers, in contrast, seem not to have been previously released on album. In any event, Cousins paired the Reid and Campbell recordings, appending to each vocal cut the phenomenal dubs that had originally been mixed down by King Tubby and Scientist, then had the entire album remixed at Easy Street. This helped give the new set a fresh feeling as well as greater internal consistency. Not that it was particularly lacking to begin with, as the superb riddims supporting both artists had all been laid down by members of Roots Radics and the Revolutionaries at Channel One Studio, and engineered by Ernest Hookim. Cousins' productions during this period were universally top-notch, while his melody laced dubs were absolutely devastating. The ones here were worthy of their own set, and several have appeared on a variety of dub albums from the period. Reid, too, is on fire. He was hot property during this pre-Black Uhuru period, riding high on the success of his Boom Shack-a-Lack album, and serial recording with myriad producers in its wake. Perhaps that's why two of the four songs he cut with Cousins were covers -- Errol Dunkley's "Movie Star" and Dennis Brown's "Concrete Castle King," and one, "Skanky Producer," was a combo with Don Carlos and Charlie Chaplin. Regardless, every one of his tracks is a revelation. Meanwhile, Cornell Campbell was still actively searching for greener pastures, having departed from Bunny Lee's stable in 1983. He worked only briefly with Cousins before moving on, but the emotive "Jah Give Us Love," the sharply biting "Informer," and best of all the poignant, soulful "I'm a Man" were proof that his standards were far from slipping. Listeners can decide for themselves whether they prefer his version of "A Love That's True" or the Uniques. The vocal cuts alone make this album a classic; with the dubs appended it's a masterpiece.
© Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo