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Post by E-dogg on Mar 16, 2006 20:53:51 GMT
hot milk started a thread on BAF, before the board was locked, about the top-ten Ethiopians tunes. Every time I think of this amazing group, my favorite JA vocal group, I am stricken by how odd it is that they were not more successful. I am curious about other people's thoughts on this matter, as well as if anything could be done now to elevate their place in history.
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Post by admin on Mar 16, 2006 21:05:12 GMT
I wouldn't say they weren't successful, they're well respected amongst fans of ska through to early roots. If you mean why didn't they break through to Bob Marley type fame? Well maybe it's due to spreading themselves amongst several different producers and also the fact that Stephen Taylor was tragically killed in 1975, and it was almost two years before Leonard Dillon resurfaced on the scene with Slave Call. Most stuff that Leonard Dillon has done is held in high esteem by reggae connoisseurs, bar the recent Studio 1 album, which is a bit patchy in places.
Respect
Gordy
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Post by E-dogg on Mar 17, 2006 2:54:06 GMT
Yeah, I meant greater fame, outside of the connoisseurs. I think the talent to success ratio is huge. All of the materials I read seem to suggest that nothing ever really took off for them. They'd put out an amazing single and it wouldn't really go anywhere, and they couldn't ever get away from the daily grind. I mean, Stephen Taylor was pumping gas when he got hit by a car (a van?). For me, that was the real Ethiopians, Dillon & Taylor. That sweet sound could never be replaced. I mean, listen to "What A Pain" for example...the harmony is just so natural and loose and, for lack of a better word, magical.
I guess the main thing IS Taylor's death, which came at a particularly bad time, when so many roots classics were soon to be created, and reggae (or at least Bob) becoming so big worldwide. You can hear the music getting into this amazing roots thing too, like on "Hail Ratsa Brother, Hail" and "Band You Belly." There is no doubt that The (original) Ethiopians would have made one of the greatest, or possibly the DEFINITIVE mid-late 70s roots LP. The thing is, they had already done SO MUCH. I mean, it is just such an amazingly powerful, ultra high quality body of work, it just blows my mind.
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Post by rosko on Mar 17, 2006 12:22:56 GMT
The Ethiopians were great. One of my first purchses when I started expending my JA horizons was the Heartbeat collection "Owner Fe De Yard". From the first note, I was hooked.
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Post by lankou2 on Mar 17, 2006 12:58:35 GMT
i rate them very highly as well.I also believe that the major hindrance to success was Stephen Taylor's death.I am especially fond of their JJ productions but most of all that they did till Taylor's death is top notch.i love Leonard Dillon's voice but when it was balanced with some backing vocals,the formula could hardly be beaten.The harmonies on their recordings is just very unusual and that's something Dillon was never really able to recapture after his partner's passing.the tunes done when they were a trio are also very interesting.
i would also use another parameter to explain the Ethiopian(s) didn't break big : i would also say "lack of looks": LD never had a very striking visual presence, unlike most of the artists who signed on majors in the mid-seventies, the period when most of the western world (apart from the UK, which had developed a relation with JA music much earlier) became aware of reggae.
LD didn't look like Marley, Tosh, The Gladiators...and the stylistic standards of his greatest gems were quite a far cry from what was deemed as "worthwile authentic reggae" by the newly converted mainstream (and i insist on MAINSTREAM!) critics.maybe LD looked too plain, not "exotic" enough?
The Ethiopians' lack of a bigger recognition, like many other fundamental reggae artists, may be accounted for this way. Though there's never been so much early reggae (say, by and large 68 to 72)material available, this tendency never seems to change.It is always the mid-70's reggae that is seen as some sort of golden age of JA music.I beg to disagree and The Ethiopians are easily in my top 5, possibly even my n°1 vocal group
at the moment, Well Red is back with a bang in my selections but in a relatively short timespan they released an amazing body of work.
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Post by The Favorite on Mar 17, 2006 17:39:00 GMT
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Post by E-dogg on Mar 17, 2006 19:25:10 GMT
Big thanks for the excellent link, nice.
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