Q: You've been incredibly prolific and productive over the years. Do you think it would be a possibility for you to gather many of the obscure singles you did, along with the more established tracks, and compile them so we have them preserved on some kind of anthology for the future? A: I've got a CD that I'm pressing at the time, at the moment now it's called 'Errol Dunkley: Greatest Hits', you probably see it? Q: No. A: Where I'm on the cover, you can see some mountains behind me. Check it out, it's got eleven number one songs on it. All hit songs; 'OK Fred' is on it, 'Black Cinderella', 'Movie Star', 'You'll Never Know'. Q: There's so many of your past records which hasn't come out again, things that has stood the test of time very, very well. You should be able to take those recordings and put it out on your own. More and more vintage artists are doing that now, preserving things that would probably be lost to obscurity forever, otherwise. Do you think you could do that? It's a big project but should be well worth it.

A: Yeah, yeah. Sure. After x amount of time the songs are the artist's own again, like after every ten years these songs are (chuckles)... yeeeaaars ago. Q: I think the source for it would be to find some serious collector out there, that goes for most of the artists I'd assume, for assisting with finding the right stuff. A: Yeah, that would... Q: A lot of that music deserves to be heard again, and people can't find the 45's anymore. A: True, true. I've got Penthouse... My label is called Ghetto Vibes, yunno. I've got Penthouse distributing, Penthouse have three songs... Penthouse in Jamaica, Germain? Q: Donovan Germain, yes. A: They've got three of my songs on 45; 'Lickle Way Different', 'Movie Star', and 'OK Fred' again. I press it on 45 again on my label, Ghetto Vibes. But I wanna get a good distributing company in Europe, or England. Q: You have several good labels out there now for vintage music, Pressure Sounds, Makasound, Blood & Fire, all doing a proper presentation of the music the way it should be. Perhaps that could be an idea for an album of your older stuff? It's in the same vein as classic soul or rock or jazz albums from that era, the sixties or the seventies, the treatment they've got over the past ten years - a very decent job to say the least. A: I'd like to know them. Q: But you like the idea? A: Yeah man, if they're clean, yes.

Q: Same for albums like 'Profile', 'Sit & Cry', and even 'Militant Man'. A: They need to be on CD. Q: Scout them and clean them up. A: That's what I need to do. When I get to New York I will go look it up. Q: It's good to have a back catalog out there. A: And they're mine, because 'Militant Man' and most of those songs are owned by me. I spend my money back in the studio. Q: An obvious question would be next how you look on the music today. A: On the music today? It's different from my time (chuckles). Q: (Chuckles) A: Today it's really, really different. Because they're tryin' to create but I don't think they're taking the right road, y'know. You have some young artists who will survive as long as us, but those are the ones who took the right track. Like Luciano, y'know wha' I mean, people who sings. Those who's singin' good songs with good melody and music with good changes, good arrangement. 'Cause most of the songs they're making now, it's just a drum and bass t'ing. It's all empty riddim, with just some effects (chuckles). Those music ain't gonna live, we know that. Because people ain't even buying those records, I tell you that, it's just a 'popularity' thing. The sound system, they play it, y'know, so they're the ones who is supporting the foolishness. All dem anti-gay thing (chuckles). But I'm not into that. My thing is authentic reggae.

Q: The classic music. A: That's right, and I ain't gonna change that. I'm not gonna follow the young artists. Q: Maintain your own thing instead. A: I've got my own thing, I've got my own market, and I'm always working at home and abroad. It's just last week, Saturday, I was given an award in Jamaica. Me, Barrington Levy, and Sanchez - 'Living Legends' (chuckles). Yeah, that's what they gave me. Mega-Jam gave me a trophy, an award. I remember sailing down the Riviera too, 1985, when I had 'OK Fred'. It went number one in the French chart. And I was given an award, sailing down the Riviera (laughs). Eddy Grant was there too. Q: Was it as late as '85? Wasn't it more like '80 or the year before? A: No, by the time it hit France. Q: I see. A: It was like '85. Q: What did the Coxson album do for you? A: This one now? Oh, well, it's like this album is just to show the fans that I'm still workin'. It wasn't a great success but probably it'll develop. It's just that Mr Dodd put out a portion of albums, my own included too. He called them 'Studio One: 50th Anniversary Record'. He died shortly after. That's how it goes.

Coxsone Dodd

Q: You recorded some songs for the Black Spider label in the UK too, David Jahson's imprint. A: Yeah, that was before I went back home. Not anything outstanding happened there, it was just something to do, y'know, you try something and it never works. Q: But you did a nice recut of 'Stop Your Gun Shooting' anyhow, the 'Skylarking' riddim. Your son is involved in producing now, isn't he? Producing hip-hop. A: He's doing fine. He's a rapper, yeah. And I have another son, but he's a Jamaican deejay (chuckles). None a dem sings. The Jamaican deejay one, he can sing, but he prefer to deejay. Q: Like almost everyone else if they're young in Jamaica now. A: It's like it's easier. You don't have to learn chords, and you don't have to learn measures and all of these things, and timing. Q: So if that's bad for the music, what's the future? A: No, it's still vocals. All the vocalists dem is still doing good, 'cause we've got some good new young artists who's singin' good songs, like this yout' called Richie Spice, you've got another one called I Wayne. They're taking the right trend. 'Cause most of the riddims dem that they are singin' on, they're cover riddims. Some of dem are Studio One riddim. Q: A classic rhythm is a classic rhythm, Studio One, Treasure Isle, 'Heavenless' or whatever, but it's not gonna take the music further. A: No, they need to start creating. But when you create a new riddim in Jamaica now, nobody wanna hear it. But I'm not for Jamaica market, I tell you that, 'cause my record don't sell in Jamaica. And it's always deejay, chatty mouth t'ing, a lotta noise.

Errol Dunkley (Photo: David Corio) www.davidcorio.com

Errol Dunkley (Photo: David Corio) www.davidcorio.com

Q: Is reggae music overshadowed by 'the Bob Marley syndrome'? Rock music didn't face the same consequence when Elvis died, perhaps what has been created of 'Bob's legacy' has meant some suffering for reggae music in the end. A: Yeah. Because you see, Bob was like the reggae symbol, people listen Bob and they listen us too. They buy Bob record and they buy our own too. So, I don't think the music died with Bob, yunno, it could never be. It's just that the youths of today, they have a new trend. 'Cause right now it's like it shares now the elderly music, that is we, then you've got the kid music, that is the young deejays, Sizzla and all of dem. We used to have one music for everybody, and now it's like a two music thing. But I'll be concentrating more on production. Yeah, I wanna produce some young artists. Q: Who are you working with now? A: For example I've got a yout' called Cutty Corn, I did a song with him called 'Colour TV'. It's on 45, I sold a few on export from Jamaica. And I've got another song with Frisco Kid, same riddim. And I've got a song with me and my son on the same riddim, where I'm singin' and he's deejaying in combination. Q: What's his name? A: His name is Devon Diamond, so he call himself. But the next one you know now, he call himself Champagne! Q: (Laughs) OK. A: He's doing good, because he's producing himself too. 'Cause he always said that, there's things that he grew up and saw me doing, 'cause I used to take him to the studio. So he grew up in it, and he's doing fine. I'm proud of him. And I'm workin' with another yout' called Matic too, Lion King, quite a few.

Errol Dunkley @ Rebel Salute 2008 (Photo: Sis Irie)

There's a vast amount of recordings that Errol should be digging up from obscurity and let the public get the chance to hear and enjoy again. The Trojan anthology is just 'almost' satisfactory selection-wise, there's so much more from his forty year long career to make use of. Maybe we'll get the chance to hear some of it one day. Take for example the discomix of 'Nuh Rush Me No Badness'; the extended cut of 'Stop Your Gun Shooting' featuring a deejay slot by the late Ranking Dread; 'Train To Zion' which was a 'rockers' update of 'Train To Skaville' circa '75; the original version of 'Repatriation'; the Militant Barry-produced 'Praise Jah All The Time', and so on. There is also an overlooked EP on Black Joy circa 1980 with extended versions of some of the greatest recordings I've ever heard by the man. None of this is available at present to my knowledge. Dunkley's sweet, fragile voice has always been one of the most enjoyable in Jamaican music. It is a voice he has used to perfection on some of the most solid recordings from as far back as the short-lived rock steady era, the early reggae period, the rough roots era from Randy's Studio 17 or the rockers out of Channel One, the lovers rock out of the English quarters and even some nice cuts in the digital development of the music. He's been through it all and there's some excellent sides to be found for those of you out there who are still unfamiliar with Dunkley's work. Unfortunately most of his albums have been difficult to track down for certain periods. Even the rock steady recordings on the Joe Gibbs 'Please Stop Your Lying' CD is getting scarce now. This will have to change. But I'm confident that it will, if not sooner then definitely a little later. Every reggae household should own the 'Darling Ooh' album in any case which should be in print up to now. That is a masterful piece of work and arguably Dunkley's best moment on record so far, perhaps even a bit ahead of its time ('73) with those deep deep rhythms by the Wailers' instrumental section, and closely followed by the Channel One set 'Profile of Errol Dunkley'. Timeless stuff. 7" single information courtesy Roots Knotty Roots.

Here's a videoclip of Errol Dunkley's "OK Fred".

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Article: Peter I (Please do not reproduce without permission)