Q: You didn't do much live performances in the seventies? It was mostly based on recordings at the time?

A: Yes. And beca' them time deh we was some likkle yout' an' the people that we was doing songs for them times deh, they wasn't big in Jamaica to have... to release the songs them in Jamaica, that we could get shows, y'know? It's money. You have to record for Treasure Isle or Studio One them time deh, fe really get shows. You know them way deh? So it's like... you know? And through that... yes.

Q: Was there any radio jock in particular on either stations that supported Freedom Sounds artists? Someone like Errol Thompson ("E. T") should've been likely to give your songs a spin, since he had a cultural direction towards the music?

A: He should've done that, yes... Errol Thompson. But... Marie Garth! Used to have a dj by the name of Marie Garth. And Jeff Barnes - RJR. Beca' Jeff Barnes used to be living in Greenwich Town, he and his family. So he used to know me. So from he get that tune there he would play it every time an' say "Yes! Big up Greenwich Farm! Alright likkle yout'! Alright Alla!", and dem t'ing deh, yunno. And Marie Garth used to love it too, '(I Man Saw A) Stone'! You know, that was her song - Marie Garth used to love that, '(I Man Saw A) Stone'! You know, more time when she start her program she'd start it with the 'Stone' and come "uuuurrrhh", y'know! So it's from them time deh people really kinda start know me in a Jamaica, from 'Stone'.

Q: Through that tune?

A: Yeah, with '(I Man Saw A) Stone'. That people used to even call me... nickname "Stone", y'know (laughs).

Q: Tell me the inspiration for that tune?

A: You know, it's really outa the bible. Beca' you know when we out at the Bobo camp we read the bible so... every day. That's weh you a remember... you have some certain passage in the bible when, you know, it always hold you. Like when you hear "Daniel in the lion's den!", or you... "I man saw a stone fe mash down Rome!", and you a say "Lot's wife turned a pillar of salt!". You know, dem likkle stories deh, y'know. About "Jonah in the belly of the whale!". Certain likkle stories in the bible, yunno. We used to... you take it, y'know? So '(I Man Saw A) Stone' was like a t'ing in the bible that I really see in a I-self, y'know. Yes.

Q: About the lp's in the order they came out... You recorded first for Bertram, but Tappa Zukie got the first album. Was there any intention at Freedom Sounds to do an album before Tappa got the right amount of songs for the debut? It wasn't until the early eighties when Bertram put out a full album with your Freedom Sounds records?

A: Yes, beca' you know... But, you see Bertram Brown... he wasn't big enough in dem time deh fe really (put out an album) at one time. So all a dem songs deh was singles and him just put all a dem together now an' call it a lp deh.

Q: That was later on? Like some five - six years later.

A: Later on... yes, yes. But Tappa Zukie now, he was a likkle yout' and dem times deh, them used to love badness an' dem t'ings deh. So because I was a likkle older than him I used to call him and seh "nah man, leave out dem likkle t'ings deh, man". And him seh "Alla, I hear yu a sing a tune 'bout 'Bozrock'? Sing it for me now, man!". "And me stop badness man, sing it for me, man... and make me start go inna the music". And me say "alright!". So I do that for him. And him give it fe Yabby You to distribute it. And when Yabby You pay him royalty, he went to England. And came back now an' say "bwoy Alla, I go to England and I make some money, yunno. Offa 'Bozrock' an' t'ing. I would a love you fe do a lp for me yunno?". So me a say "alright yout'!", y'know? So...

Q: The story I've read is that the royalty you and Roy Palmer got for that 'Bosrah' tune, you both gave that to Tappa so he could go to the UK and release it there as well?

A: That's true, that's true. You know, beca' it was a likkle yout' and he want take it...

Q: Like "faith & trust"?

A: Yes! You know, yes, yes... So when we get the royalty, he got his own, but it wasn't enough. So I say if I could get my own too, make up his own that we can say "gwan, man!". You know? "Rastafari", y'know. Yeah man.

Q: Tell me a little about the recordings for that album, 'Heaven Is My Roof '?

A: Well, well... the album you know it was done at Channel One. The riddim them, laid at Channel One. You know... with Sly & Robbie.

Q: You were present in the studio when they laid the riddims.

A: Yes, because I had to sing and make Sly & Robbie them play the riddim. Beca' Sly & Robbie...

Q: Then you voiced it at Tubbys?

A: Tubbys. But the riddim wasn't made there, y'know. Because before, when I was small I used to... they used to do everyt'ing one time. Voice it and make the riddim and put the voice on it, same time. After a while they start make the riddim them first...

Q: Yes, the sixties was a different procedure, with everything recorded in one take. If you failed then everyone had to start over again, so it had to be tight.

A: Yes, like when I recorded for Joe Gibbs and them man deh. But after a while they start seh "well it would take less time", beca' some time you know it... when you do everything one time and the guitarist make a mistake, everything have to go over back. Both the singer who had to sing it... everybody had to play over, y'know. Anybody who make a likkle mistake they have to stop everyt'ing an' do it over. But when them make the riddim first, if even the riddim is making an' a musician... they can just fix 'im up back. So when the riddim make now, the artist could get it in one whole day late to voice it... you can do it, yunno? But when the riddim make you just do that same time. You know, so it was even nicer in some ways, for the artist them times deh. And then they start using now... beca' when them start do that now, then them start making different artists sing on the riddims, you know (laughs)!

Q: Mmm... "if you get a good rhythm why not reuse it as much as possible"?

A: Alright! Yees! So that... so it was with them ideas, so they start do those t'ings too.

Q: How can a music develop properly if a rhythm is recut over and over again, no matter how good it is? Doesn't it run the risk of becoming very stagnant at one stage or another, and I don't know if reggae music is in a "healthy" state for the moment?

A: Well, that's why it reach to this now! You have... beca' first time what we used to love about ourselves them times there, no artist wants to sing like a next artis'. Them times deh.

Q: One "healthy" example of originality, could easily be the Freedom Sounds collective, in the seventies era. It wasn't like you recut old Studio One or Treasure Isle rhythms time and time again?

A: No. Nobody want to sound like nobody them times deh. Nobody wanted to sound like nobody (else). Everybody wanted to sound like themselves! Them times, that if you hear a song play on the radio you can note Ken Boothe! Alton Ellis! Delroy Wilson! It's not like now weh you a seh " wonder if it's Luciano dat, or Bushman, or wha'?". You know? "I wonder if it's Frankie Paul dat? Wonder if it's his mood deh", yunno? That time deh if you 'ear a song you know is who that! Beca' that voice is his t'ing! And the riddim his t'ing, beca' from you hear the riddim is that man riddim that! That's why it gets so... really this way now. And they bring the computer in which make it worse now too. You know, that's why it gets this way. Yes! Enough creativity is not going on now. That's why so much man now, if a man come to dem an' say "fire!", ten man start sing 'bout "fire", y'know? For a man say "my gun dig twelve man", so a man seh "my gun...". So everybody jus' follow like... y'know?

Q: "Follow fashion company"?

A: Yes! Like darkness. People going in darkness, but t'ings just grouping in the dark, yunno. Them times was creativity, my brethren. Creativity. That's why the music was so strong. That's why those riddims they have dey... dem even play back them now, ca' them creativity.

Q: Difficult perhaps for you to assemble it in one answer for the moment, but from your point of view, what was it about the seventies era that was inspiring, that all this creativity came about, and at Freedom Sounds in particular?

A: Them times deh? Man never used to really sing for the money, like now. That mean a man would go into the studio, and he would take the whole day. Because he want to get some things good! Now, a musician goes into studio, he not going take the whole day to make one tune, beca' him look 'pon the money! Him say "wha', it cyaan be? If I do twenty riddim, I can make so much...". So although him playin' a riddim an' him don't really feel it, but him still seh "next riddim!", "next riddim!", beca' all him want is the money! Them times deh, it wasn't much of those a dat. Then him don't feel it in 'imself, seh "hoool'"! Them play it over til' them get it. So it's that now, it's the difference now, that's why you don't have that vibes in the music like that times deh.

Q: All things... all ingredients tied together, that was the main thing, to get a good performance out.

A: Main t'ing, my brethren. Ca' everybody want to know when 'im hear him tune on the radio tomorrow, it must be nice an' it must sound a way so a man can laugh, yunno! An' seh "Eeuuh! A idiot business dat!". You know? Yes. Them time deh, that was the sweetest thing for us, as singers, when you can hear your tune playin' on the radio, them times deh. Yes. You don't t'ink how much money you gonna make. You jus' want hear your tune playing on the radio. Yeah man, an' the people big you up and them say "I hear your tune a weeey!".

Q: Being confirmed that way for the new works...

A: Yees! That a man can say "yes!", yunno! Alright (laughs)!

Q: But this album for Tappa now, it came out as "Ras Alla". What's the story of these two names, "Ras" and "Prince"?

A: Alright, I going tell you now... You see, them time deh me as a likkle yout', I used to love this boxer by the name of...

Q: Muhammad Ali?

A: Muhammad Ali. Love him very much! And you know when he was fighting (Sonny) Liston, George Foreman and him, everybody a say "bwoy, the cat a go kill them likkle yout' deh, man!". And me seh "nah man, Muhammad Ali... Cassius a Muhammad Ali". So because I love him so much people start call me "Alla". "Prince Alla, you love Muhammad Ali man, yu name Alla ca' him a muslim, a yu name Alla!". So when Tappa Zukie was puttin' that now, beca' he was kinda afraid a dat t'ing deh still, beca' him a seh "bwoy, look deh now, because you see a rasta yu y'know, yu know... you no muslim!".

Q: Yes, there's certainly some confusion surrounding that name... contradiction, you know...

A: Yees! So him seh "I nah go put 'Prince Alla', I gonna put 'Ras Alla' and gonna make them realise he's a rasta, yunno!". You know, so it... (laughter). Ca' is a man really... he has some... he's bad. But him is as good, beca' you see when it come to arrangements, is a youth weh... him can't play the instrument...

Q: Imagination, a good idea about what the feel should be?

A: Yes, because him will be in deh and tellin' all the hornsman seh "no man, I want yu keep on playin' this, man!". And they would laugh an' seh "no man, you mad, yout'!". An' him seh "do it!". And them do it, an' seh "yes yout', a truuee!". So him 'ave all kinda... especially in the lp that I did like in some of the horns dem, is 'im really...

Q: Pushing it to get that feel?

A: Aaaahh, yes.