Max Romeo - Strikers Choice Dubs (Bunny Striker Lee 50th Anniversary Edition) '2019

Tracks list

Max Romeo was born Maxwell Smith 22nd November 1947 in the country district of
St. James on Jamaicas North Coast and, when Maxs mother emigrated to the UK in
1954, he moved to Kingston to live with his father. During his teens Max
gravitated towards the citys burgeoning music scene and in 1966 he began to work
for Ken Lack, the proprietor of the Caltone label, as a salesman and general
errand runner. He then formed The Emotions with Kenneth Knight and Lloyd
Shakespeare and the group enjoyed a number of hits on Caltone including A
Rainbow, Heartbreaking Gypsy & Rude Boy Confession. For a short period Max then
became the occasional lead singer for The Hippy Boys alongside Glen Capo
Adams(Glen Adams), Aston Familyman Barrett, Carlton Carly Barrett, Alva Reggie
Lewis and Lloyd Charmers Tyrell but after the band hit with Dr No Go for Mrs
Pottinger(Sonia Pottinger) he decided to go it alone.

Maxs friend, Bunny Striker Lee, was beginning to make a name for himself as a
record producer and he not only employed Max as a salesman but, after hearing
him attempt to impress a local girl, Striker also gave him his Romeo epithet.
Max was keen to start recording again but was not too happy with Strikers choice
of material: the risqué Wet Dream. None of Bunnys stable of artists,
including Pat Kelly, Slim Smith, Roy Shirley and Derrick Morgan, would voice the
song and Striker issued Max with an ultimatum.

Maxie used to sing for Ken Lack in a group named The Emotions but at that time
he wasnt singing. He was a good singer but he had concentrated more on selling
records after Ken Lack had left the business and he was working for me as a
salesman. So I turned to Maxie and I said Every day you want to voice a tune...
even on a flipside... so as you can play it to your girlfriend. He said Boy
Striker I dont want to sing it and I said If you dont sing this tune then dont
come to work tomorrow! Bunny Striker Lee

Rude or slack records were not a new phenomenon and were undergoing a revival
under the influence of American artists such as Blowfly but the lyrics usually
tended towards boasts of sexual prowess rather than erotic dreams causing
involuntary ejaculations.

Wet Dream was a tune now! I put it on the Hold You Jack rhythm and we voiced it
up at Coxsone(CS Dodd)s studio. Bunny Striker Lee

The tune was voiced one night at Studio One on Brentford Road and, when Max had
finished Coxsone raised Cain! and declared I dont want that tune recorded here.
But Striker told him ... you cant wipe it off and sent Wet Dream as a tune to
make up the numbers to the Palmer brothers in London who released it on their
Unity label in 1969. Although the record was deemed offensive it proved to be
instrumental in introducing reggae to the British public. Alan Freeman was not
allowed to say the title on the BBCs Radio One Sunday afternoon chart show and
only ever referred to Wet Dream as a record by Max Romeo but the record remained
on the UK National Charts for an unprecedented twenty five weeks and reached the
dizzy heights of Number Ten... without any radio play.

All the big singers... Pat Kelly, Slim Smith started that theyd never done shows
in England! Maxie was the first man out of the whole clan to come. The least of
the apostles... the underdog... was the first man to go in the British charts. A
big thing! From Wet Dream you dont know whats going to hit... so after that if I
told a man to sing a tune... even if it was foolishness... he would do it. You
understand? Bunny Striker Lee

When Max arrived in the UK to tour and promote the record he steadfastly stuck
to his story with the music press that his song was nothing whatsoever to do
with sex but was, in fact, an everyday story of poverty in Jamaica. The roof of
his shack was constantly leaking and the chorus of lie down gal let me push it
up, push it up actually alluded to Max requesting that his young lady move out
of the way so that he could push a broom up into the hole in the roof to stop
the leak. Maxie went on to record a number of innuendo ridden records for the
Unity label including Wine Her Goosie and Mini Skirt Vision which, inevitably,
also failed to garner any air play. Wet Dream was not a big seller in Jamaica
and, despite finding it difficult to live down the stigma attached to the record
in the UK, Max had no problems at home in Kingston and now began to hit the
Jamaican charts on a regular basis.

His 1971 recording for Derrick Morgans Hop label Let The Power Fall On I, along
with Delroy Wilsons Better Must Come, were adopted by Michael Manleys Peoples
National Party as the campaign songs for the 1972 elections and the music
reached the people and won the election. As the rhythms slowed down Maxs role in
the development of rebel reality music cannot be overstated. His distinctive and
unorthodox recordings, including Bald Headed Teacher (as Trevour Lambert) for
the Upset label, Jordan River with Glen Adams for Alvin GG Ranglin(Alvin
Ranglin), Beardman Feast & the stunning Rasta Bandwagon with Niney The
Observer(Winston ‘Niney’ Holness) and Babylose Burning (as Maxie,
Niney & Scratch) for Lee Scratch Perry, set the sort of standards that other
singers strove to emulate.

In the mid seventies Maxs work with Lee Perry brought him to the attention of
the international rock press once again with a series of excellent records
including One Step Forward. However, this time round, no explanations or excuses
were required and Max Romeo finally lived down his reputation in the UK as a
singer solely of smut with the release of War In A Babylon on an Island single.
The Jamaican release on Upsetter was originally entitled Sipple Out Deh and the
record provided penetrating insights into the strife torn Kingston ghettos and
the worsening crisis on the capitals streets. The power and strength of Scratchs
musical mastery gave an unwavering focus to Maxs lyrics and their War Ina
Babylon album, featuring I Chase The Devil released internationally by Island
Records, was the best selling long player of Maxs long career. The Revelation
Time aka Open The Iron Gate album from the same period showcased Maxs work with
a selection of producers including Geoffrey Chung, Phil Pratt and Scratch and
was every bit as strong and the self produced Reconstruction long player,
released through Island in 1978, further cemented his international reputation.

After relocating to New York at the end of the decade Max released the Holding
Out My Love For You album on Shanachie Records, with assistance from Rolling
Stone Keith Richards, in 1981 and I Love My Music which was recorded at Wackies
Studio. In 1992 his Far I Captain Of My Ship for the UKs Jah Shaka presaged the
coming of age for the UK roots scene and Max became one of the leaders of the
international roots revival movement through a succession of stirring stage
shows and new recordings that did far more than revisit past glories.

There have always been separate, seemingly disparate, themes running throughout
Max Romeos work from the unabashed lewdness of Wet Dream (unless talking to
British rock journalists!) through to the religious fervour of River Jordan on
to the caustic social commentary of Rasta Bandwagon. His popularity has never
showed any signs of diminishing and serves to demonstrate that the songs of Max
Romeo, like all Jamaican singers, like all Jamaican musicians, in fact like all
Jamaican music will invariably defy any attempts to pigeonhole the phenomenon.

01. Max Romeo - Crazy World of Dub (4:11)
02. Max Romeo - Dub Trouble (3:13)
03. Max Romeo - Dub Down Rome (3:47)
04. Max Romeo - Dub for Moses (3:18)
05. Max Romeo - Dubbing Dangerously (3:10)
06. Max Romeo - Take Dub Serious (4:00)
07. Max Romeo - Dub Ganja (3:40)
08. Max Romeo - Love Thy Dub (3:35)
09. Max Romeo - The Dub Clock (2:20)
10. Max Romeo - Dis Ya Dubwise, Keep Ya Moving (3:18)

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