Artist.......: The Congos
Album........: Live au Festival des Musiques MΘtisses
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Reggae
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: Oct-31-2007
Str.date.....: May-17-2007
Quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: http://www.musiques-metisses.com
track title time
Live au Festival des Musiques MΘtisses
01. The Congos - Sinking Sand
02. The Congos - 10 Million Chariot
03. The Congos - Swing Bridge
04. The Congos - Beatles
05. The Congos - Nashal Hero
06. The Congos - Open Up The Gate
07. The Congos - Children Crying
08. The Congos - Youth Man
09. The Congos - Yo-yo
10. The Congos - La Le Bella
11. The Congos - Teachers Teach
12. The Congos - Revolution
13. The Congos - Fraud System
14. The Congos - Question
15. The Congos - Fisherman
Runtime 83:54 min
Size 81,5 MB
Release Notes:
Recorded : October 31, 2007 (France O)
Performes : May 17, 2007 (AngoulΦme - France)
A duo comprised of Cedric Myton and Roydel "Ashanti"
Johnson, the Congos are known primarily known for one
record, Heart of the Congos, released in 1977. Reggae
historian Steve Barrow, one of the people behind the
exquisite reissue of this long-thought-lost record,
considers it as good as seminal reggae recordings such as
Bob Marley and the Wailers' Natty Dread, Burning Spear's
Marcus Garvey, and the Mighty Diamonds' Right Time. This
is not an exaggeration. Myton and Johnson, working with
Lee Perry at his Black Ark Studios in Kingston created a
masterpiece, one of (if not the) finest production job of
Perry's long and prolific career.
Cedric Myton grew up in St. Catherine, Jamaica and began
his singing career as a member of the Tartans in the late
'60s. Singing in a tuneful rocksteady style, the Tartans
scored hits with songs like "Dance All Night" and "Far
Beyond the Sun," the latter recorded for Duke Reid's
Treasure Isle label. Roy Johnson, a native of Hanover,
Jamaica, grew up singing spirituals at home and cut his
teeth as a member of Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus.
More importantly, Johnson attended school with Lee Perry,
the start of a relationship that would lead to Perry
working with him and Myton years later. A chance meeting
led to Myton and Johnson working under the name the Congos
and hooking up with such major musical talents as Sly
Dunbar, Ernest Ranglin, and "Sticky" Thompson. And while
the music that backed the Congos was undeniably great,
their most distinctive feature was their vocals: Johnson's
strong, clear tenor and Myton's breathtaking falsetto,
which sounded a bit like that of the great Russell
Tompkins of the Stylistics. What Lee Perry brought to this
mix was his usual anarchic presence, but also his
technique of using primitive (even for its time)
four-track recording technology that emphasized a
cluttered, dense, but hot live sound. With Perry at the
controls, the Congos had a man uniquely qualified to
capture the roots vibe they wanted to record, perhaps the
only producer in Jamaica capable of doing so.
Great as it was, Heart of the Congos sold only reasonably
well in Jamaica, and became a hotly sought-after
collectible in America and Britain by a cult of reggae
aficionados. The original release dropped out of sight,
and crappy reissues were all that was available until very
recently. Not long after the record was released, Myton
and Johnson went their separate ways but continued to use
the name the Congos or Congo as a means of identification.
Myton continued to record with other singers as the
Congos, and Johnson now identifies himself as Congo
Ashanti Roy, working as a solo act and as a member of some
of Adrian Sherwood's experimental dub/funk aggregations.
As solo artists, they've never again captured the magic of
Heart of the Congos, but the fact they were able to do so
once is all that really matters.