ALTON ELLIS – Treasure Isle 1966- 1968 (Repress) – LP – Vinyl [NOV 15]

LP – Black Vinyl (2024 Repress).

Alton Ellis is one the finest soulful voices to come out of Jamaica. As well as writing hit singles himself, he could make a cover version known as a foreign tune sound like a Jamaican reggae tune with the greatest of ease.

As the more upbeat rhythms of the earlier Ska period began to slow down around the turn of 1966 some say due to the extreme heatwave that hit the island of Jamaica that year, slower rhythms suited the people to groove to at the various sound systems and dances. This also allowed the singers to express themselves more and allow the song to shrine through. No one did this better than Alton Ellis.

Alton Ellis started off singing at an early stage as part of a duo with singer Eddie Perkins and recorded for both Studio One and Randys as Alton and Eddy and had a massive hit with the song Muriel. The singing pair went their separate ways with Alton going solo with Studio One and being a much in demand voice also recorded with Duke Reids Treasure Isle Studio as Alton Ellis and The Flames. As stated earlier as the beat slowed down the top singers shined through and Alton Ellis reigned supreme. One of his tunes that features on this set Get Ready (Do the Rocksteady) even gave this period in reggaes history its name Rocksteady. Its this fantastic period Rocksteady 1966-1968 that feature on this release. This set carries all the big hits Aint That Loving You, Girl Ive Got A Date, Cry Tuff alongside many more classics. All the cut at Treasure Isle songs that really defined the era. So sit back and enjoy the Rocksteady sound its finest….

Tracklist:

A1 Ain’t That Loving You
A2 Get Ready (Do The Rocksteady)
A3 Girl I’ve Got A Date
A4 La La Means I Love You
A5 Baby I Love You
A6 Remember That Sunday (Feat. Phyllis Dillon)

B1 Cry Tuff
B2 Breaking Up
B3 Why Do Birds
B4 Come Rolling
B5 If I Ruled The World
B6 Willow Tree