The Lone Ranger – Studio One Records – 1980

Noah In The Ark / Apprentice Dentist / Quarter Pound Of Ishen / Everything She Want / Natty Dread On The Go

Where Eagles Dwell / Dentist Dub / Collie Rock / Roots Style / Dub A Natty Dread

On the post tonight we may hear Kingston’s very own Lone Ranger recorded between 1977 and 1978 toasting over a clutch of classic Studio One rhythms. The tracks that are collated on one side of this vinyl only saw the light of day in 1980 after the monster 12″ single ‘Barnabas Collins’ was released on GG records and sold stackfuls in Jamaica and the U.K. Coxsone Dodd obviously saw a gap in the market and hastly got this collection together for public consumption. The second side of this vinyl are the dub instrumentals of the first Lone Ranger side hence the clever title of the album.

Text below ripped off from allmusic.com

Borrowing his stage name from the popular TV Western hero of the same name, the Lone Ranger was one of Jamaica’s most influential early dancehall DJs. He helped pioneer a newly rhythmic, on-the-beat rhyming style that led DJ toasting into the modern age, and punctuated his lyrics with bizarre exclamations and sound effects that made him perhaps the most imaginative stylist of his time.

Anthony Waldron a.k.a. ‘Lone Ranger’ was born in Kingston Jamaica. He migrated to England during the 1960’s and returned to Jamaica in 1971. During 1974 he embarked on a DJs career by working as a Disc-Jockey for a sound system located in Dunkirk, Kingston. This was the period when Jamaica’s music style depended on the cultural and what was called Rub-a-Dub style. It was also during this period that DJs music took its greatest leap into Jamaica’s music market.

Lone Ranger had become one of the most versatile sound system DJs in Jamaica. Between the year 1976 & 1979 while working for the Soul to Soul Sound System he received the honour of being selected the number one DJ during this period and made a couple of appearances at sun splash concerts.

He first recorded in tandem with Welton Irie at Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s famed Studio One, but soon went solo, toasting over the rhythm tracks of past Studio One hits from the rocksteady and roots reggae eras. He also became the top DJ for the Virgo Hi Fi Sound System, resulting in its being voted the top sound system in Jamaica in 1980.

The Lone Ranger’s breakout hit was ‘Love Bump’ a Dodd-produced version of the rhythm from Slim Smith’s ‘Rougher Yet’. His signature song, however, was ‘Barnabas Collins’, an ode to the vampiric main character of the TV series Dark Shadows. Produced by Alvin ‘GG’ Ranglin, ‘Barnabas Collins’ was a massive hit in 1980, topping charts in both Jamaica and the U.K. An album of the same name A.K.A. ‘Barnabas in Collins Wood’ followed on Ranglin’s label, and established him as one of the top recording DJs of the time.

Over the next two years, the Lone Ranger recorded prolifically for Studio One, issuing albums like ‘On the Other Side of Dub’ which Coxsone Dodd stated “It was an experimental album: five Lone Ranger songs, and the dub versions on the back. That was the first time that’s been done. That’s the thing that made that album different. It became a classic instantly, and never stopped selling since then. An all-time classic that Lone Ranger debut album”. The album ‘Badda Dan Dem’ followed on Studio One, and shortly after what many regarded as his strongest album, ‘M-16’. ‘M-16’ featured further hits in the title track, ‘Natty Burial’, and ‘Fist to Fist’. He also recorded with other producers, including Channel One’s Winston Riley, 1981’s ‘Rosemarie’ and himself, in tandem with Clive Jarrett, 1982’s ‘Hi Yo Silver Away’ released on Greensleeves records in the U.K.

With the ascent of Yellowman and the recording debuts of other prominent early 1980’s DJs (Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales and Charlie Chaplin etc) the Lone Ranger found his popularity challenged; he also found some of his signature gimmicks appropriated by imitators.

1 comment
  1. Jim
    Jim
    October 2, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    🙂

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