The Royals – Magnum Records – 1977

Pick Up The Pieces / Ghetto Man / Jah Jah Knows / Sufferer Of The Ghetto / If I Were You

When You Are Wrong / Promised Land / Only For A Time / Blacker Black / Peace And Love

Back safe from Mersea Island Scooter Rally, although slightly tired and damp…Towel break…That’s better…

Uploaded tonight is one of the classic singles collections and a very important LP in the history of Jamaican music by one of the foremost vocal groups The Royals.

Short bio unashamedly ripped from wicked pee dee eh?

The earliest line-up of the group featured Roy Cousins along with Bertram Johnson and Errol Green, initially under the name The Tempests. Green had been the lead vocalist, but departed to be replaced by Errol Wilson, who worked with Cousins at the Jamaican Post Office. They recorded in the mid-1960s for producers including Duke Reid, Lloyd Daley, and Clement Dodd (the original version of “Pick Up the Pieces” (1967), which Dodd rejected at the time), but their first release was not until 1968, with “Never See Come See” for Joe Gibbs. After a few more well-received singles, Cousins disbanded the group and took a 2-year break, saving money from his Post Office job. Cousins then set up his own Tamoki Wambesi, and Uhuru labels, issuing “Down Comes The Rain”. In 1971, The Royals re-recorded “Pick Up the Pieces”, with Lloyd Forest temporarily replacing Wilson, its success prompting Dodd to issue the original version (still credited to The Tempests), which was also popular, its rhythm being used by several other artists since. More releases in a similar vein followed during the 1970s, these later collected on the album Pick Up the Pieces in 1978, released by Mo Claridge’s newly formed Mojo distribution. The line-up changed again in 1975, with Cousins recruiting new members to replace his former colleagues who moved to Channel One and recorded as The Jays. The success of Pick Up the Pieces led to a deal with United Artists, with two more studio albums (Ten Years After and Israel Be Wise) following, but Cousins then increasingly concentrated on producing other artists.

Roy Cousins one of the sweetest and most pleasant Jamaican artists and producers, contacted me for help on a compilation CD entitled ‘Sweat – The Royals 1964 – 1981’ released on Tamoki Wambesi several years ago. I had known Roy for about two decades and he knew that I had some of the original 7″s, Roy did not own any of the ska / rocksteady material that had been released in the 1960’s and some from the early 1970’s. I supplied the tracks he needed dubbed onto top notch cassette (I did not own a computer that could ‘do’ music at that point).

Anyhow while I was at it I asked him whether The Pioneers track entitled ‘Things Have Got To Change’  placed on the debut LP ‘Greetings From The Pioneers’ from 1967 had anything to do with Roy as it was the same melody and lyrics as The Royals ‘Only For A Time’ recorded in the mid 1970’s, and can be heard on this LP uploaded tonight.

Roy gave it a listen on my cassette that I had recorded and then realised that in fact Amalgamated Records, an offshoot of Trojan Records in the late 1960’s had accidently put a Royals track onto an LP from 1967 without permission or indeed payment. Roy got busy on the phone and got a nice fat cheque from Sanctuary Records (owners of Trojan Records nowadays). The other dispute with the same company mentioned in the letter above was also settled around the same time, so he got another cheque. It was nice to get a happy ending for a change…even more happy as Roy has no memory of recording this particular track before the mid 1970’s session! A long lost Royals track now found and included on the CD entitled ‘Sweat’…

The Royals – Only For A Time – forgotten rocksteady version

Wrongly credited as The Pioneers ‘Things Have Got To Change’ on the LP ‘Greetings From The Pioneers’ on Amalgamated Records.

2 comments
  1. dan i
    dan i
    September 9, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    The Royals … classic business Penguin. Roy is one of those rarities, a lovely bloke in the music business. Produced some fantastic singles too:
    ‘If You Want Good’ by The Royals
    ‘King Pharoah’s Army’ by Karl Pitterson
    ‘Jah Jah Give Us Love In The Morning’ by Cornel Campbell

    Did anyone check the link to some Adrian Sherwood mixes I posted up on the Suns Of Arqa thread?

  2. baron von zubb
    baron von zubb
    October 21, 2008 at 10:18 am

    Fantastic

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