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Junjo's 12" Rulers is the first in a series of Greensleeves 12" singles compilations releases timed to coincide with the UK label's 30th anniversary.

In the past year, Greensleeves has been upping the ante with the pace and quality of their reissues. Music consumers nowadays demand more from their packaging of Jamaican oldies reissues: new liner notes, original pictures, interviews, unreleased tracks, alternative mixes, etc. Finally Greensleeves is beginning to answer as they begin delving into their rich back catalogue.

It is rather fitting that the productions of Henry "Junjo" Lawes are featured in this initial 12" singles series. For Lawes and the burgeoning dancehall sound, it all began in 1979. That was when Lawes first teamed up with a young singer by the name of Barrington Levy (refer to the recent reissue of Levy's "Englishman"), pairing him up with the formidable instrumental talents of the emerging Roots Radics band. A session at Channel One studios followed and not long thereafter Greensleeves approached Lawes about releasing the Levy material, thereby initiating a partnership that would last throughout the '80s.

More than any other producer, Junjo is the man credited with capturing the sounds of dancehall in the early '80s. He did so by bringing together top veteran artists along with discovering new talent such as Josey Wales, Ranking Toyan and Frankie Paul. And of course he embraced the harder sound that the Roots Radics laid down in their studio work – all of it formidably embellished by the dub mixing talents of Scientist and others.
In his liner notes, Harry Hawke explains that "[t]he twelve inch ruled (in the late '70s and early '80s) and Junjo's 12" release on Greensleeves label were the mightiest rulers of them all." Originally created in New York during the disco period, the concept of 12-inch records was to allow a higher quality of audio to be heard in the dances and clubs. In Jamaica the 12-inch lead to producers and engineers experimenting with the mix – having a single combine with a dub or deejay version, all on one uninterrupted slab of vinyl. The engineers featured on Junjo's Rulers are Scientist, Prince Jammy, Barnabas, and Soldgie.
Junjo's Rulers opens up with Michael Prophet's "Gunman," a driving early 80's roots track with heavy percussion throughout. But it's Scientist's tacked on dub work-out that's the real treat here. As one of King Tubby's students, Scientist lays credit to his name with the mix.

Eek-A-Mouse's most well known tune "Wa-Do-Dem" follows, and with this track you begin to sense the genius of Lawes' productions. As a producer, he not only captured the sounds of the street, but he also knew what tunes would be hits in Jamaica and in the UK.

One of my favorite cuts on the compilation is Wayne Jarrett's "Saturday Night Jamboree," which stands out because of its transition to a deejay version (instead of a dub) by Silver Fox. Jarrett's singjay style (very reminiscent of Horace Andy) is perfectly accented by Silver Fox's deep deejay chatter.

"Saturday Night Jamboree"
Wayne Jarrett/Silver Fox
Junjo's 12" Rulers
Greensleeves 2007 (1980)

The next four tracks are even heavier, featuring an unreleased and extended cut of the Wailing Souls "Fire House Rock." Flick Wilson's off kilter vocal style (in the vein of Junior Murvin) on the track "Slavemaster" is once again geniously dubbed by Scientist. The dub bubbles with layers of harmonica, flute and a mashing of percussion.

The last three tracks are popular deejay outings. General Saint and Clint Eastwood's hit "Another One Bites the Dust" captures the chatty chat of the UK Dancehall scene with silly sound effects thrown in for humor. Yellowman's "Who Can Make the Dance Ram" proves that no matter what decade, the bass line is the foundation. Closing out Junjo's Rulers is Michigan and Smiley's classic "Diseases." The duo show off their verbal verbosity in great style by updating the classic "Mad Mad" Studio 1 rhythm. Once again, Scientist's fingers can do no wrong on the controls for the dub mix.

This compilation is a potent blend of rare and essential tunes that now only available on CD. The production of Lawes shows the music from this era can still be used to nice up any dance. One can only eagerly look forward to future forays by Greensleeves into their 12" archives.

– Bobby Bobson
bobby@dcsoundclash.com

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