PRINCE FAR I - SILVER AND GOLD 1973-1979

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SILVER AND GOLD 1973-1979


TRACKLIST


1. Johnny Get Worse
2. Yes Joshua
3. Let Jah Arise
4. Jah Dub Version
5. Silver & Gold
6. Silver & Gold Version
7. 354 Skank
8. 354 Version
9. Things Nuh Bright
10. Equality Version
11. Who Have Eyes To See / Errol Holt
12. Ears To Hear Version
13. Talking Rights
14. Talking Rights Version
15. No More War
16. War Is Over
17. Gimme / Errol Holt
18. Gimme Version
19. Yes Yes Yes / Errol Holt 12in. Mix


Label Blood And Fire
Orig Year 2005
Discs 1
Release Date Oct 25, 2005
Producer Prince Far I; Enos McLeod; Pete Weston; Syd Bucknor; Prince Far I; Steve Barrow (Compilation)

This 2005 compilation showcases the late roots-reggae/dub legend Prince Far I's finest work of the 1970s. Among the many selections here are "354 Skank" and a version of the Slickers' classic "Johnny Too Bad" cleverly titled "Johnny Get Worse," which feature Far I's trademark raspy toasts. Unlike many collections, which focus on his late-'70s/early-'80s recordings, SILVER & GOLD boasts tracks that date as far back as '73, offering a different view of an oft-overlooked Jamaican performer.


Live Recording


Liner Note Author: Steve Barrow.


Photographers: Dick Jewell; Beth Lesser.Spin (p.78) - "[P]roduction visionary Joe Gibbs gave him thunderous backing to match."
Entertainment Weekly (p.82) - "[The album] spotlights the scorched-earth chanting of Prince Far I, a fiery proto-rapper with a gravelly delivery that sounds like Howlin' Wolf..." -- Grade: A-
Mojo (Publisher) (p.138) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "SILVER AND GOLD collects some of Far I's rarest and most intense recordings....The sound quality is high throughout..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.123) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[He had a] quite incredible voice, whose gruff exhortations utterly define the reggae term 'dread'..."

PRINCE FAR I - Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 4

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Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 4


TRACKLIST


A1 Foundation Stepper
A2 Deadly Command
A3 Time Stone Turning
A4 Sound Gesture
B1 Earth Stone Shake Down
B2 Lion Stone
B3 Stone African Ground
B4 Destruction Sound Battle


Label:Trojan Records
Format:Vinyl, LP, Album
Country:UK
Released:1981
Genre:Reggae
Style:Dub


Credits
Arranged By - Michael Williams (2)
Bass - Larry Silvera
Drums - Eric "Fish" Clarke
Engineer - Barnabas , Maxie*
Guitar - Andy* , Little Dee
Horns - Deadly Headly*
Keyboards - Steely , Tarzan*
Keyboards, Melodica - Tony Asher
Percussion - Jah Lloyd , Scully*
Producer - Prince Far I

Notes
Recorded at Channel One Studios, Kingston Jamaica W.I.

PRINCE FAR I - CRY TUFF ENCOUNTER III

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CRY TUFF ENCOUNTER III


TRACKLIST


1. Plant Up
2. Back Weh
3. The Conquest
4. Final Chapter
5. Shake The Nation
6. Homeward Bound
7. Low Gravity
8. Mansion Of Invention


Label Pressure Sounds
Orig Year 1980
Discs 1
Release Date Jun 12, 2007
Studio/Live Studio
Mono/Stereo Stereo
Producer Prince Far I; Prince Far I
Personnel Earl "Chinna" Smith
Style Scott
Sowell - guitar
Bingy Bunny - guitar
Prince Far I - percussion


Also: David Toop, Elizabeth Archer, Steve Beresford, Ari Up, Vivian






BACKING VOCALS: Ari Up, Vivian, Elizabeth Archer
BASS: Flabba
DRUMS: Style
LEAD GUITAR: Sowell
RHYTHM GUITAR: Bingy, Chinna
PERCUSSION: Prince Far I, Style
MELODICA: Steve Beresford
FLUTE: David Toop
TOY SYNTHESIZER: Steve Beresford VARIOUS WHISTLES: Steve Beresford


Recording information: Channel One Studios, Jamaica (1979-1980).


Photographers: Beth Lesser; Kishi Yamamoto.

PRODUCED BY: Prince Far I
RECORDED AT: Channel One
MIXED BY: Dub Syndicate
MIXED AT: Berry Street

This entry in the Cry Tuff Dub Encounter series is a rare meeting between the British reggae and free improvised music scenes. In fact, this series might be the only one that ever took place, as the latter style of players often pride themselves ... Full Descriptionon not being involved in anything that could be perceived as a musical genre, which certainly would include reggae. Steve Beresford and David Toop, both multi-instrumentalists who worked together frequently during the '70s and '80s, were always much more open-minded than this, and add some tasty touches to the tracks. It might not be the only time a toy synthesizer has shown up on a reggae record, as madman supreme Lee Perry has certainly tried everything under the sun, yet it is an intriguing and ultimately quite successful blend that results from putting these musicians together. Best tracks include the riveting "Shake the Nation," the deep pulse of "Low Gravity," and the superb longer track "Homeward Bound," no relation to Simon and Garfunkel. ~ Eugene Chadbourne

PRINCE FAR I - MEGABIT 25, 1922 DUB

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MEGABIT 25, 1922 DUB


TRACKLIST


1. Negusa Negast
2. Janhoi
3. Tenastelin
4. Itege
5. Ejarsa Gora
6. Gebbi
7. Menelik 1
8. Itchege
9. Hapta
10. Maskal
11. Tesfa
12. Waizero
13. Qurban
14. Abun
15. Ras Makonnen
16. Kebra Negast




BASS: Flabba, Bagga Walker, Robbie, Ranchie, Familyman, Lloyd Parks, Fully
DRUMS: Style, Santa, Benbow, Sly, Boo Richards
GUITAR: Chinna, Sowell, Bingy, Dwight Pinkney, Dougie, Ranchie, Ernest Ranglin, Tony Chin
KEYBOARDS: Robert Lyn, Pablove Black, Ansel Collins, Winston Wright, Steely, Gladdy, Ossie Hibbert
HORNS: Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis
PERCUSSION: Skully, Sticky


PRODUCED BY: Roy Cousins
RECORDED AT: Channel One, Black Ark, Randy's, King Tubby's
ENGINEERED BY: Ernest Hoo Kim, Scientist, Crucial Bunny, Lee Perry, Errol Thompson, Prince Jammy, Pat Kelly, Professor

PRINCE FAR I - DUBWISE (CRY TUFF ENCOUNTER CHAPTER 2)

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DUBWISE (CRY TUFF ENCOUNTER CHAPTER 2)


1. Throw Away Your Gun
2. Throw Away Yor Gun [Dub]
3. Love Divine Dub
4. If You Want to Do Ya Dub
5. Jah Do That Dub
6. Jah Do That
7. No More War
8. No More War [Dub]
9. Suru-Lere Dub
10. Anambra Dub
11. Kaduna Dub
12. Oyo Dub
13. Borno Dub
14. Brendel Dub
15. Ondo Dub
16. Ogun Dub


Product Details
Audio CD (July 26, 1991)
Original Release Date: July 10, 1991
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Frontline

PRINCE FAR I - CRY TUFF DUB ENCOUNTER CHAPTER 1

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Prince Far I - Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1








TRACKLIST


1. A Message

2. The Visitor
3. The Right Way

4. Long Life

5. The Encounter

6. Ghardaia Dub

7. Mansion Of The Almighty

8. Mozabites

9. Prince Of Peace

10. Abderrahane

Personnel: Prince Far I (percussion); Flabba Holt (guitar, bass guitar); Earl "Chinna" Smith , Bingy Bunny (guitar); Dennis Brown, Theophilus Beckford (piano); Clinton Jack (bass guitar); Fish Clarke, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Santa Davis, Sly Dunbar (drums); Sticky (percussion).

Label Pressure Sounds

Orig Year 1976

Discs 1

Release Date Jul 12, 2005

Studio/Live Studio

Mono/Stereo Stereo


Producer Prince Far I; Adrian Sherwood; Prince Far I


Engineer Adrian Sherwood; Dennis Bovell; Mark Lusardi; Adrian Sherwood


Personnel Sly Dunbar - drums


Dennis Brown


Earl "Chinna" Smith


Santa


Sticky - percussion


Bingy Bunny - guitar


Fish Clarke


Prince Far I - percussion


Theophilus Beckford - piano


Clinton Jack - bass guitar
For all of the live shows that Prince Far I did in the U.K. with the Roots Radics/Creation Rebel axis, this one-off live performance with the Suns of Arqa was apparently the only one committed to tape. The Voice is in good form here, Far I sounding unrehearsed but fully into the music, eagerly interacting with the Suns of Arqa, a crossover dub band creating Far Eastern sonorities on keyboards and violin. Add in the bass and drum salvos and you've got a feel that anticipates the bhangra revival. Far I and the Suns were making live electric trance/dance music back in 1982, and there are some undeniable moments of precocious black cosmic electro-groove on Cry Tuff Dub Encounter. Listeners get to hear Far I's voice in a very different context, and his lyrical reactions to same are nothing if not endearing.

PRINCE FAR I - DUB TO AFRICA

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DUB TO AFRICA


TRACKLIST


1. Bass Ace
2. Dub To Africa
3. Good Music Brother
4. Glory To God
5. Hello, Love Brother
6. Cry Tuff + The Originals
7. Give Love
8. Big Fight Dub
9. Internal Dub (Previously Only Available As Dub Plate)
10. Out Of The Abyss (Previously Only Available As Dub Plate)








Backing Band : The Arabs
Drums : Style Scott
Bass : Flabba Holt
Guitar : Melchezenick & Sowell
Percussions : Prince Far I & Style Scott
Strings : Sowell




PRODUCED BY: Prince Far I
Studios :
Recording : Dynamic Sounds (Kingston, JA) & Harry J (Kingston, JA)

PRINCE FAR I - UNDER HEAVY MANNERS

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UNDER HEAVY MANNERS


TRACKLIST


1. Rain a Fall
2. Big Fight
3. You I Love and Not Another
4. Young Generation
5. Shine Eye Gal
6. Boz Rock
7. Show Me Mine Enemy
8. Shadow
9. Deck of Cards
10. Heavy Manners


His first album was a heavyweight chanting set of Psalms, but UNDER HEAVY MANNERS was Prince Far I's full-length debut with all-original lyrics, which made for an astounding one-two punch deep from the heart of the militant, highly creative roots rockers phase of reggae music. Classically definitive renditions of lyrics he would later revisit (such as "Big Fight," which details a boxing match between Natty Dread and Babylon), the title track, and "Show Me Mine Enemy" ("or rather show me my friends because I know my enemy by heart") are featured here.


Producer Joe Gibbs' top-notch studio band is in peak form, and the live mixing of Errol Thompson provides further magic. Backing vocals and toasting, great keyboard lines, and touches of dub echo are all in perfect symbiotic balance with Far I's thundering vocals. This reissue adds three bonus vocal tracks, and four Errol Thompson/Joe Gibbs-mixed dubs.


Recorded at Joe Gibbs Recording Studio, Kingston, Jamaica. Includes liner notes by Carter Van Pelt.


Audio Mixer: Errol Thompson.


Liner Note Author: Prince Far I.


Recording information: Joe Gibbs Recording Studio, Kingston, Jamaica.


Arrangers: Errol Thompson; Joe Gibbs.


Label T.P.
Orig Year 1976

PRINCE FAR I - VOICE OF THUNDER

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VOICE OF THUNDER


TRACKLIST


1. Ten Commandments
2. Tribute To Bob Marley
3. Hold The Fort
4. Every Time I Hear The Word
5. Head Of The Buccaneer
6. Shall Not Dwell In Wickedness
7. Give I Strength
8. Kingdom Of God
9. Coming In From The Rock
10. Skinhead




BASS: Professor Larry Silvera
DRUMS: Eric 'Fish' Clark
LEAD GUITAR: Andy & Little Dee
RHYTHM GUITAR: Andy & Little Dee
KEYBOARDS: Steely, Tarzan, Tony Asher
HORNS: Deadly Headley
PERCUSSION: Jah Lloyd, Scully
CONGOS: Scully
MELODICA: Tony Asher


PRODUCED BY: Michael Williams
RECORDED AT: Channel One


Label: Trojan Records UK

PRINCE FAR I - THE GOLDEN YEARS

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THE GOLDEN YEARS


TRACKLIST


1. Heavy Manners - Prince Far I, Gibbs, Joe
2. Free from Sin
3. Call on I in Trouble
4. Reggae Music
5. O Home on the Morning Train
6. I & I Are the Chosen One
7. Deck of Life - Prince Far I, Tyler
8. Jamaican Heroes
9. Musical History
10. Jah Will Provide
11. Ten Commandments
12. Head of the Buccaneer
13. Skinhead
14. Deadly Command
15. Sound Gesture
16. Prince Far I Come Again
17. I Don't Know Why I Love Jah So
18. What You Gonna Do on Judgement Day




Product Details
Original Release Date: May 11, 1999
Label: Cleopatra

Producer : Prince Far I

PRINCE FAR I


the man that was born in 1944 or 1945 (1) in Spanish Town, Jamaica as Michael James Williams. He became well known under his stage names "King Cry Cry" and "Prince Far I". Prince Far I started his career in the early 70's with a tune for Bunny Lee called "The Great Booga Wooga" (2). Later on he recorded songs for Joe Gibbs and eventually started his own label called "Cry Tuff". Prince Far I is sadly no longer with us, he was murdered the 15th of September 1983. It's like Prince Far I sang in the song called "Heavy Manners" from the album "Under Heavy Manners":




"... discipline is what the world needs today and etiquette, you know. For one of the noblest things a man can do is to do the best he can, yeah ..."


These words are still actual today, because murdering people sure isn't the best thing you can do and with some discipline and etiquette the world could do a lot better, Prince Far I may even have lived untill this day!

PRINCE FAR I - LONG LIFE

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LONG LIFE


TRACKLIST


1. Daughters Of Zion
2. Right Way
3. Black Starliner Must Come
4. Praise Him With Psalms
5. In Your Walking Remember Jah Jah
6. Farmyard
7. Love One Another
8. Who Have Eyes To See
9. So Long


Prince Far I made several fine albums for the Virgin label's Front Line imprint in the late '70s. That relationship eventually soured, leading him to record the scathing "Virgin" several years later; probably the angriest artist-to-label kiss-off since Lee "Scratch" Perry accused Island label head Chris Blackwell of vampirism and murder. But while the relationship continued, it resulted in some of Prince Far I's most powerful work. Long Life had its long-overdue CD reissue in 2002, a development that was especially welcome since none of its tracks had been included on the previous Front Line reissue compilations (Dubwise and Black Man Land). On these sessions, the rhythms are provided courtesy of a studio band made up of members of both Soul Syndicate (notably the killer bass-and-drums duo of Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar) and Roots Radics, and they are, without exception, as solid and heavy as a bag of boulders. Prince Far I himself is in top form, rebuking Babylon on "Black Star Liner Must Come" and calling his fellow Rastafarians to repentance and renewed spiritual effort on such exhortative classics as "Remember Jah Jah" and "Love One Another." Some bonus tracks would have been nice (this album clocks in at a measly 32 minutes), but no one who has been seduced by Prince Far I's gravelly chant is going to quibble; it's been a long 25 years of waiting for this reissue, and we're all just happy to have it.


Hard to imagine roots reggae could get any deeper than this. This is some heavy DJ-ing on classic rhythms.




BASS: Robbie, George Fullwood
DRUMS: Sly Dunbar, Santa
LEAD GUITAR: Chinna
RHYTHM GUITAR: Bingy Bunny
KEYBOARDS: Bobby Kalphat, Tarzan, Snappy
HORNS: Dirty Harry, Don Drummond Jr.
PERCUSSION: Prince Far I, Bongo Herman
MELODICA: Bobby Kalphat


PRODUCED BY: Prince Far I
RECORDED AT: Harry J
ENGINEERED BY: Sylvan Morris


Label Frontline
Orig Year 1978

PRINCE FAR I - MUSICAL HISTORY

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MUSICAL HISTORY


TRACKLIST


1. Everytime I Talk About Jah
2. Prince Far I Come Again
3. Tell Them About Jah Love
4. More We Are Together
5. At The Cross
6. Working For My Saviour
7. I Don't Know Why I Love Jah So
8. What You Gonna Do On Judgement Day
9. Take Heed Frontline


Product details


Vinyl
Number of Discs: 1
Label: EARMARK/TROJAN
DATE :1983

PRINCE FAR I - BLACK MAN LAND

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BLACK MAN LAND


TRACKLIST


1. Message from the King
2. Dream, The
3. Reggae Music Moving
4. Black Man Land
5. Marble Stone
6. Wish I Have a Wing
7. Armegeddon
8. Commandment of Drugs
9. Badda Card
10. Moses, Moses
11. Some With Roof
12. Foggy Road
13. Put It Out
14. King of Kings
15. Ghetto Living
16. River of Jordan


In the wake of Bob Marley's success, reggae music was a healthy business in the UK during the late '70s. Among the big labels that got in on the action was Virgin, via their Frontline imprint. Among those Jamaican artists signed up was the distinctive chanter and dub producer Prince Far I. This CD re-issue presents selections from two of the four albums which Far I recorded for the label.


The tracks from the first album, 1978's MESSAGE FROM THE KING, are among the greatest Far I ever recorded. His voice of thunder and lyrics of deep righteousness are in full effect, his band once again featuring some of reggae's greatest players. Though selections from 1981's LIVITY, his last recordings for the label, are not quite as strong, on the whole this is a well-sequenced collection.


Photographer: Dennis Morris.


Personnel: Prince Far I (vocals, percussion); Errol "Flabba" Holt, Joseph Hill, M. Williams (vocals); Earl "Chinna" Smith , Royal Soul (guitar); Bo Pee, Dennis Brown, Theophilus "T" Coakley (piano); Tarzan (organ); Eric Clarke (drums, percussion); Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Sly Dunbar (drums).


Label Frontline
Orig Year 1990
Discs 1
Release Date Dec 31, 1995
Studio/Live Studio
Mono/Stereo Stereo
Producer Prince Far I