Double 12″ Spin #80 – The Viceroys / Ranking Joe –

A1. The Viceroys – New Clothes
A2. The Viceroys – New Clothes (Horn Style)
B. Unknown – Bubblers Version
Label: Greensleeves – GRED 146

More info @ Discogs

The Viceroys go back to 1967, when Wesley Tinglin put the group together in Kingston with Daniel Bernard and Bunny Gayle. Duke Reid passed on them, so they went to Coxsone, and that’s where it started. Early Studio One cuts like Ya Ho, Fat Fish, and Love and Unity set the foundation, and through the late sixties and seventies the trio kept busy, moving from one top producer to the next.

Lineups shifted over time. Bunny Gayle moved on, Neville Ingram came in, and the group worked with Phil Pratt as The Inturns, recording the Consider Yourself LP in 1978. That same album got reissued under different names more than once: Detour in 1979, and eventually Ya Ho in 1985, each time under a slightly different group credit. Then Daniel Bernard stepped away too, and Norris Reid joined, a vocalist who was keeping his solo career going under Augustus Pablo at the same time. That lineup scored big with Heart Made of Stone in 1980, a tough Sly and Robbie production that hit hard in Jamaica.

The Linval Thompson years that followed are where many fans feel they reached their height. We Must Unite came out on Trojan in 1982, with the Roots Radics, and moved numbers on the UK Indie Chart. Brethren and Sistren followed in ’83 and sold even stronger. By 1984, Reid had stepped back to focus on his solo work, Chris Wayne stepped in, and the group returned to Winston Riley for Chancery Lane, put out on Greensleeves. New Clothes, which appears on that album, is the vocal cut here. The two instrumental versions on this 12″ are exclusive to the single. Both Wesley Tinglin and Neville Ingram have since passed away.

Switching platters now to Ranking Joe, with extended mixes of Mr. T on the A-side and Break Dance on the flip.

A. Ranking Joe – Mr.T
B. Ranking Joe – Break Dance
Label: Ranking Joe Universal 102

More info @ Discogs

Joseph Jackson was born in Kingston in 1959, his ears tuned to sound system culture from early, his father already in the mix at local dances. By the mid-seventies he had a residency on El Paso Hi-Fi, and his first single came in 1974. Cutting Gun Court for Coxsone at Studio One, he was still going by Little Joe back then.

The name Ranking Joe came with a style all his own: rapid-fire delivery, tongue-twisting patterns, stuttered riddims that put him in a lane by himself. Hits came for the biggest names around. Honda 750 for Bunny Lee, Bald Head Bridge alongside Culture for Joe Gibbs, and Shine Eye Gal for Sonia Pottinger. He worked riddims with Sly and Robbie, and held the mic for U-Roy’s legendary King Stur-Gav Hi-Fi before linking up with Ray Symbolic Hi-Fi alongside selector Jah Screw.

For the records that define that peak period, look to Weak Heart Fade Away, Round The World, Natty Superstar, and Saturday Night Jamdown Style. And if you want to trace where the British fast-talk deejay sound came from, his 1980 UK tour is a big part of that story. Smiley Culture and Papa Levi were listening.

Following the tragic death of sound system owner Ray Symbolic, Joe shifted his energy toward production. He relocated to the Bronx and set up his own label, bringing in artists like Black Uhuru, Dennis Brown, Frankie Paul, Glen Washington, and Shinehead. Still active too: his 2024 set Top Ranking with Sly and Robbie confirms there’s no slowing down.

Mr. T rides an update of Don Drummond’s Heavenless riddim, one of the most enduring bass lines in Jamaican music, going back to the ska era. Don’t let the title fool you though. Joe isn’t celebrating the A-Team’s jewellery-dripping hard man. He’s doing the opposite, calling out the obsession with gold chains and material flash, telling the listener to leave all that alone and focus on what matters. And on the flip, Break Dance locks into the craze that had the whole world spinning on their heads that same year.