"Can't get used to losing you, no matter what I try to do. Gonna spend my whole life loving you."
Mr. Soul Groover, Alton Ellis (1940-2008)
In tribute to the passing of legend I have uploaded a few of my favorite songs by Alton Ellis on my MySpace page. I didn't have time to upload images... maybe later.
1. "Can't Get Used to Losing You" - The refrain of this song perfectly captures my feelings in light of his passing. The song was made famous to a new generation when The Beat covered it during the 2 Tone era.
2. "Dance Crasher" - A guaranteed floor filler whenever I'm DJ'ing. This ska cut from the earlier part of Alton's long career is a plea to the rudeboys to take the violence out of the dancehalls and into the boxing ring like his friend, boxing champ Bunny Grant.
3. "I'm Hoping" - This is a Mudie's production from the early days of reggae. I have long loved the instrumental version of this song ("Serious Business by the Rhythm Rulers) and have only recently discovered this vocal version.
4. "Willow Tree" - Alton recorded this for both Studio One and Treasure Isle. (The one I've shared here is from Treasure Isle). His sister, Hortense, also made a great recording of this tune. When I was working with the Dynamics, we did a cover of this that I think was our best rocksteady cover.
5. "Sh-boom" (aka "Life Could Be a Dream") - This is a cover of an American Doo Wop song that was covered by a number of Jamaican artists, but I like Alton's the best. This was one of the first blank label 7"s I got. My copy is kind of scratchy, but I still play it at a lot of dances.
6. "Cry Tough" - One of his more famous rocksteady tunes, Heartbeat used the name of this one as the title of a great anthology they released back in 1993. This has appeared in various versions - straight and dubbed. This one is dubbed near the end.
Stop by and give a listen.
www.myspace.com/dj2toneted