King Of Ska: The Beverleys Records Singles Collection, 1963 1967

In 1963, a 21 year old welder with dreams of becoming a full time singer songwriter, auditioned for one of Jamaica’s new elite record producers, Leslie Kong, owner of the recently launched Beverley’s Records label. After performing a number of original compositions, a deal was secured and within weeks, Desmond Adolphus Dacres saw his name in print as ‘Desmond Dekker’ on the labels of what would prove to be the first of his catalogue of 7” singles. The record, which coupled two of his own songs, ‘Honour Your Mother And Father’ and ‘ Madgie ’, became an instant best seller and heralded the beginning of a long and immensely successful run of singles by Dekker, both as a solo artist and later, as lead singer for The Aces. To mark what would have been Desmond’s 80th birthday, this 2xCD set showcases Dekker’s first twenty singles for Kong’s Beverley’s labels which established him as a true Jamaican superstar. The 2xCD set is presented in a fold out digipack, along with a 12 page booklet with fascinating sleeve notes written by journalist Winston Smith.

Tracks

1~1~Honour Your Mother And Father
1~2~Madgie
1~3~Happy Birthday Jamaica
1~4~Sinners, Prepare!
1~5~Parents
1~6~Labour For Learning
1~7~Dracula
1~8~Spitfire
1~9~Jeserine
1~10~Take Your Time
1~11~It's A Shame
1~12~On The Move
1~13~007 (Shanty Town)
1~14~El Torro (Edit)
1~15~Wise Man
1~16~Middle East
1~17~Rude Boy Train
1~18~Nothing For Nothing
1~19~Mother's Young Gal
1~20~Jungle Bit
1~21~King Of Ska
1~22~Boof Ska
1~23~Get Up Adina
1~24~Sleepwalk
1~25~It Was Only A Dream
1~26~Just One Little Girl
1~27~This Woman
1~28~Mount Zion
1~29~Soldering
1~30~Just In Time (It's Always A Pleasure)
1~31~You've Got Your Troubles
1~32~Don Special
1~33~Unity
1~34~Sweet Music
1~35~Keep A Cool Head
1~36~Charade
1~37~Mother Long Tongue
1~38~Halls Of Montezuma
1~39~Sabotage
1~40~Pretty Africa

Details

Format: CD
Artist: Desmond Dekker
Release Date: 25 August 2023
Genre: Reggae
Label: BMG Rights Management
Distributor: Inertia Music