Ken Boothe: A Man and His Hits

Ken Boothe: A Man and His Hits

197?

Studio One Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Thinking  2. Tomorrow  3. Live Good  4. You're On My Mind  5. Moving Away  6. Without Love  7. The Train Is Coming  8. Danger Zone  9. Oh Babe  10. Lonely Tear Drops  11. Crying Over You  12. Give Me The Right


I don't really know all the details  about this release... I can't really find much info online because apparently there was a more widely-released CD issued in the 90's with the exact same title, but totally different tracklisting...

...But after buying the "Mr. Rocksteady" album I was aching to hear some different Ken Boothe stuff .I eventually found a copy of some album called "A Man and His Hits" that had a pink and maroon cover that I can only describe as both hideous and beautiful...

All I know about it is that it came out sometime in the 70's (I see 1970, 1972 and 1974 pop up as release dates on various websites) and that it's packed with 60's Ken Boothe Studio One goodness...Lots of uplifting, midtempo chunk-chunk-chunk...Plus, there's only one overlapping track with the "Mr., Rock Steady" album (Give Me The Right), so score for me!

 I guess the big highpoint here would probably be "The Train Is Coming" which is notable for featuring an early appearance by the soon-to-be-legendary Bob Marley and the Wailers...And it's a good one!  Choogling forward, locomotive-like, with train-whistle backing vocals...The "I say the train is coming baby, I say the train is coming now..."  mantra eventually taking up permanent residence in your brain and I haven't been able to stop singing it since...It's so much fun to endlessly repeat it in that deep breathy voice...Try it sometime...You'll feel a lot better...

 Other favorite moments: That chirpy organ-line on "Live Good." I also love "Danger Zone" which is such a strong,  authentic soul track that I can't believe it's not a cover...If I'm not mistaken, I think this was originally the B-Side of the "Train in Coming" single, which must have been one fuck of an amazing 7-inch...Huh, looking it up on youtube, apparently he did a remake of this with Shaggy...Remind me to never hear this version...Before Shaggy, Ken did a pretty cool duet with Delroy Wilson, where they do a skanking version of an old Fats Domino song ("Oh Babe"), which is included here...

Fats Domino was cool! And fat! A pretty formidable combination if you ask me! We'll be getting to the Fats Domino section in about oh one billion years based on my current rate of two posts a week (while buying approximately 5 records a week)...I was thinking of doing a catch-up week where I just do a ton of short succinct, one-paragraph reviews for a couple weeks to get through some of the backlog...Just cut down all the screwing around and bust through, like, 50 albums..Maybe covering 10 albums in a single post....I can't tell if that sounds like an exciting experiment or sheer laziness...Also I kinda think that all the screwing around is what makes this challenge of listening to all my records in a row and writing about every single one so much fun for me...I'm still undecided....

Wait, what was I talking about?

 Oh yea, being fat...Del Taco is good...I don't know where else you can get tacos and crinkle-cut fries in the same value meal...But wait, wasn't I talking about something else earlier?

That's right...Ken Boothe! Now that I think about the release date of this, I think I have to put it at 1974 or later, based on the inclusion of "Crying Over You," a gentle love song that was a smashola for Mr. Boothe in '74...So, there...We accomplished something here today...We disproved two out of three common release dates that are often given online...Or that I'm 100% wrong...Either way, let's crack a beer and  listen to some music...

Here's "Train is Coming" by Ken Boothe...Enjoy...