The Royals launched their career in the ska age, cutting a steady stream of excellent singles across the '60s -- under their own moniker and a variety of pseudonyms, for the likes of Prince Buster, Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd, Winston Edwards, Lloyd Daley, and Joe Gibbs. As superb as that material was, though, their work in the '70s, overseen by band frontman Roy Cousins easily rivaled, and arguably bettered, it. Recording around Kingston's studios, and assisted by the island's top engineers and musicians, the group's work now fully flowered. First to be laid down was "Pick Up the Pieces," a song originally recorded for, and sat on by, Studio One. Re-recorded at King Tubby's studio in 1971, with Lloyd Forest standing in for an errant Errol Wilson, the new version swiftly became the Royals' signature song, a sublime masterpiece. The number entitled and kicked off the group's 1977 debut album (released by Ballistic the following year in Britain), in actuality a compilation of ten of the band's recent singles and recordings. Thematically, the set is almost evenly divided between sufferer's songs and religious pieces, book-ended by the unity numbers "Pick Up" and "Peace and Love." The productions are uniformly superb, the harmonies magnificent, Cousins' leads exquisitely emotive, and the riddims stunners. The singer began drafting his reputation behind the board here, and his band never sounded as grandiloquent. This CD reissue appends a pair of brooding bonus deep roots tracks to the original set, "If You Want Good" and "Facts of Life," adding further fire to the original set.
© Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo