Junior Byles - Curly Locks

Junior Byles - Curly Locks: Best of Junior Byles & The Upsetters 1970-1976 (Heartbeat) HB 208 (1997)

Junior Byles is somewhat of a mystery and remains so to most reggae fans. At some point, toward the beginning of his career, it all went wrong for Junior. Something happened to Junior mentally that basically caused or resulted in him "losing his mind". As such, his recorded output is not that large given his considerable talents. Heartbeat Records has lovingly put together this package that captures some Junior's best material from his days recording with producer/engineer/artist Lee Perry at Randy's Studio 17 and Perry's own Black Ark studio. Not every track is a Junior Byles song, however, as this collection gives us a taste of Jah T, Dennis Alcapone, and the vocal group, The Versatiles (with Byles as the singer). The backing band on each track is some incarnation of The Upsetters (a semi-regular group of musicians that played on Perry's recordings) that included brothers Carlton Barrett and Aston "familyman" Barrett, both whom later went on to be part of Bob Marley's legendary backing band.

So, what songs are included? Well, one gets some classic Junior Byles songs like his version of Fever, A Place Called Africa, Long Way, and his most popular song (arguably) Curly Locks. In addition, we get a few alternative mixes and unreleased alternate takes of songs. Among the rare gems heard here for the first time are different versions of Curly Locks that really highlight the beauty of Junior's voice. There are also some unreleased material for the collectors. The package contains a great booklet that provides some background on Byles and his career and also has a song by song guide that tells you a little bit of the story behind each song. Overall, a great package. However, while this is a great set for the reggae collector and should be considered a must have, the reggae novice may want to wait a while before purchasing this CD. For advance reggae listeners only!