“The Fantastic Laurel Aitken” by Laurel Aitken - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1972Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

For some reason, the set wasn’t released in Laurel’s home territory, and it was the little known Belgian label Hebra Records who delivered the package for the European market. That said, there’s not much new action for dedicated Laurel Aitken followers, but for those only interested in collecting LPs it could be regarded differently as all tracks were new to the discography from that perspective. There are two brand new tracks – “Chop Chop Rock” and “Reggae Mood” as well as 9 single sides issued between 1969-1971 and an overdubbed ‘new’ version of a rhythm track from ’67, “Rock Steady”. Perhaps tellingly, the one glorious track, “Heile Heile (The Lion)” stems from 1969. Next best are the two tracks which were billed to his alias, Tiger, namely “Dallas Texas” and “Souls Of Africa”, two sides of a fine 1970 single on New Beat. Not too bad – but nowhere near as vital as the recent high watermark albums of 1969 and 1970. As with Prince Buster, the 45-year-old was starting to struggle to keep up with Jamaican trends…

The Jukebox Rebel
10–Mar–2016

Tracklist
A1 [03:06] 5.5.png Laurel Aitken - Baby Please Don’t Go (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
A2 [02:26] 6.2.png Laurel Aitken - Sex Machine (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
A3 [02:41] 9.4.png Laurel Aitken - Heile Heile (The Lion) (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
A4 [02:10] 6.4.png Laurel Aitken - Chop Chop Rock (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
A5 [03:05] 5.2.png Laurel Aitken - Can’t Turn Your Back On Me (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
A6 [02:47] 5.2.png Laurel Aitken - Since You Left (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
B1 [03:00] 4.5.png Laurel Aitken - Do The Boogaloo (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
B2 [02:41] 7.5.png Tiger - Souls Of Africa (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
B3 [02:15] 5.0.png Laurel Aitken - Dancing With My Baby (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
B4 [02:24] 6.8.png Tiger - Dallas Texas (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae
B5 [02:55] 6.4.png Laurel Aitken - Rock Steady [album version '72] (Lorenzo Aitken) Ska / Rocksteady
B6 [02:26] 5.8.png Laurel Aitken - Reggae Mood (Lorenzo Aitken) Reggae

© The Jukebox Rebel 2005-2020 All Rights Reserved