Double 12″ Spin #87 – Errol Dunkley / John McLean & Dego Ranks –
Disc 1
A. Errol Dunkley – A Little Way Different
B. Errol Dunkley – Differentah ft. Dreadful Julio
Label: Arawak – ARK DD 002
Let’s start with A Little Way Different by Errol Dunkley, out on the British label Arawak Records. The vocal sits on the A-side. Flip it over and you get Differentah, an instrumental with harmonica from Dreadful Julio. Nobody seems sure about the year, but it’s usually placed in 1977 or 1978. Dennis Bovell handled production and mixing, and he was one of the key men behind Arawak in those days.
The 12-inch is late 70s, but the song is much older. Dunkley first cut it in 1972 for Sonia Pottinger, and it turned up on his debut album Presenting Errol Dunkley. That album came back later as Darling Ooh! and Ooh Darling through Trojan and its Attack subsidiary. In the second half of the decade the tune was revisited in Jamaica at Channel One, with musicians from the Channel One camp behind him. Bovell then built the extended UK version for Arawak.
Errol Dunkley was born in Kingston on 6 February 1951 and started recording as a young teenager. The big break came in 1967 with the rocksteady hit Please Stop Your Lying, produced by Joe Gibbs. More work followed with leading producers. Sonia Pottinger oversaw You’re Gonna Need Me and Look Before You Leap, and the early 70s brought Studio One recordings including the lasting favourite Movie Star. In 1973 he and Gregory Isaacs started the African Museum label and shop in Kingston, a home for their own productions. Late in the decade Dunkley settled into the UK market and scored his biggest chart hit with the John Holt cover OK Fred, which reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in 1979. He’s stayed active in the studio and on stage ever since, and he still has fans across several generations.
Dennis Bovell was born in Barbados in 1953 and grew up in London. Reggae, dub and sound system culture grabbed him early. He got involved with the Jah Sufferer sound before becoming a key member of Matumbi. Besides playing guitar and singing, he built a second career as producer, engineer and dub innovator, and he recorded instrumental projects as Blackbeard and 4th Street Orchestra.
His productions shaped British reggae in the late 70s and early 80s. Janet Kay’s Silly Games is one of the landmark lovers rock tunes, and that’s his work. He also had a long partnership with dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, producing and mixing many of his best-known records. In 1980 he composed and produced the soundtrack for the cult British reggae film Babylon. Five decades on, he’s still one of the most respected names in UK reggae.
Dreadful Julio was the reggae name of harmonica player Julio Finn, born Augustus “Gus” Arnold in Chicago. He came from the blues, moved to London in the 1970s and became part of the young British roots scene. His harmonica added something you didn’t hear often in reggae, and it led to regular work with Dennis Bovell and other important figures. As Julio Finn and as Dreadful Julio he played on plenty of records, including several classic Linton Kwesi Johnson albums.
Disc 2
A. John McLean & Dego Ranks – Runaround Girl
B. John McLean – Dedication Of Love
Label: Ariwa – ARI 132
The second pick is a fully British production. On Ariwa Sounds, this 12-inch mixes lovers rock melody with fast-chat deejay vocals, a style that grew more and more popular in UK reggae in the early 90s. Runaround Girl is the popular duet on the A-side. The reverse has McLean solo on Dedication Of Love, followed by a dub mix from Mad Professor. There’s no release date on the label, but it looks like 1990 or 1991.
John McLean was born and raised in London, and he sang from a young age before joining the Black Star Liner sound system. Unlike many performers who relied solely on music for their income, McLean maintained a parallel career within the British railway network while continuing to record and perform.
His breakthrough came through producer Captain Sinbad, who introduced him to Mad Professor at Ariwa Studios. Together they made the lovers rock hit If I Gave My Heart To You, one of the defining UK reggae releases of the late 80s. The debut album Bowled Over followed in 1989, and tunes like Midnight Train To Georgia, You’ve Changed and I’ll Be Waiting built his name further. In the 1990s he became one of the leading voices in British lovers rock, recording a lot for Ariwa and Fashion Records while also working with producers like Gussie P and Peckings.
Dego Ranks was one of the many British deejays of the 90s. His energetic chatting was a strong contrast to McLean’s smooth delivery, and the two worked well together on Ariwa. Their run of successful releases peaked with the 1997 album Ceasefire. It gathered several of their best-known tunes, including Runaround Girl, For The Love Of Money, Keep On Trodding and Things A Gwan, all wrapped in Mad Professor’s unmistakable production and dub work.
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