Ken Parker - Here Comes Ken Parker - Doctor Bird - DBGD094 - 2022
(includes 18 tracks by Hopeton Lewis)
`Here Comes Ken Parker` was a 1974 LP issued by Duke Reid`s Treaure Isle label in Jamaica. In that form, it comprised 9 vocal tracks by Ken, plus two instrumentals by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, who also provided backing on Ken`s tracks.
That album, including the two instrumentals, was issued in the UK by Trojan under the title `Jimmy Brown` the same year, taking the best known song from the album as the title track, perhaps because he was not having the success in the UK that some of his peers enjoyed.
This CD re-issue omits the two instrumentals and instead provides Ken`s tracks plus the other three tracks of his that were released by Treasure Isle. Additionally, it also features all 18 of the tracks by Hopeton Lewis that were released on the Treasure Isle label.
In a way, this makes perfect sense. Like many of the `born in the `40s` generation of reggae singers, both men began singing in church as youngsters, both recorded for Duke Reid in the `60s and both subsequently moved on to perform gospel music (though Ken`s earliest gospel recordings actually pre-date his reggae and rocksteady career). Additionally, one of the Lewis songs here, `Boys and Girls Reggay`, was in fact a Ken Parker composition.
What doesn`t make sense to me is to issue a 30 track CD, of which 18 are by Hopeton Lewis, and package it in a way that makes it seem like it is purely a Ken Parker collection. Additionally, anyone just glancing at the front would probably assume it was a straight re-issue of `Here Comes Ken`. Fair enough, most people would expect a couple of bonus tracks, but you wouldn`t automatically assume you were actually looking at a collection comprising the entire Treasure Isle output of both Ken Parker and Hopeton Lewis.
It`s not my intention to write a review of the music here. I`ll admit that the music of Duke Reid`s Treasure Isle studios is my favourite music of all time and there is very little that came out of there that I don`t like. For me personally, there are a couple of tracks here that I don`t really care for but clearly the good outweighs the bad.
I`d have to add that despite the presence of Tommy McCook this is not the jazziest thing you ever heard.
I wouldn`t recommend this as an introduction to Treasure Isle. I would see this as more suitable to someone who knows a couple of things by both men and wants to hear some more.
