Clancy Eccles: Freedom - 1969

An interesting fact about Clancy Eccles is that he is sometimes credited with coming up with the name reggae - corrupting the patois slang 'streggae' (a girl of loose morals). 'Reggae' is normally said to have originated from The Maytals' Do The Reggay. Who knows. 

Anyway, in reggae history he is an artist who had been around a long time, since the early sixties - working initially with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and then Duke Reid, before turning to production himself. This excellent Trojan Records anthology includes tracks from Eccles' solo albums (including the one with him on a motorcycle riding through what looks like a lavender field that I remember seeing as I flipped through record shops' albums in the early seventies - Freedom) and his work as a producer, performed by other artists. 

Firstly, I have to say that the sound quality is truly excellent throughout (something of a surprise given the often rudimentary recording conditions that bedevilled many Jamaican reggae offerings). When I say excellent I mean that is really is - surprisingly so. 

The music is a veritable cornucopia of different reggae styles from 1967-1973 - Rock Steady, Skinhead Reggae, Boss Reggae, early Dub, early Lovers Rock, DJ vocal 'toasting' and generally lots of skanking beats. Listening to it is a real pleasure.

Eccles' first hit was Freedom in 1961, but the version included on here is a 1969 a re-recording and the sound quality is suitably improved. The song has lots of ska vibes to it and hints of slow calypso and also takes its lead, lyrically, from spirituals. Check out its big throbbing bass line and the ska-ish saxophone too. Great stuff. 

To be honest you could pick literally any track from this collection. They are all good - classic late sixties/early seventies reggae. Other highlights are - Please Stay, My Lonely Day, Fattie Fattie, John Public, Fire Corner, Mount Zion, Sweet Jamaica, Vigerton 2 and The Ugly One (Lee Van Cleef).