The Wailing Souls
Encyclopedia
The Wailing Souls are a Jamaica
n reggae
vocal group still recording
and performing live, whose origins date back to the 1960s.
s including Coxsone Dodd
of Studio One, Lloyd "King Jammy
" James, Henry "Junjo" Lawes, Delroy Wilson and Freddie McGregor
, as well as some early recordings at Bob Marley
's Tuff Gong
. The group is perhaps best known for two classic roots reggae
songs, "War" and "Bredda Gravalicious" as well as the more pop influenced "All Over The World". Their album
Firehouse Rock and its title track was one of their early 1980s successes.
The band
has recorded cover version
s of a wide variety of song
s, such as Kate and Anna McGarrigle
's "Heartbeats Accelerating
", The Who
's "My Generation
" , The Beatles
' "Tomorrow Never Knows
" and Bob Dylan
's "Like a Rolling Stone
". They also contributed a song for the soundtrack
of the animated motion picture
, Titan A.E.
. Influenced by "War Deh Round a John Shop," Sublime altered the Wailing Souls song and renamed it "Pawn Shop".
The group has seen many lineup changes but the two singers ever present are Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Lloyd "Bread" McDonald. They have worked with Sly and Robbie
, the Roots Radics
, Lloyd Parks
, Scientist
and many other renowned reggae musicians. In 2006 they released Classic Jamaican Flava, a two disc set featuring an compact disc
and DVD
of a live performance in San Francisco
, California
. Their vocal style, like many Jamaican harmony singers of their era, is heavily influenced by the Motown Sound, perhaps because of the radio exposure of Motown
music in Jamaica during the 1950s and 1960s.
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
vocal group still recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
and performing live, whose origins date back to the 1960s.
Career
They have recorded with many top Jamaican record producerRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s including Coxsone Dodd
Coxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, CD was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond...
of Studio One, Lloyd "King Jammy
King Jammy
Lloyd James , better known as Prince Jammy or King Jammy, is a dub mixer and record producer. He began his musical career as a dub master at King Tubby's recording studio...
" James, Henry "Junjo" Lawes, Delroy Wilson and Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor has been variously a singer, musician and producer. According to Allmusic he is one of reggae's most durable and soulful singers, with a steady career that started in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old.-Biography:In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to...
, as well as some early recordings at Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
's Tuff Gong
Tuff Gong
Tuff Gong is a record label that was formed by the reggae group The Wailers in 1970 and named after Bob Marley's nickname, which was in turn an echo of that given to founder of the Rastafari movement, Leonard "The Gong" Howell. The first single on the label was "Run For Cover" by The Wailers...
. The group is perhaps best known for two classic roots reggae
Roots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...
songs, "War" and "Bredda Gravalicious" as well as the more pop influenced "All Over The World". Their album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Firehouse Rock and its title track was one of their early 1980s successes.
The band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
has recorded cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of a wide variety of song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s, such as Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.-Profile:...
's "Heartbeats Accelerating
Heartbeats Accelerating
Heartbeats Accelerating is a 1990 album by the late Kate and Anna McGarrigle. It was their first album in seven years, after Love Over and Over in 1983, and received favourable reviews from many music critics....
", The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's "My Generation
My Generation
My Generation is the debut album by the English rock band The Who, released by Brunswick Records in the United Kingdom in December 1965. In the United States it was released by Decca Records as The Who Sings My Generation in April 1966, with a different cover and a slightly altered track...
" , The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Tomorrow Never Knows
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...
" and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
". They also contributed a song for the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of the animated motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Titan A.E.
Titan A.E.
Titan A.E. is an American animated post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman released in 2000. The title refers to the spacecraft that is central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth."...
. Influenced by "War Deh Round a John Shop," Sublime altered the Wailing Souls song and renamed it "Pawn Shop".
The group has seen many lineup changes but the two singers ever present are Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Lloyd "Bread" McDonald. They have worked with Sly and Robbie
Sly and Robbie
Sly and Robbie is the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare who joined in the mid 1970s after having established themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians...
, the Roots Radics
Roots Radics
The Roots Radics Band was formed in 1978 by bass player Errol "Flabba" Holt and guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont. They were joined by many great musicians. As a combined force the Roots Radics became a well-respected studio and stage band, which dominated the sound in the first half of the 1980s...
, Lloyd Parks
Lloyd Parks
Lloyd Parks is a reggae vocalist and bass player.-Biography:Parks' interest in music was fuelled by his uncle Dourie Bryan, who played in a calypso band, and Parks became the band's singer...
, Scientist
Scientist (musician)
Scientist, born Hopeton Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, 1960 , was a protégé of King Tubby , one of the originators of dub music.-Biography:...
and many other renowned reggae musicians. In 2006 they released Classic Jamaican Flava, a two disc set featuring an compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of a live performance in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Their vocal style, like many Jamaican harmony singers of their era, is heavily influenced by the Motown Sound, perhaps because of the radio exposure of Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
music in Jamaica during the 1950s and 1960s.
Discography
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 1974 | Wailing Souls |
| 1979 | Wild Suspense |
| 1981 | Fire House Rock |
| Wailing | |
| 1983 | Inchpinchers |
| On The Rocks | |
| Soul and Power | |
| 1984 | Stranded |
| 1986 | Lay It On The Line |
| 1987 | Kingston 14 |
| 1989 | Stormy Night |
| 1991 | Reggae Ina Firehouse |
| 1992 | All Over The World |
| 1995 | Wild Suspense (Reissue of Wild Suspense) |
| Live On | |
| Face The Devil (Reissue of Wailing) | |
| 1996 | Tension |
| 1998 | Psychedelic Souls |
| 2000 | Equality |
| 2003 | Square Deal |
| 2004 | Souvenir From Jamaica |
| 2006 | Classic Jamaican Flava |