Day to Day Living : Don Carlos

"Day to Day Living" was originally released on LP back in 1982.  This was kind of the second heavy wave of Don Carlos music to be produced.  The late seventies serves as the first wave with hit releases like : "Time is the Master" & "Prison Oval Clash".  The CD I've got was released from Greensleeves in 2001, during the massive reissuing movement of seventies roots reggae on to CD format. There are 10 tracks on the CD, just like the original release including a couple of nice tracks : #3 (Dice Cup), #8 (400 Years), and #9 (I'm Not Crazy).  The production was handled by a solid crew, with Junjo Lawes as producer, Scientist as the engineer, and the Roots Radics band pumping out the instrumental tracks.  Recorded and mixed at Channel One, this is another solid piece of Jamaican reggae.  Oddly enough, some of Don Carlos' best releases have been combination albums, like : "Firehouse Clash with Junior Reid" and "The Mighty Diamonds Meets Don Carlos & Gold - At The Channel One Studio".

RAS Portraits : Live & Learn Presents ....

This disc is a nice roots compilation supposedly from the 1981-85 time period and featuring such roots greats as : Barrington Levy, Ras Michael, Wailing Souls, Mighty Diamonds, and more.  With 16 tracks on this one, you get a nice 2-4 track sample of each artist and the selections for this "variety pack" are solid representations of the artists' sounds and styles.  My favorite tracks are #5 (Chanting - Jr. Reid) and #9 (Them A Fret- Wailing Souls).  There is a great Jr. Reid combo album with Don Carlos that also features "Chanting" called Firehouse Clash giving you more from these two artists' early eighties collection.  The RAS Portrait series is a standard these days for finding an inexpensive compilation for most of your reggae favorites.  The prices are affordable and sometimes downright cheap, but the music is usually top notch.  Beware, selections on these compilations will sometimes sound familiar because they appear on several other albums ( ex. this disc and Firehouse Clash ) so make sure to find the ones you really want.  This is a great starting point to find more classic reggae that might fit with your style.

Firehouse Clash : Junior Reid vs. Don Carlos

This disc is a short simple compilation of a few Junior Reid and Don Carlos tracks. It's got 11 tracks total. The first 5 are from Junior Reid and the last 6 are from Don Carlos. I've had this disc since the late 1990's and still listen to it on a regular basis. It serves as a decent sampler for the two artists. My favorite Junior Reid track on this on is #2 (Respect Due). My favorite Don Carlos track off this one is #11 (Spread Out), although the CD has other popular Don Carlos tracks like (Living in the City) & (No Trouble This). Although this CD was distributed by RAS, it was put out under the label name "Live & Learn". It seems to be kind of an economy type of release - maybe meant for cheaper retail pricing. None the less, this is still a solid set of tracks to have in rotation.

Plantation : Don Carlos

Once again it's the sweet youthful vocals of Don Carlos. My copy of Plantation is a Tamoki Wambesi CD released in 2001. I've actually seen a couple different versions of this album. My copy is a total of 16 tracks and includes alternating versions of each song. There is also a release with 10 tracks, but with out the alternating versions. I'm not too familiar with the 10 track album and I'm sorry I can't do a head to head comparison. I'm usually a big fan of "showcase" style, when the tracks are followed by their dub or dj counterpart, but on this CD it just didn't feel right. I found myself listening to the dub versions and thinking that they were more instrumental versions than dub. They came out a little dry and stripped down with very little sound effects and not heavy enough to support the original vocal versions. My favorite track on this one is #3 (Plantation). All the vocal tracks are good and true Don Carlos style, but the dubs fell a little short of expectations.

Don Carlos @ The Malibu Inn

I finally got to see Don Carlos again. The show was at The Malibu Inn, a salty older tavern style venue in Malibu, CA. The show had a seven pm starting time but Don Carlos didn't come on until about eleven pm. The Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad played a great set and left me wondering why I'd never heard of them before. They're from Rochester, NY and seem to be touring all the time. I hope I get a chance to see them again some time. Another group surprised me called The Blaze Mob. They played a quick set that really got the attention of the crowd. By this point in the night everyone was ready to get down and definitely ready for Don Carlos. Reggae great Wadi Gad was there on drums and blasted out a couple songs of his own before Don Carlos took the stage. Oh, did I forget to mention that The Scientist was at the controls the whole night !!! I love seeing Don Carlos, he's got such a great stage presence with his great big smile. He listens and talks to the crowd and keeps the positive vibe wafting through the bar. My overall experience for the night was outstanding. A good venue, a couple of new bands to experience, and of course the one and only Don Carlos.