historian, back to harold butler

[Gamma]

the opening to "let true love be" struck a note of some familiarity to me. have you ever listened to timmy thomas' "why can't we live together"? let me know what you think.

btw the more recent version of "let true love be" does not display much, if any vocal range and is just "riding a riddim".

'sass is SOOOOO correct in his assessment. the one size fits all riddim is good for dancehall but it does a disservice to singers IMHO

[Historian]

Spot On!

the opening to "let true love be" struck a note of some familiarity to me. have you ever listened to timmy thomas' "why can't we live together"? let me know what you think.

Gamma, back in the early 1980s when I reached home and put my brand new "The Butler Did It" LP album on the turntable (I had purchased it at that major record store in Tropical Plaza - I think it was called Record Plaza), this was exactly the thought that occurred to me!

Harold Butler's introduction is slightly different from Timmy Thomas' in that not only is Butler's rhythm slower, but also in the additional arrangements. Whereby Thomas had sparse instrumentation -- only his keyboard and percussion in his lengthy opening-- Butler had strings and so on in his introduction to "Let True Love Be." However, the influence of Timmy Thomas' introduction on Harold Butler's recording is really obvious, and I suspect that Butler's intro had been any closer, a copyright lawsuit might have resulted.

I inadvertently left out Ernest Wilson's name when i listed some outstanding Jamaican male vocalists.

I have never heard the reggae version of this Harold Butler song.

[Historian]

Reggae Lawsuits

However, the influence of Timmy Thomas' introduction on Harold Butler's recording is really obvious, and I suspect that Butler's intro had been any closer, a copyright lawsuit might have resulted.

Gamma, speaking of introductions and copyright infringement, I vaguely remember a lawsuit situation arising out of the Staple Singers' allegedly illegal use of the introduction from that late-1960s reggae instrumental, "The Liquidator" by the Harry J All-Stars.

I'm trying to remember if that lawsuit was settled or if it was thrown out by the courts.

And still on the matter of lawsuits, anyone remember that famous one that sent the great record producer Joe Gibbs out of business? This was a lawsuit by country singer Charley Pride after he failed to get any royalties from J.C. Lodge's hit version of hia "Someone Loves You Honey." Joe Gibbs couldn't pay the court imposed penalties, so his "empire" folded.

[Assasin]

Remember the Charlie Pride case very well.

mi brethren did a riddim to a very famous one and a company send him mail to take all his cds of retail shelves and he had to.