LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Emerging in the early sixties as one of the luminaries of ska, Derrick Morgan was so popular that in 1961 he dominated the top seven slots in the Jamaican music charts - a record that still remains unbroken. Holding down the number one spot that year was “Housewives Choice”, the song that sparked the legendary rivalry between Morgan and producer / singer Prince Buster (Morgan was accused of steeling a solo from Buster’s “They Got To Go”). The artists exchanged insults in several songs that soon followed, including Morgan’s “Blazing Fire” and “No Raise No Praise” (an allusion to Buster’s refusal to give Morgan a raise, causing Morgan to defect to producer Leslie Kong). In fact, Morgan’s string of early hits was mostly achieved with the help of Kong’s legendary hit-making prowess, including “The Hop” and “Forward March” written for the Jamaican independence in 1962.