Used-Bin Bargains: Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken in Town

Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken in Town (Greensleeves 1977, recorded 1974)

Dr. Alimantado - I Am the Greatest Says Muhammed Ali (Greensleeves 1977, recorded 1973)

Dr. Alimantado – Best Dressed Chicken in Town / Greensleeves

So I’m slightly cheating with this week’s entry; I did not cop this from the used bin this particular week as the mission statement for this column suggests. I actually came across it a number of years back, not too long after it’s 2001 re-release date, and way before I was able to put it in any sort of context within the my musical knowledge. Over the years I’ve picked up bits and pieces of information on Dr. Alimantado, one of the most interesting figures in popular reggae music from the 60s and 70s, sometimes even rivaling the insane biography of the unparalleled Lee “Scratch” Perry, a close compatriot and collaborator. A recent interview in Wax Poetics along with a growing internet interest in the Jamaican toaster and a soapbox to now stand and shout upon has led me to finally tackling one of the most prized used bin finds of my early college years, Dr. Alimantado’s Best Dressed Chicken in Town. Not extensively rare by any means but very much under the radar, the quirky, jerky toasting of James Winston Thompson over eclectic backing tracks provided by some of the most renown Jamaican producers including Lee Perry, King Tubby and Scientist adds up to one of the most idiosyncratic and unique voices in reggae history, and it is certainly worth our time to do a little exploring within the legend.

James Winston Thompson aka Dr. Alimantado aka Youth Winston aka Winston Cool aka Ital Surgeon aka Prince Winston aka Ras Tado aka probably a dozen other monikers I’ve missed was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1952 and grew up in one of the most notorious ghettos of the city’s west side. A wily youth raised by his mother in the typical Jamaican fashion, Thompson bounced around the Caribbean island exploring his roots and working countless odd jobs, not to mention a healthy dose of rambunctiousness and youthful tyranny. A distant relative of the great Marcus Garvey (cousin of his mother’s grandmother), a symbol of self-determination who started Universal Negro Improvement Association, Thompson was the son of a well-off Jamaican woman of African and Trinidadian descent and a half-Ghanaian, half-Jamaican Rastaman. His paternal grandfather was a doctor in Ghana before moving to Jamaica at the request of his wife, a man Thompson would idolize with his most renowned moniker, Dr. Alimantado.

Like most Jamaican legends, the actual story is a bit… well hazy. Different biographies reveal sometimes-conflicting stories, and Thompson’s entry into the world of music is no different. One interview reveals that he was lured to the dancehall scene as early as three or four, though I find that a little hard to believe, but either way, Thompson was interested in the world of music at a young age. After a chance meeting with his father, he gradually gravitated toward the Rastafarian religion and spent much of his childhood rebelling from his Christian-oriented grandmother by growing dreads (and then repeatedly getting them chopped off in punishment) and running away from home. By the early 60s, Thompson was basically a street urchin, finding work when he could, stealing when he couldn’t and attending dances in the meantime. A chance encounter with legendary toaster King Stitt who deejayed for Sir Coxsone’s Downbeat led to Thompson’s first stage performance when he chatted Psalms 1 and 2 over ska sides. Inspired by the crowd reaction, he became a freelance deejay being schooled by legends like U-Roy and eventually becoming a star himself heralded by Jack Ruby, the producer not the assassin, among others and working with some of Jamaica’s top-ranking sound systems.

Though recording sporadically in the 60s, Thompson would not establish himself as an artist in his own right until hooking up with the legendary Lee “Scratch” Perry in the late 60s. Their first sessions together proved promising as they recut Junior Byles’ “Place Called Africa” into “Chapter 3 of Africa,” one of Thompson’s first island-wide hits. Other significant releases from this era include his contribution to Byles’ other smash hit “Beat Down Babylon,” collaborating with Perry and Hortense Ellis (then known as Mahalia Saunders) on “Piece of My Heart,” and one of the first deejay records released in praise of the Rastafari faith, “Maccabee The Third,” recorded over Max Romeo’s “Maccabee Version” rhythm. By the early 70s, Thompson had fully converted to both the Rastafarian religion and the Dr. Alimantado moniker and sought out full control of his own work. He formed two labels, Ital and Vital Foods, and began to barter for choice cuts of rhythms from other producers, including spending an increasing amount of time at Perry’s Black Ark studios where the two infinitely creative minds started to produce songs together.

This brings us to the era that the relative greatest hits compilation, Best Dressed Chicken in Town, stems from to showcase Thompson’s most fruitful years. Officially released in 1977 as Greensleeves 001, the album pulls tracks from 1973 to 1977 stopping just before his international hit, “Born for a Purpose,” which we’ll get to a little later. The centerpiece of this cult classic is obviously the opening title track from 1974, in which Thompson utilized a continuous, triple-tracked stream of multi-toasting over Perry’s heavily dubbed-out rhythm track of Horace Andy’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Inspired by a well-known radio poultry advertisement, Thompson and Perry crafted one of the most individual and quirky pieces of reggae mania that would stand as a testament to both men’s shared mad scientist-like creativity. Only three other of the included tracks on this compilation were born in the Black Ark studio, 1973’s “I Am the Greatest Say Muhammad Ali” and “Ride On” and 1974’s “Can’t Conquer Natty Dreadlocks.” Both of the 1973 tracks stem from the same piece of amazing dubbed out funk provided by Perry himself. “Ride On” features Alimantado’s smooth singjaying (sing-toasting) with Jah Woosh and Jimmy Radwell providing backup vocals. It’s a laid-back track expressing a love of unity, but given free reign of the track, Perry reimagined it into something truly amazing. “I Am the Greatest Says Muhammad Ali” is one of those Perry dubs you have to hear to believe, a bone crunching guiro forefronts the psychedelic funk ebbing in the background; wah-wah guitars, muted brass and bites of organ all take momentary turns in the spotlight further cementing Lee Perry’s unparalleled studio magic. 1974’s “Can’t Conquer Natty Dreadlocks” was more a product of Thompson’s creativity than Perry’s though as he spins Delroy Wilson’s “Trying to Conquer Me” into a soulful pronouncement of his Rastafarianism.

The earliest of the tracks culled on Best Dressed Chicken in Town were actually recorded at King Tubby’s, mostly from 1972 and 73, right before his relationship with Perry bloomed. The earliest available here is the vibrant self-produced “Ital Galore” that was no doubt a dancehall favorite, in which Thompson’s off-tune croon swirls around echoing horn riffs and up-beat keyboard chops. Tubby engineers some more magic on 1973’s “Plead I Cause,” which once again utilizes Andy’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” rhythm into a strikingly religious testament that asks Jah to actually intercede all that oppose him. 1975 proved to be another productive year for Thompson in Tubby’s studio where he self-produced three of his most notable concoctions, “Poison Flour,” “I Killed the Barber” and “Johnny Was a Baker.” Riding the riddim of the 1968 hit “The Man Next Door” by The Paragons, Alimantado dubbed Horace Andy for the hook and worked with Tubby protégé “Prince” Phillip Smart to piece together a hypnotizing, bubbling call-out to his fellow Rastafarians to not fear the attacks on their people because Jah would protect them. Engineered by Buddy Lee at Tubby’s, “I Killed the Barber” continues Thompson’s heavily Rastafarian outlook. Utilizing Jackie Edwards’ “Ali Baba” for the hook and riddim, he explains that though he sees nothing wrong with the death of the local barber (a position disapproved of by the Rastafarians who look upon their hair as faithful symbolism), it was actually the baldhead Tom who killed him. A confusing story yes, but catchy as hell, and it notably uses clanging sheet metal to ape the sound of gunshots, which is a technique that would be used often for years to come.

There are few later tracks also included that were neither recoded at Perry’s or Tubby’s, like 1976’s “Gimme Mi Gun,” built from Gregory Isaacs’ “Thief a Man” at Channel One, and “Unitone Skank,” which found Isaacs and Thompson working together on an original tune. The compilation closes with 1977’s “Tribute to the Duke,” an A-side dub featuring the Channel One studio band, The Revolutionaries, helmed by Alimantado. But beyond this comp, 1977 was a tumultuous year for Thompson as he was nearly paralyzed but used the experience to produce his only international hit, “Born for a Purpose.” On the day he was slated to rehearse for his first show at Jamaica’s main theater, the Carib, he not only was resuscitated after nearly drowning in the early morning, but was struck down and dragged behind a bus while walking home; according to his Wax Poetics interview, he believes it was because he was flying his dreads while walking in the streets, a statement not too popular at the time. The song came to him while he was recovering and legend has it that he had to drag himself across his house, due to the ineffectiveness of his crippled legs, to find a pad and pencil to write it down. Recorded at Channel One during a free session (basically out of charity and respect), the song, which proudly explains “if you feel that you have no reason for living, don’t determine my life,” captured the ideals of the burgeoning UK punk scene and took off in the British Isles. Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten further spread the word when he named it among his all-time favorites during a radio interview, and The Clash even mentioned him in the song “Rudie Can’t Fail” with the line: “Like the doctor who was born for a purpose.”

Thompson’s recorded output significantly slows starting in the late 70s. He relocated to Lodon in 1978 and started his ISDA label, which is also about the time he hooked up with Greensleeves (who he signed with because they gave him the most freedom though he was at the same time being courted by major labels like Virgin, Island and EMI) and released Best Dressed Chicken in Town as their first official discography entry. During the 80s, he spent most of his time in Britain, released the In the Mix dub series and worked with lesser known DJs and toasters like Clint Eastwood, Jah Stone and Trinity. As the years passed, the musical output slowed and Thompson traveled in increasing spurts exploring most of Europe and North Africa. Though we have yet to see any actual new music, he is apparently setting up a new studio to cultivate new talent and record more of his wholly individual sound. One can only hope that an immensely creative mind like that of Dr. Alimantado will once again grace us with his quirky, rambunctious and infectious musical stylings.

For more information please visit:
www.doctoralimantado.com
www.greensleeves.net
Wax Poetics #19, “Medicine Man” by David Katz
www.waxpoetics.com