Junior Murvin - Cross Over

The late and great Junior Murvin is best known for his huge hit single of 1977 "Police And Thieves", a song that got into the U.K singles chart and saw Murvin appear on Top Of The Pops in England.

Junior Murvin, born Murvin Junior Smith in Port Antonio Jamaica, began his music career as a member of The Hippy Boys before working for Derrick Harriott for whom he wrote the song "Solomon".

His first solo recordings came out under the name Junior Soul, recording for producer Sonia Pottinger, he later joined the group The Falcons around 1975, with Dennis Brown and Cynthia Richards, tho nothing from this group was ever put on record they did have a reputation as a great live act.

Tiring of his lack of success on the Kingston music scene of the time, Murvin returned to Port Antonio and started to work on his songwriting abilities, writing some of his strongest material.

Around early 1976 Murvin claims to have received some kind of divine direction to take these songs to Lee "Scratch" Perry at the producers Black Ark studio in Kingston.

Junior Murvin first appeared at the Black Ark in May 1976 and presented Scratch with his new material. One song in particular that stood out to Perry was "Police And Thieves" and so he began to lay down rhythm tracks straight away.

Police And Theives became a massive hit, breaking through in the UK and the US where reggae was starting to make an appearance on the charts.

Murvin went on to record "Tedious", "I Was Appointed" and "Easy Task" in the same period, all of which did well on the Jamaican scene prompting Chris Blackwell of Island Records to pick up on the resulting album obviously entitled "Police And Thieves".

The album is one of the Black Ark's finest full length recordings, an excellent Perry production and without doubt Murvin's greatest achievement musically.

Junior Murvin had arrived at the Black Ark at it's peak, with guys like The Heptones, The Congos and Max Romeo present and recording with Scratch at the top of his powers.

He was also due to participate in the proposed 'Upsetter Revue Tour' of the UK with George Faith, The Congos, The Heptones and Devon Irons.

His material of 1976 through 1977 is some of the best roots music of all time, Murvin's unique high falsetto vocals really making him stand out from the crowd and with Scratch at the controls they were an incredible combination.

By 1978 however times were changing at the Black Ark, Island Records had turned down the mighty "Heart Of The Congos" album by The Congos and Lee Perry's own recordings "Roast Fish Collie Weed And Corn Bread" and "Return Of The Super Ape" were also shunned.

The studio's sound was also changing, getting darker and broodier and of course Scratch himself was approaching his now infamous breakdown. When Junior Murvin returned to the studio to record his second album, due to be entitled "Cross Over" the situation was beginning to boil-over.

The vast majority of Murvin's second album was recorded with the band Axx Of Jahpostles which included  Leslie Mowatt, Lynford Richards and Devon And Tony Bradshaw. Murvin has said of the recordings that it was during the time Island Records had refused to release The Congos album and that it's possible Island records have "Cross Over" in their vaults alongside George Faith's second album "Working On The Guideline". Island records have indeed released a few of the tracks recorded for "Cross Over" as singles/b-sides and also as bonus tracks on the 2001 re-issue "Police And Thieves - Deluxe Edition".

Junior Murvin would go on to record some great material after his time at the Black Ark for other producers including the album "Muggers In The Street" and "Apartheid" although neither would receive the major success of his debut.

So here we have "Cross Over", sessions for Junior Murvin's second album, recorded at the Black Ark and produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. It remains unreleased and who knows just what is hiding in the vaults of the worlds major labels but sometimes it's bootlegs like this that give us a glimps inside.

Enjoy ; )

Tracklisting:

Side A:
1) Cross Over (Discomix)
2) Let's Fall In Love
3) Rasta Get Ready
4) I'm In Love

Side B:
5) Closer Together (With The Upsetter Revue)
6) Mister Craven
7) Childhood Sweethearts
8) Memories (Discomix)

Bonus Tracks:
9) Cross Over (Single Mix)
10) Cross Over (Dub)
11) Rasta Get Ready (Single Mix)
12) Rasta Get Ready (Dub)
13) Memories (Single Mix)
14) Memories (Dub)

Junior Murvin - Cross Over  -


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