Max Romeo

b. Max Smith, c.1947, Jamaica, West Indies. It was Romeo who first introduced Britain to the concept of rude reggae with Wet Dream, which, despite a total radio ban, reached number 10 in the UK charts. He toured the UK several times in the space of a year and issued two albums: A DREAM being the best selling. However, despite other similarly-styled singles like Mini Skirt Vision, he did not enjoy chart success again. Romeo was, essentially, something of a gospel singer with the ability to convey a revivalist fervour on his records such as Let The Power Fall (a Jamaican political anthem in 1972) and Pray For Me. Furthermore, he had an ability to get the trials, tribulations and amusements of Jamaican life into a song, as evinced by Eating Competition, Sixpence and Aily And Ailaloo. In 1972 Romeo began a liason with producers Lee Perry and Winston Niney Holness, and from this point on his records had a musical fire to match his apocalyptical vision and contrasting humour: Babylose Burning, Three Blind Mice, The Coming Of Jah all maintained his star status in Jamaica between 1972 and 1975. REVELATION TIME was one of the best albums of 1975, and 1976's WAR INA BABYLON was hailed by the rock press as one of the all-time classic reggae albums. However, Perry had much to do with those records' artistic success, and following a much-publicised split between the pair— with Perry recording White Belly Rat about Max, and scrawling "Judas" over the singer's picture in Perry's studio— Romeo was cast adrift without musical roots. I LOVE MY MUSIC, recorded with the help of Keith Richards was a flop, and the stronger RECONSTRUCTION fared no better. A move to New York's Wackies' label in the early '80s did little to reverse his fortunes, and by the late '80s Max Romeo's name was forgotten in the mainstream reggae market. However, in the spring of 1992, London producer Jah Shaka recorded FARI, CAPTAIN OF MY SHIP on Jah Shaka Records, an unabashed, Jamaican-recorded roots album generally reckoned to be Romeo's best for over 15 years.