Sunday Under The(lma) Covers

Neither Larry Marshall nor Ronnie Davis are at all well-known, so a bit of background info here.

Larry Marshall was part of duet Larry and Alvin, along with Alvin Leslie who cut "Nanny Goat", "Wepp" "Your Love" and many other tunes at the very start of reggae. When the duet split, he became a studio engineer at Coxsone Dodd's Brentford Road, from where he first stepped in front of the mike as a soloist when another performer was struggling with a tricky rhythm, to perform a little ditty he made up on the spot called "Throw Me Corn". thereafter he cut hits such as "Mean Girl", "Together Now" and "Get You Off My Mind". His biggest hit was "I Admire You" in 1974, the B-side of which, "Waterhouse Rock" by King Tubby, is believed to be the first dub cut ever to credit the engineer as an artist.

Ronnie Davis' heyday was in the late Seventies; a former member of the Tennors and later one of the Itals, he cut "Jah Jah Jehovah" for Live and Love and a remake of "Ride the Donkey" for Valdene productions. If you ask me, he recorded his best solo stuff for Ossie Hibbert at Channel One in 1976-78, particularly "No Weak Heart" on the "Please be True" rhythm.

this then, is Ronnie, at Channel One, cutting Larry's "Thelma", with a little snippet of dub at the end in a style that was very briefly fashionable in 1977