Prince Buster - One Step Beyond (1964)
Al Capone
The Ten Commandments of Man
The contribution to Ska, Blue Beat, Rock Steady and Reggae made by Mr Cecil Campbell otherwise known as Prince Buster is simple – it was The Biggest! He has been ‘discovered’ several times – the latest in the 1990s with Whine and Grine as the soundtrack on a jeans advert.
We remember well seeing him perform at Stafford Polytechnic, probably in 1967, only marred by some idiot skinhead in his Doc Martens and Levi jean jacket who thought he would get up on the stage and ‘entertain’ us.
The list of his recordings is vast. The Ten Commandments was a big favourite at the Old Wheel and now and again got played at the New Twisted Wheel – definitely would be termed ‘sexist’ in this day and age.
All of his recordings were huge favourites at another Manchester club: The Blue Note which was the only down town club that the Jamaican lads felt safe in and thus ventured there from the big Moss and its main clubs such as Rainy Day City and The Nile Club.
Al Capone was another favourite at many other Manchester clubs. The Blue Note played much more of the massive Buster repertoire including; “Oh Mighty Caesar, Dance, Dance, Dance, Cleopatra….” and many others. He was a massive influence on Madness who had a string of SKA style singles in the 1980’s and BEYOND…
Prince Buster – Wikipedia