Run Come Rally / Jah Vengeance / Conquering Lion / Covetious Men / Anti Christ

Carnel Mind / Jah Love / Love Thy Neighbour / Love Of Jah / The Man Who Does The Work

This debut collection of recordings, recorded by Vivian Jackson and The Prophets, included various 7″ single tracks dating from 1972 until 1974, JA singles that were released in amazingly small quantities of 100-200 copies originally.

The LP I have in my collection got distributed all over Europe, amongst the wave of militant roots reggae music that had became popular in the large cities on that continent. Artists like Culture, Burning Spear and The Congos and many more helped pave the way for this music in the UK, with a large amount of help from late night radio DJ’s David Rodigen and John Peel.

Vivian Jackson was born in extreme poverty in Kingston and got seriously ill in his teens while working at a furnace facility. Thrown out of his employment, he had no choice but to became a beggar and hustler around the markets, in the tough ghetto’s of Kingston. Vivian being disabled and in such a ragged state, no one would employ him, added to this situation, he also had his share of knocks living on the street.

He eventually started to compose songs and, as normal with Jamaican artists, visited many recording studios and sung acapella style to the studio owners. Osbourne Ruddock AKA King Tubby told the artist to come back to the studio with the (ever so) important JA dollars, and they would cut a vocal and a dub.

Vivian had no money and had to wait quite some time to go back to the studio, this time with The Prophets (actually originally credited as Ralph Brothers on the final release in 1972) to get ‘Conquering Lion’ down on dub-plate with a King Tubby’s dub on the reverse side.

This dub-plate, as usual in Jamaica, was played on the sound system that was affiliated with the studio the tracks were recorded in; in this case King Tubby’s sound system, and from the reaction from the crowd at the dances, a few hundred copies were pressed up on the NOW label. These copies sold out and gave Vivian his first steps in the industry, to build up a working relationship with Tubby that would last several years.

This album of early material by Yabby You was released in the UK, in a slightly different form and was entitled ‘Ramadam’.

This album is filled with tracks (nowadays quite well known, with some of the excellent reissue labels like Blood And Fire and Pressure Sounds Records pushing this era of reggae music) that are sublimely beautiful, and without doubt some of the best roots music ever produced by any artist.

In the words of John Lydon “words can not express”…

From the original post upload date of June 2008, re-published on this site today due to Vivian’s death yesterday…

The reggae community has been hit with another tragedy as Vivian Jackson, better known as Yabby You, passed away Tuesday 12/01/10 at the age of 63. Throughout his illustrious roots career, Jackson defined himself by his iconoclastic behavior, and iconic music. While his peers were all of devout Rastafarian faith, Yabby accepted the lifestyle, but rejected the creed, opting instead for a strong Christian faith that eventually earned him the nickname “Jesus Dread.”

After struggling with health problems exacerbated by the dire poverty he mired in throughout his youth, Yabby eventually came to Kingston where he found reggae. His first album, ‘Conquering Lion,’ is widely regarded as nothing short of a masterpiece, a dark work that somehow strikes a precarious balance between traditional reggae tropes and the artist’s own religiosity. And his ‘Jesus Dread (1972-1977)’ compendium CD released on the Blood And Fire imprint is now a must have for any reggae fan’s shelf. Yabby You was, if nothing else, unique. Unquestionably, he will be missed.

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