Man, this is a next-to-impossible find. Uptown Top Ranking in lossless. Yes! One or two of you may have noticed that this album was posted awhile back in mp3, but L&S and I have been tirelessy working in the background cleaning up the redheaded step-child posts that only a mother could love, and this was one of them. But enough of the Lord's work. On to Althea and Donna...
Uptown Top Ranking, the song, was crazy big. It hit #1 on both the Jamaican and British pop charts in '78, and everyone loved it, in much the same way the Tom-Tom Club cross-pollenated musical genres a few years later with Genius of Love. Here's the mix: two inexperienced teenage girls from Kingston flirting to a heavy Rasta beat laid down by The Revolutionaries, and making a world-wide hit out of it. Sure, the album is flawed...but whatever. This was their only album, and it's Rasta history. Good enough for me.
From Jo-Ann Greene:
Theirs is a legendary story of how two Jamaican teenagers enamored with Trinity's hit "Three Piece Suit" wrote their reply,"Uptown Top Ranking," cut it for Joe Gibbs, then scored a number one hit in both Jamaica and Britain. That feat brought Althea Forrest and Donna Reid (along with the Revolutionaries as backup) a record contract with Front Line, which resulted in this, their first (and only) album.
Uptown Top Ranking was superbly produced by Karl Pitterson, and boasts the heavy rhythms of the Revolutionaries. The music is a wonder to behold, driven by the Riddim Twins' fat rhythms and accompanied by Scully's inspired percussion. The heavenly horn section of Tommy McCook, Vin Gordon, and Herman Marquis punctuates the tracks, while keyboardist Bernard Harvey burbles in the background and guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith riffs away. All told, the group makes Uptown top ranking indeed, fabulous roots reggae that swings from deeply moody to brightly upbeat.
So, why was this album an abysmal failure? Simply put, because Althea & Donna were under the mistaken impression that they were now cultural artists instead of pop stars. And while the pair sings with heartfelt passion, their lyrics are rife with clichés and mind-numbing banalities; the immaturity of their writing is now laid bare. As is their singing. Although both girls had pretty enough voices, what they lacked was experience and training. This wasn't a problem on the single, a jubilant number whose brash lyrics laid waste to all other considerations. Across a full album, the flaws become obvious -- there's no real harmonies to speak of, and neither girl is able to come up with a suitably strong melody of their own.
Compared to other albums of the era, Uptown Top Ranking was anything but top ranking. Today, however, militant themes and thoughtful lyrics are no longer required, and thus Althea & Donna may be due for a comeback. Certainly the Revolutionaries' excellent work here deserves the recognition it never received at the time.
Technical Information:
Artist: Althea and Donna
Album: Uptown Top Ranking
Year: 1978
Audio Codec(s): FLAC
Encoding: lossless
Rip: EAC split tracks
Avg. bitrate: 884 kb/s
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bits per sample: 16
Channels: 2
File size: 224 MB
Length: 0:35:25
Personnel:
Althea Forrest: vocals
Donna Reid: vocals
Earl "Chinna" Smith: guitar
Herman Marquis: alto saxophone
Tommy McCook: tenor saxophone
Vin Gordon: trombone
Bernard Touter Harvey: keyboards
Sly Dunbar: drums
Robbie Shakespeare: bass
Tracklisting:
01. No More Fighting (3:38)
02. Jah Rastafari (3:46)
03. Make a Truce (4:00)
04. Oh Dread (2:39)
05. Uptown Top Ranking (3:49)
06. The West (3:51)
07. Jah Music (3:56)
08. If You Don't Love Jah (2:58)
09. Sorry (3:58)
10. They Wanna Just (2:50)
Uptown Top Ranking Megaupload Link