The Jolly Boys play Bestival and release new album
Jamaica's legendary Jolly Boys release their new album, 'Great Expectation' on Wall Of Sound Records next week, on Monday 13th September, 2010. It's a collaborative project between Geejam's Jon Baker and Wall Of Sound's Mark Jones and the result is 12 stunning interpretations of contemporary songs given a mento makeover.
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The Jolly Boys on Amazon.co.uk
To celebrate the release, The Jolly Boys will be playing the main stage at Bestival on Friday 10th September. This performance will follow a really busy summer for the Jamaican legends, who charmed audiences at The Secret Garden Party, The Big Chill, Camp Bestival, Electric Picnic and the Notting Hill Carnival.
While Jamaica is known for its reggae and ska, it is mento that is the original sound of the island and the forerunner to these two musical genres.
With an amazing history spanning 60 years The Jolly Boys' name is synonymous with the mento sound and they are undoubtedly the most recognisable mento band in the world.
Watch video - Rehab - The Jolly Boys (Jamaica):
In the summer of 2009 Baker held a recording session at Geejam to capture some of the Jolly Boys vintage material. That session led to a fresh creative idea - to dip into the rock repertory, take the songs that resonate with mento's raucous history and give them a different vibe.
Baker, together with his long time friend and creative partner Mark Jones, chose tracks from artists like The Clash, The Stooges, The Stranglers, New Order and Amy Winehouse. Over several months the group worked incessantly with Baker's co-producer Dale Virgo on a set of innovative arrangements and modern beats to compliment and contemporise an older sound defined by banjos, maracas and rumba boxes.
"I'm flattered that 'Rehab' is now a part of Jamaican heritage. The Jolly Boys are part of that heritage. If it was good enough for Errol Flynn it's good enough for me!" - Amy Winehouse
Here they are performing Amy Winehouse' cover and the album's first single on ITV's new morning program, Daybreak: "Rehab" on ITV Daybreak.
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