Larry Blackmon and his Cameo mates ruled funk's domain for over a decade. Cameo evolved from its origins as a horn-based and dominated ensemble into a synthesizer-oriented group that still featured sturdy basslines and exuberant vocals, but was in tune with urban and black America's new sensibility. These 14 selections range from the formative cuts "Rigor Mortis," "Shake Your Pants," and "It's Over" to the definitive "Word Up," "Candy," and "Back and Forth." Blackmon's alternately sneering, defiant, and aggressive vocals were the constant from Cameo's beginnings in the 1970s to their emergence as funk's reigning champions in the 1980s.
Lyrita has concluded arrangements to buy Cameo Classics from its founder David Kent-Watson who concentrated on recording the works of neglected composers. Cameo Classics is now owned by The Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust which was founded by the late Richard Itter to continue his life’s work recording and promoting British Classical Music through the Lyrita label. The Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust will operate Cameo Classics alongside the Lyrita label. Cameo Classics had released several important premieres of works by British composers several of these recordings will be recompiled for immediate issue on the Lyrita label. The remaining Cameo titles will be represented alongside a new release programme drawn from the non-British material contained in the Itter Broadcast Collection. This release features premiere recordings of works by Arthur Somervell, Cyrill Scott, Maurice Blower, Frederick Kelly, and many other prolific yet too often neglected British composers.
For a variety of reasons, all of the recordings for Cameo Parkway remained out of circulation until 2005, when Abkco finally unveiled the catalog, first as a box set called Cameo Parkway 1957-1967 in the spring, then as a series of individual artist compilations in the fall. Of those, the most eagerly-awaited collection was the one spotlighting Chubby Checker, since he was the biggest star on the label and the guy that got America twisting in the early '60s. Checker might have had big hits, but his compilation, The Best of Chubby Checker: Cameo Parkway 1959-1963, is musically the thinnest of all the Cameo Parkway titles released in 2005.
Grammy-winning rapper Sean Paul selects some of his favorite tracks for a new compilation that highlights many of his biggest hits, including the #1 smashes “Get Busy,” “Temperature” and “Baby Boy”.