1979 Revolution

The 1970s were a golden age for dub music, with the decade witnessing its humble beginnings through to it becoming a dominant force on the Jamaican music scene. Throughout this fascinating evolution were a handful of pioneering sound engineers who transformed the style from relatively simple experimentations in sound to awe-inspiring reggae masterpieces, with their pioneering work continuing to inspire and influence music makers the world over, up until the present day. Leading this dub revolution were such seminal figures as King Tubby, Errol Brown, Scientist, Prince Jammy and perennial hitmaker, Errol Thompson, whose work with music impresario Joe Gibbs produced some of the biggest hits of the 1970s and beyond. Much of the latter’s dub output from the decade was featured on seven popular long- players that saw issue in Jamaica on Gibbs’s eponymously titled record label between 1974 and 1979, commencing with the experimental, yet hugely influential, ‘Dub Serial’ and ultimately culminating with the suitably titled ‘Majestic Dub’ from five years later.

Hot Butterfly Review by Amy Hanson
Lauded for their tremendous efforts as a girl group session act throughout the 1960s, Sweet Inspirations made their own mark with two LPs and a string of hits during the late '60s and early '70s, before disappearing under the radar until 1979, when they resurfaced on RSO with Hot Butterfly. Now down to a trio of founder member Myrna Smith, with Gloria Brown and Sylvia Shemwell, the revamped Sweet Inspirations re-launched themselves on the tails of Robert Stigwood's near single-handed disco revolution. With Smith and Shemwell evenly trading lead vocal responsibilities, the band powered through a set of lukewarm disco-inflected R&B. Mid-tempo songs with flavor-of-the-year string arrangements are de rigueur from the opening "Hot Fun" to "It's the Simple Things You Do," both songs managing to overcome a desultory slip into oblivion, thanks to the powerful vocal arrangements.