Campbell Internat Immigration Suppl2

Cornell Campbell I Man A The Stal-A-Watt collects 32 tracks across two CDs, highlighting the singer’s prominence in the golden era of reggae from the early 70s to early 80s. The title is a boast from the early soundclash era when many of Campbell’s tracks, here produced primarily by Bunny Lee, would play first on King Tubby’s Home Town Hi-Fi in Jamaica. The songs run the range from clash-ready standards like “Mash You Down” and “The Gorgon” to cultural commentaries like “Jah Jah Me Horn Yah” and “Bandulu” to a lover’s masterpiece, “The Investigator,” which leads off the set. Stretching into the early 80s, the collection includes two originals that would spawn countless reinterpretations, “Rope In” and “Boxing Around.”

The 2008 recording captures Glen in fine form, on a mixture of career hits and other favourites from his peerless career. The set included such signatures as “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Galveston,” as well as his interpretations of originals by Lou Reed (“Jesus”), Foo Fighters (“Times Like These”), Tom Petty (“Walls”), and Paul Westerberg (“Sadly Beautiful”). The show not only displays Campbell in fine voice and nimble form on guitar, and communicating with his admiring audience as warmly as ever, but showcases a band featuring no fewer than four of his children. The line-up also includes session and live players also known for their work with Beck, Jellyfish, Jane’s Addiction, Murphy’s Law, D Generation, and Danzig.