Desmond Dekker In Memoriam: 1941-2006 CD

This is Desmond Dekkers last ever recording. It was produced at Roll Over Studios in London on January 2004 and features Desmond Dekker (vocals), Steve Roberts (guitar), Aubery Mulrain (keyboards), Gordon Mulrain (bass), Michael Rose (tenor sax), Eddy Thornton (trumpet), and Leroy Green (drums). Rude-boys icon Desmond Dekker wrote his most memorable songs as an observer of everyday life. He emphasised how politics was not an interest. And so, in his own words, he regarded himself as a newscaster. I just write what I see and hear happen and I present that to the people if they werent there to let them know what was happening. -Desmond Dekker, 2002.

These 2004 re-recordings of many of Desmond Dekker's best-known songs is proof that, near the end of his life, the singer still had the qualities that had propelled him to stardom in the mid-1960s. His high tenor voice has the plaintive, pleading tone that made "Israelites," "007 (Shanty Town)," and "It Mek" international hits, while his small, tight band, complete with horn section, plays the songs' familiar arrangements almost to the letter, with enthusiasm, energy, and an indefinable swing.

Personnel: Desmond Dekker (vocals); Steve Roberts (guitar); Michael Rose (tenor saxophone); Eddy Thornton (trumpet); Aubery Mulrain (keyboards); Gordon Mulrain (bass guitar); Leroy Green (drums).