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Wailing SoulsText by Harry Hawks

Over the last four decades The Wailing Souls have been one of the most consistently inspired and inspiring of Jamaica's vocal groups. They are important, not only because of the beauty and brilliance of their songs, but also because they have never ever stopped making music.

Wailing Souls

Members	Winston 'Pipe' Matthews Lloyd 'Bread' McDonald George 'Buddy' Haye
Related Artist(s)	Black Uhuru Bob Marley & The Wailers Joe Higgs

The Wailing Souls were originally called The Renegades but, during their long and distinguished career, they have also been known as The Classics, Pipe & The Pipers or just Wailing Soul. Their songs, a seamless blend of 'old time' sayings, 'country' wisdom, quotations from the Bible and the latest Kingston street slang, and distinctive lead vocals and impeccable harmonies have always been backed by a cavalcade of reggae's greatest ever rhythm tracks. Seeing their purpose as rehabilitating and educating their lost souls (hence the name The Wailing Souls) the group are surely one of the most enduring of all Jamaica's harmony aggregations.

The Renegades first record was 'You've Lost The Love' for Merritone label owned by Federal Records in 1966. At the time the group consisted of Winston 'Pipe' Matthews, Lloyd 'Bread' McDonald and George 'Buddy' Haye although four years earlier Winston, at the tender age of nine, had recorded 'Little Dilly' as one of The Schoolboys for Prince Buster. Towards the end of the decade Winston briefly teamed up with Oswald Downer and Norman Davis to record 'Gold Digger' for Matador Lloyd Daley.

The group's next stop was Brentford Road where their debut session for Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd(CS Dodd) produced 'Back Out (With It)', 'Row Fisherman, Row' and 'Mr. Fire Coal Man'. As The Classics they went on to record a matchless body of work between 1970 and 1971 at Studio One which Mr Dodd later compiled on two essential albums credited to The Wailing Souls: 'The Wailing Souls' on Winro Records and 'Soul & Power' on Studio One.

The group then worked with Bob Marley's Tuff Gong label where, in addition to standing in for Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer at rehearsals, they also provided backing vocals for a number of Bob Marley & The Wailers hit records including the Jamaican Number One smash 'Trench Town Rock'. Their own essential Tuff Gong seven inch singles, 'Harbour Shark' and 'Back Biter' aka 'You Should Have Known Better' and the more obscure 'Wicked A Go Dread' on the Del Prado label, were all credited to Pipe & The Pipers.

'Brother' Joe Higgs had been The Wailing Souls' mentor from their early days in Trench Town educating them musically and in the machinations of the music business. The group still refer to him as 'The Maestro'. He joined them for a brief period and as Atarra (Amharic for 'to purify') they recorded the mesmerising 'Brimstone And Fire'. Written and produced by Joe Higgs it was released through Pete Weston's Micron organisation but Joe then left to tour the USA with Jimmy Cliff.

Rudolph 'Garth' Dennis of Black Uhuru joined the group in 1976 and their idiosyncratic four part harmonies gave an added depth to The Wailing Souls' sound. Garth would stay with them for the next ten years.

The Hookim brothers(Joseph Hookim)' Channel One Recording Studio opened in 1972 at 29 Maxfield Avenue in the heart of the notorious Kingston 13 district and in 1976 a mutual friend from Trench Town introduced The Wailing Souls to Joseph 'Jo Jo' Hookim. The group had always preferred to build a relationship with a particular producer and work together on a series of songs rather than one off recordings. Their professional approach to music making fitted in perfectly at Channel One where Jo Jo recalled that The Wailing Souls always came to the studio with their songs and harmony parts fully worked out in advance of the session. Their first recording for Jo Jo was an updated version to the 'Back Out (With It)' rhythm entitled 'Things And Time' that went straight to Number One in the Jamaican Hit Parade. The Hookims were the first to release twelve inch 'disco mix' singles in Jamaica and The Wailing Souls were soon making music to fit this brand new format: their first twelve inch record 'War' employed the services of Ranking Trevor, 'Fire A Mus Mus Tail' allowed the song's beautiful rhythm plenty of space to run after the vocal had finished and 'Very Well' was a monstrous hit; sound systems in Kingston, London and New York competed to run cut after cut after cut of this celebrated track.

Now firmly established in the upper echelons of Jamaican vocal groups The Wailing Souls left Jo Jo to establish their own Massive label, however, they continued to use the Channel One Studio and The Revolutionaries house band for their own productions. 'Feel The Spirit' and 'Bredda Gravalicious' were huge hits on Massive in 1977 and 1978. Both were featured on the 'Wild Suspense' album and this release, on Massive in Jamaica and on Island/Mango throughout the rest of the world, finally brought the long overdue international attention that the group so richly deserved.

Two huge hits in the early eighties for former Revolutionaries Sly & Robbie, 'Old Broom' and 'Sugar Plum Plum' released on their Taxi label, were key works of the early dance hall era. The Wailing Souls subtly adapted their style to fit the back to basics musical attack of The Roots Radics whose cavernous sound successfully bridged the gap between the dance hall style and the digital revolution that followed. On releases such as 'Fire House Rock' and 'Kingdom Rise Kingdom Fall' for producer Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes their superb songs were matched by rhythms of equal intensity and brilliance. In addition to a string of singles and albums for Junjo, released internationally by Greensleeves, the group also made an excellent 'showcase style' long playing set for Linval Thompson, 'Wailing' released on Jah Guidance and a number of albums for Delroy Wright's Live & Learn label. As the decade progressed Greensleeves released two superb self produced albums 'On The Rocks' and 'Stranded'. The Wailing Souls were not left behind by Jamaica's digital revolution and the 'Dog Bite' single for King Jammy's was a sizeable hit. Their album for Jammys, the overlooked 'Stormy Night' released on Rohit in the USA, was an artistic triumph despite its uninspiring cover art and lack of proper promotion.

The Wailing Souls, now consisting of Pipe and Bread and based in Southern California, signed to Sony in 1992 and released 'All Over The World'. The album made full use of the latest American studio technology and when 'Shark Attack' was lifted from the album and released on a Chaos seven inch single it sounded as good as anything The Wailing Souls had ever recorded. The following year the album was nominated for a Grammy. In 1998 they released 'Psychedelic Souls' on Pow Wow which featured versions of sixties rock classics including The Who's 'My Generation' and The Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. In direct contrast Pipe and Bread then made a spectacular return to their roots in 2003 with the release of the 'Square Deal' album on Studio One where instant brand new classics were created with the blending of new Wailing Souls songs and evergreen Studio One rhythms such as Carlton & The Shoes' 'Love To Share' and The Wailers' 'I Stand Predominate/Predominant'. This was not an exercise in nostalgia but proof that the music of the Wailing Souls was timeless in its appeal.

The Wailing Souls could never be accused of being fashion followers but they are pragmatists always aware that in order to get their message across the rhythm has to deliver every single time and their music continues to remain open to any number of different approaches. Over the past forty years they have used whatever vehicle was necessary to drive their message home. Peace and love, justice and truth are not subject to the vagaries of style and their message has remained constant throughout. The tradition of Jamaican harmony singing will continue, and continue to be important, as long as those who have no other voice have to cry out to be heard.

Date Added: Nov 05, 2010 / Date Updated: Nov 07, 2012