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THE CREOLE REGGAE BOX SET (TJETD161) - It wasn't just rude Reggae by Judge Dread or dodgy disco discs by The Chequers. There was far more to the Creole Records group of labels than that, but how many of us noticed? Efficiently and with a minimum of fuss, they gave artist after artist hit after hit, not just in the specialist listings but on the pop charts: four by soul singer Ruby Winters, five by the learned Judge, three by Boris Gardiner, plus successes for Desmond Dekker, Sophia George, those dodgy Chequers and more. They obviously had an eye and an ear for talent - but who were they?
Well, in the beginning they weren't a record label at all. Bruce White and Tony Cousins founded Commercial Entertainments as a management and booking agency in the mis-sixties. With the astuteness which would later garner all those hits for them, they not only booked Pop acts like Status Quo and Average White Band, but also entered specialist territory by acting for blue beat (as it was known then in Britain) acts like Byron Lee & The Dragonaires, the Maytals and the Melodonians. But it was the huge success of one of their artists, Desmond Dekker, with 'Israelites' in 1969 that prompted Bruce and Tony to change direction, as Bruce explained in a recent interview.
"It was this record that acquainted the ordinary British record buyer with the Reggae sound. This led us to acquire a defunct music publishing company and a record company, Creole Music Ltd. and Creole Records Ltd. to handle product from our Commercial Entertainments artists."
The first few Creole releases, by artists such as the Pyramids and Floyd Lloyd Seivwright, enjoyed only modest success - though they include one disc which has intrigued collectors, '405', credited to Augustus Pablo. However, this wasn't a rare track by the wispy melodica maestro: it actually featured saxophonist Tommy McCook. Then, forming a partnership with Island and Trojan Records, Creole placed Bruce Ruffin's 'Rain', recorded in Jamaica, but overdubbed in Britain, with the latter label and saw it reach the Top20 Pop charts. In October 1971, Bruce and Tony decided to go it alone again, issuing music on their own Creole imprint. Early issues, such as 'Don't Stroke My Pussy' by Katrina, were not big sellers, but helped by their burgeoning booking agency, they continued to expand.
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