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Jimmy London - Love Is A Hurting Thing (D.R. Philips)
Soul & Inspiration - Jackie Mittoo & Randy's All Stars (C.Chin)
UK reissue, original 1972
Produced by Clive Chin for Above Rock, matrix AB120605, reissue distributed by Dub Vendor
Born in Kingston JA in 1953, Jimmy joined the Inspirations in the late sixties and scorded a few hits for producer Joe Gibbs. Here he versions Love Is A Hurting Thing, a big hit in 1966 in the US for Soul Legend Lou Rawls. For Impact, Jimmy London recorded also a full album, Bridge over Troubled Waters in 1972 (reissue on cd as A Little Love), and released several other singles for the Impact label (in the UK released on Randy's): eg A Little Love (Kissing At The Back Row Of The Movie by The Drifters) , It's Now Or Never, Just My Imagination (original by The Temptations), Walk with Love, Mary's Boy Child, Hip Hip Hurray, Jamaica Festival 72 (together with the Rocking Horse) and Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, which topped the charts in Jamaica and UK. Jimmy London continued to release tunes throughout the seventies and eighties. The flipside, Soul & Inspiration, is a shining example of Jackie Mittoo's musical abilities. Young Jackie already played piano with the Skatalites at age 15, and he went on to become one of the main architects of Coxsone's Studio One sound, creating riddims which proved to be the foundation of a big part of reggae music. Jackie Mittoo passed away in 1990, leaving us with a supreme musical legacy. Check out The KeyBoard King of Studio One compilation on Souljazz records for his Studio One work.