Dandy - Rock Steady With Dandy

Historic album that had not been available in any format for 56 years.
• Most of the tracks have been unavailable since the rocksteady era.
• Includes the original versions of “Rudy, A Message To You” and “Let’s Do Rock Steady.”

In 1967, the Jamaican music scene was flourishing in Britain, its success largely due to the efforts of a number of talented British singers, songwriters, and producers—chief among them the young, multi-talented music maker Robert Thompson, better known as Dandy.

After achieving notable success in 1964 with Tito Simon as the duo Sugar & Dandy, Thompson went on to make his mark as a solo artist, releasing singles for Emil Shalit’s Melodisc Records before beginning a highly productive partnership with Rita & Benny King’s R&B Records. Among his earliest work for the Kings were two of the most enduring rocksteady tracks of the time: “Rudy, A Message To You” and “Let’s Do Rock Steady,” later covered by Two-Tone hitmakers The Specials and The Bodysnatchers, respectively.

Thompson’s popularity within the British Jamaican music scene led to the release of his acclaimed debut album Rock Steady With Dandy, issued in 1967 on the R&B subsidiary Giant. Now, more than half a century later, the collection is finally available again—expanded with an additional 33 recordings alongside the original dozen tracks. This 2-CD set represents the very best of Dandy’s rocksteady output for R&B, recorded before his move to Trojan Records in the summer of 1968.