PATO BANTON – ‘allo Tosh – reggae dancehall dub digidub 12″ single Toshiba

Pato, as he is just known on the cover, but Pato Banton as he is on the record label. is the lyrical wizard on this electro reggaefied version of Alexei Sayle’s “Hello John, got a new motor?” and the Toshiba ad based on their song, I think. He’s a wordsmith at his most fluid and creative, mixing the rhythm and the character voices. Fantastic toasting – London style. The whole tune rides over an insistent electrodub riddum with that phat, but raw, eighties drum machine sound.

“Patos first audition at Fashion Records impressed the producers so much that they instantly changed his name to Pato Banton. (In DJ circles a Banton is a heavyweight lyricist, thus in England, Pato became The Banton) His second single, Allo Tosh Got a Toshiba (recorded for Don Christie on Jamdon Records) reached number 3 in the independent reggae charts and launched a string of successful projects with Fashion Records, Greensleeves & Island Records”.

The version I am playing in the mix is the 1985 Virgin issue with Tyrone Taylor’s lovely “Cottage in Negril” as a double A side re-release.

http://www.patobanton.com