| Dr. Alimantado Best Dressed Chicken In Town |
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 | Tracklist:
1. Best Dressed Chicken In Town
2. Just The Other Day
3. Poison Flour
4. Gimmie Mi Gun
5. I Killed The Barber
6. Ital Galore
7. I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali
8. Johnny Was A Baker
9. Tribute To The Duke
10. Unitone Skank
11. Can't Conquer Natty Dreadlocks
12. Ride On
13. Plead I Cause
14. I Shall Fear No Evil
Release Date: 1978 | |
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1 of 1 thought this review was well written
Dr. Alimantado, also known as James Winston Thompson (b. 1952), is the man behind this album: The Best Dressed Chicken In Town, (1978) a compilation of his mid 70's work. Alimantado was a relatively obscure reggae singer/DJ, the extent of this album's fame only meriting cult status which was particularly due to its saturation into the UK underground and punk scene adoption. Johnny Rotten has praised this album and Alimantado as a considerable influence on the punk movement, not hard to believe. Alimantado's singing is a chant, jive, and scat style matched with roots reggae dub backing tracks to create an album oozing with personality, funk, and freshness. The lyrics are righteous anthems for anyone looked down upon for wearing dreadlocks (I guess), contrasting in subject matter from the trivial to the serious, but with prevalent humor. At a young age Alimantado became in involved in the Rastafari movement, and songs like "Unitone Skank" feature repeated use of the words "Zion" and "Babylon."
He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in slums that would influence his music, most present in his style and lyrical content. It is difficult though to decipher all that he says under his thick Jamaican accent and with no webpages that feature his lyrics. Despite its charm, Best Dressed Chicken In Town does have some downsides. The production value is rather crude. For example, some songs seem to end right in the middle, just simply fading out as though endings couldn't be recorded and the bass from "Poison Flower" is also used in "I Shal Fear No Evil." The album uses the same formula throughout, and unless you're really feeling the vibes it may get a little boring, this robs the album of elevated status. Nonetheless it is an incredibly original and infectious album, I would liken it to candy, though novel and not offering in complexity, it still tastes great. All in all this album shouldn't just be recommended to reggae fans. I think it's appeal could be universal, and with vitality and personable potency among its virtues, it has the potential to be.
Now for the witty descriptions and run-on sentences:
1. Best Dressed Chicken In Town- Psychedelic and super duper delayed foray expelling "jaja" chants and true to form "cuckoos," yes he actually makes cuckoo sounds and does it pretty well, a pseudo standout track. 3.5/5
2. Just The Other Day- Starts with the ever-prevelant skank, that is, guitar rhythm most cliche in reggae music matched by an equally predictable bassline and just as you think the track is sinking into boring-dom, our dear friend Dr. Alimantado saves the day by merely voicing stuff, that you probably cannot decipher as english. 2.5/5
3. Poison Flour- Begins with Alimantado uttering something totally gibberish and you can hear "poison flour" in there somewhere when all of the sudden this totally awesome bass rhythm kicks in and while you're in a state of shock and Alimantado kicks back in with some lyrics about "poison flower" followed by a strange chorus: "in my neighborhood" and "bang against the wall," and this pretty much continues on like this but you cannot really tell what he's saying but who cares it's awesome. 5/5
4. Gimmi Mi Gun- Alimantado says something about police and then actually speaks something decipherable: "According to what is going on in the world and society today, it motivate me to do this song today" or something like that which is followed by a sweet vocal groove melody and lyric chants about wanting a gun to defend himself or something, though not in a over-the-hill Charleston Heston kind of way. 4.5/5
5. I Killed The Barber- This is hilarious, he pronounces "barber" as "baba" and the chant "I shot the baba" is sung in a multitude of different ways accompanied by a horn section and followed by more seemingly improvised on the spot lyrics, I told you it was fresh. 4.5/5
6. Ital Galore- Its beginning is taken right from The Beatle's "Let It Be" for some reason, but segways into heavy bass and dub with Alimantado's unique singing of "Ital Galore" while he tells you that he's singing the "Ital Galore" song and that "Ital is vital" while you wonder what the hell Ital is, another one trick pony track, but it's a darned good trick. 5/5
7. I Am The Greatest Says Muhammed Ali- Haha, what a funny guy this Alimantado is turning out to be. This is an instrumental, though not an incredibly successful track, which features a great vibe though it just continues this way, so if you're not a fan of staying in the groove for three minutes straight this isn't the track for you. 2/5
8. Johnny Was A Baker- A song about Johnny baker apparently with Alimantado of course singing weirdly and telling his story of trying to find this guy Johnny the baker and he finds him in New York and Johnny tells him he was no baker because he was taken from Africa and they mistook him for a baker in Jamaica or something whatever, this is accompanied by organs, drums, and cooled out guitar skank. 3/5
9. Tribute To The Duke- It begins a horn intro with segways into some keyboards I believe which pump out a few bars of cool island melody before, wait, nevermind his voice isn't coming in so it is probably an instrumental, it makes me think of a warm sunny beach and leaning palm trees and girls with not alot of clothing, and then towards the end with all the echoes I feel as though I am going into the clear shiny water and swimming with fishes, too cool, really groovy instrumental. 4/5
10. Unitone Skank- Rastafarian themes are present in this track, Alimantado sings of his originating from Mt. Zion, knowing about the Rastafari movement probably isn't necessary, you can't really understand what he says anyways so just take his word about whatever he says, not too into this track. 2/5
11. Can't Conquer Natty Dreadlocks- This is a definitive track on the album mainly due to its lyrical content, of course it's a stand up song defending the opressed haircut style dreadlocks, widely sported by reggae artists, I'm guessing it's a symbol of rebellion, pretty punk right? 4.5/5
12. Ride On- A strange track, Alimantado's voice sounds exactly like a reggae version of Joe Strummer (The Clash), except before Joe Strummer. I honestly think it is possible that Joe Strummer formed his vocal style after listening to this song, the similarities are rediculous. The feeling of the song is cool for about thirty seconds but it gets old as he uses the same vocal template throughout. 2/5
13. Plead I Cause- Alimantado comically immitates a few voices in the beginning, and then begins crooning melancholically and by the time I'm done typing the previous words I'm also done with this track. 1.5/5
14. I Shall Fear No Evil- The album really does stick to the same format towards its end, reaching it's high point with this track as it uses the exact same rhythm section from "Poison Flower." The vocals are just chants with no structure, so this track might as well just be thrown off the album, not really any point. 1/5
*Don't let the lukewarm ending of the ablum steer you away, you will regret not having given at least a few songs a chance. The album really isn't all that bad, and although it's in cult status right now I would recommend even a casual or non-reggae listener to give it a listen, they just might find themselves falling into the groove and under the spell of Dr. Alimantado's idiosyncratic musings.
I give it: 4/5, it's a classic, but a classic within the genre. Did I mention the album cover is quite possibly the best album cover of all time?
*In case you're wondering what Dr. Alimantado has done since 1978: Since 1979 Dr. Alimantado has only existed as a producer.
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I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about reggae past Marley's Legend, but this a fairly good review and a sweet album cover, so John Paul may have to look into this.
| | | Album Rating: 4
I highly recommend  Hard to get a hold of though 
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Very good review for a second, but you dont really sell it as an excellent review, you seem to be going for more good or maybe even average, but good critique non the less.
Good to see some reggae reviews, I nearly got this a few times, after this, I might next time. Is he anything like Big Youth?
| | | Album Rating: 4
Yeah I'm totally aware this review isn't as good as my first, I wasn't as driven. I'm making an attempt to review solely in the neglected genres, probably because I most listen to those genres. As for Big Youth I havn't gotten to him yet in my reggae exploits, though I've heard of him.
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This sounds interesting but I don't enjoy reading track by track reviews. While your descriptions were detailed I think that a reggae album can be summed up in about two to four paragraphs.
My favorite reggae artists are probably Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru, this sounds kind of similar so Ill have to check this out.
| | | Album Rating: 4
Probably right ^^ I probably should have written one more paragraph instead of the song list, this album doesn't really merit a long review.
Btw, I hope you guys can get a hold of this album, email me if you can't.This Message Edited On 08.15.06
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alimantado is cool from what ive heard and ive been thinking about tracking down someof his stuff for a while. Unitone Skank is a good tune, its a shame that Sittin' in The Park is nt on here though. Decent review but it felt a bit rushed. Also, im not a big fa of tbt's personally.
Digging: Murder by Death - Good Morning, Magpie
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