Lord Composer

Lord Composer (1924 -1990) was a Jamaican mento artist. Lord Composer and His Silver Seas Hotel Orchestra recorded "Gal A Gully"/"Matilda" and "Hill & Gully Ride"/"Mandeville Road". This very popular pair of two-song medleys are early mento classics. Found on either side of a MRS 78 RPM single, they collect four Jamaican folk songs, set to the same music. But Composer's choice of material, strong keening vocal and tight instrumentation featuring virtuoso fife solos make these tracks an inexhaustible source of enjoyment. These tracks appeared on several different 1950s mento compilation albums. But, mysteriously, Composer never recorded anything that sounded like these sides. In fact, no one did, and these tracks stand unique in mento. Incidentally, in lieu of authorship, the label describes these folk songs as "Jamaican digging songs". There was not a great deal of follow up from Lord Composer. And none if it sounded like the burning, single above. He appeared on a single backed by Chin's Calypso Sextet and another single side on MRS. He also recorded a single on the Kalypso label in the 1960s (probably) and one with Sugar Belly. In 1968, he recorded a single for Studio One. He also recorded an LP worth of material that can be bought today. It's interesting to note that in spite of his chosen name, this artist composed very few of the songs he recorded! Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.