Dillinger Join The Queue

By 1982 Dillinger was already firmly established as one of Jamaica’s leading deejays, with huge international hits such as “Cocaine In My Brain” and “CB 200? under his belt but in that year he really shone as a producer and released half a dozen 12” singles on the UK-based Oak Sound label featuring both himself as artist, together with the likes of Trinity, Al Campbell, Johnny Osbourne and Barrrington Levy. The standout release was the classic “Five Man Army” which was reissued for the first time by King Spinna Records in 2014. Dillinger also released one LP on Oak Sound, “Join The Queue”, the subject of this current reissue . For some reason the album seemed to disappear off the radar and is not particularly well known today. But it deserves to be heard by a wider audience as it’s on a par with his best work, and interestingly it captures the transition from the older Seventies roots style to the newer dancehall rhythms epitomised by the then in-demand studio outfit Roots Radics who contribute five of the rhythms on the album. The other five come courtesy of Lloyd Parks’s We The People Band and all are original recordings made specifically for this album.