Watch The Gladiators_Trenchtown Mix Up (Album) 1976 in New Channel | Channify

00:00 01-Mix Up 03:00 02-Bellyfull 05:18 03-Looks Is Deceiving 07:50 04-Chatty Chatty Mouth 11:07 05-Soul Rebel 15:04 06-Eli Eli 18:08 07-Hearsay 21:18 08-Rude Boy Ska 23:47 09-Know Yourself Mankind 26:37 10-Thief In The Night 30:15 11-Hello Carol Purchase https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=86879&ev=mb Name: The Gladiators Profile For over three decades, Albert Griffiths and his Gladiators have been a major force within Jamaican music. Born in 1946, in St. Elizabeth parish, he grew up in poverty in Trench Town, and trained as a mason. However, music beckoned, and linking with David Webber, brother of the popular Webber Sisters, the pair auditioned around the studios, but to no avail. Thus it was back to masonry, where Griffiths was now working alongside the Ethiopians' Leonard Dillon under a foreman, Leebert Robinson, also looking to enter the music industry. Griffiths convinced Robinson to fund a recording session; with the Supersonics providing accompaniment, the Ethiopians cut "Train to Skaville," backed by Griffiths' "You Are the Girl," credited to Al & the Ethiopians. "Train" was a smash, while "Girl" confirmed Griffiths' own potential. The following year, in 1968, Griffiths and Webber joined forces with Errol Grandison, and the Gladiators were born. The trio continued recording for Robinson, whilst also branching out to cut singles for Clive Chin and Duke Reid. But it was with Coxsone Dodd that the group first tasted success, when "Hello Carol" topped the Jamaican chart in late 1968. Unfortunately, it was at this point, that Webber began exhibiting signs of serious mental illness, and while the Gladiators continued sporadically recording, it was evident that Webber was becoming increasingly incapacitated. In his stead would come country boy Clinton Fearon. Fearon had arrived in Kingston at 16, and formed the short-lived vocal group the Brothers with two friends. The Brothers went nowhere, but Fearon was serious about music, and began lessons at the music school that Griffiths was now running. By this time, the elder man was also employed as a guitarist at Studio One, where Fearon would soon join him, first as rhythm guitarist, before switching to bass. However, family commitments drew Grandison away around this same time, and the Gladiators were now reduced to a duo. During this period, at the tail end of the '60s, the pair backed the likes of Burning Spear and Stranger Cole. Eventually, however, Griffiths picked Gallimore Sutherland out of his pool of students, a youth the Gladiator had first met back during his masonry days, and the group were a trio Again. In 1976, the Gladiators inked a deal with Virgin Records in Britain, and began work on their label debut with producer Prince Tony Robinson. The end result was the glorious Trenchtown Mix Up album, a set stuffed with hits, phenomenal revisions of earlier Studio One numbers including "Mix Up," a re-cut of "Bongo Red," and a couple of mighty Bob Marley covers thrown in for good measure. The trio followed this masterpiece up with the equally essential Proverbial Reggae in 1978 and completed the triptych of classic albums with Naturality the following year. Sweet So Til, which arrived in 1980, was almost as good. Meanwhile, Coxsone Dodd was busily digging into the vaults, unleashing a stream of Gladiators' singles, before finally disappointing just about everyone with Presenting the Gladiators, a compilation of the group's Studio One recordings which infuriatingly omitted a clutch of crucial numbers Like the Wailers, the Gladiators vocal abilities are matched by their musical talent, making them one of the rare Jamaican groups that actually are a band in the true sense of the word. Thus, while every vocal group has its own unique sound, the Gladiators created a distinct style, one that shone forth regardless of producer. Griffiths lyrics, filled with Biblical passages and parables, is equally notable, as is his astonishing ability to take inspiration from other artists' songs. The album Father and Sons, released in 2005 on Ras/Sanctuary, finds Griffiths working with his sons, singer Al Griffiths and drummer Anthony Griffiths, and has been represented as Griffiths' farewell to his fans, with his sons taking over and continuing the Gladiators name in the future. (Source: allmusic.com, by Jo-Ann Greene )