Soul vs. Reggae #3 - "Ten Commandments of Love"

[vectoreyes1]

Wailers

[jamaicasweetland]

I much prefer the Wailers version as its seems more soulful and sang in more natural vocal tones

[rkatastrophe]

What is the song at the very beginning, before the Moonglows kick in?? The lyrics are "the era of love is upon us again but like all other eras it must end".

[hultonclint]

@rkatastrophe :) That is my original song, "Era of Love," performed by my old group, The Escalades. It is posted here:

/watch?v=R6xJ0OJNTSM

[sleepytimegalz]

WHILE BOTH ARE GOOD AND BOTH HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD TO THIS SONG,, I LEAN TOWARDS THE MOONGLOWS...

[TheItalianKid13]

MOONGLOWS WIN

[traintogirlstown]

soooo sad and blue am I to discover 20 years later the original version of the BMW top soul tune... but still the one Iprefer (of course!).

Thank you to share! The train is coming!

[TerryMarineBMF]

for Angie Angel

romance in la Tijuana colonia

(i luv u, Angie!)

[thecountofbasie]

Soul...but not by much...think the Wailers' version tops Jackie Edwards' though...great UK CD out there called Doo-Wop Jamaican Style if you can find it (I bought it on vacation in England)...nice mashup

[Jenni941]

SOUL!

[lightning494]

According to Stephen Davis, Bob's biographer, Coxone of Studio One, "had albums from the States of the all the top soul artists. Bob liked the Impressions, the Tams, and the Moonglows the best." Maybe Bob Marley (later to write "Exodus") had a thing for the 10 Commandments in 1964-5, even though the Moonglows hit was an old song.

[lightning494]

Checking my media (Moonglows Blue Velvet 2CD set) I find that the "Always do what's right version" was recorded Dec. 2, 1957, overdubbed and mastered 1958. (This is the) edited version, originally Chess single 1705(Chess LP 1430) . So I assume the Chess single version was the unedited "when we say goodnight" nine commandments version we heard on the radio back then. So I guess Bob covered the edited version in 1965. Hultonclint is right.

[hultonclint]

Thanks for all the info! I was surprised to find that the Wailers didnt record this until 1965 (and released in 1966, I guess). Because this slow R&B style mostly recorded in Jamaica only around 1959-1962. By the time they did this, it would have seemed very "old fashioned" indeed! So I'd assumed the Wailers recorded it a bit earlier.

[lightning494]

Look for the original Moonglows version where there are only nine commandments. It's a lot better than this. It is this that the Wailers covered, correcting the last commandment and changing 'Thy " to "thou" in the opening.

[hultonclint]

Very nice! Thanks for filling me in on the Moonglows' original version.

I'm curious though: How do you know that the Wailer's covered the older version? Without knowing the details, it seems more likely that they'd have followed this early 60s version, since their "always do me right" is closer to "always do what's right"(?). Since the Wailer's didnt record theirs until 1965, they would have had access to this newer one, no? Just curious if you have a source. thanks! great stuff

[jazz0685]

The Wailers are pretty good, but I'm for Harvey and the Moonglows. I haven't heard anybody yet who can top their harmonizing. My dad had this song on his "Cruisin '58" record.

[jaymaru1976]

i vote the wailers

[hultonclint]

Duly noted! :)

[istgone]

MOONGLOWS BY A WIDE MARGIN!!

[hultonclint]

Ha ha, I agree! No one could touch the Moonglows at their best.

It is interesting though to hear these root influences on Bob Marley and his contemporaries in Jamaica.