Boasting one of the most tender and sincere voices in all of reggae, the story of Junior Byles is a bittersweet tale of the chaotic struggle between mental illness and becoming famous; truly, the gentleness of his delivery reveals a mental fragility which has plagued him increasingly throughout his life. This melancholy release finds Mr. Byles dreaming about a better life in Africa, backed by the famous Upsetters, and all of it being produced by none other than Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry; the image of a mother explaining to her child about slavery is a powerful picture, and the son, resilient in his youth, comforting her pain, “…she bowed her head and cryed, ooh-ooh, mama please don’t cry…” Sadly, from the mid ‘70s onward, Junior Byles has spent time in and out of mental facilities for suicide and depression, (in his own words from an interview in 1991) “…yes, I've been fightin' terrible struggles… sometimes I live in the hills; sometimes, I go away…sometimes the only t'ing that I have to satisfy my soul is lightning and thunder and the sun that shine to remind me that there is still hope for humanity…”
