Steppin’ Out: Jimmy ‘One Foot’ Radway’s FE-ME-TIME & CAPRICORN RISING Thrillers (1972-79) (LXVIII)

Ivan Lloyd Radway born 5th January 1947... "My right name is Ivan Lloyd Radway but in school I grew up signing the middle name. Growing up in the Jones Town area of Kingston he sang in the local Salvation Army church as a child. On a Sunday School outing to Montego Bay in September 1957 Jimmy was injured in the infamous Kendal Train Crash. There were nearly sixteen hundred people on the train as it returned to Kingston and, as it approached Kendal, Manchester, the train came off the rails at top speed and plummeted over a precipice. Over two hundred and fifty people died and more than seven hundred were injured. Jimmy was fortunate enough to survive but he lost a leg in the worst railway accident in Jamaica's history.

In 1972 he set up his own record label with the help of a man named C. Lloyd Gentles who operated a company based in the same Denham Town street where Jimmy lived. The philanthropic Mr. Gentles, who had helped to establish the Wellington United Youth Club in the neighborhood, gave Jimmy one hundred pounds to start Fe Me Time. "In those days if a man gave you £100 it was a big, big money".
For the debut release on Fe Me Time Jimmy recalled a song about a young girl he knew from the Tivoli Gardens district and "started to go back to my book of writing". 'Black Cinderella', voiced at Dynamic Sounds by Errol Dunkley, was a Number One hit on both RJR and JBC radio stations in Jamaica... "Trust me! I never pay a cent in payola"... and, for a time, it really did look as if it was going to be Jimmy Radway's time.

Two further versions of 'Black Cinderella' followed featuring two of the most in demand artists on the scene: Big Youth with 'The Best Big Youth' and Augustus Pablo with 'Cinderella In Black'. Jimmy returned to Dynamic with Hortense Ellis for 'Hell & Sorrow' and, once again, Big Youth deejayed the rhythm as 'Tribulation'. Jimmy used the experience of his ghetto background with the knowledge he had gained at Art School in his combined roles of producer, arranger and writer. He also "played a bit of keyboard and used that to compose. Dynamic was so impressed with Jimmy Radway's abilities that they arranged a distribution agreement with him and a number of his productions were released on Byron Lee's Jaguar and Lion subsidiaries. He then moved on to work at Randy's Studio 17 on North Parade and one day, as he was sitting on Parade, Leroy Smart asked Jimmy to write a song for him. "Father... write a music for me now man!" Their initial Fe Me Time recording was 'Mother Liza' and the pair went on to record the bombastic 'Mr. Smart' and the reflective 'Mirror Mirror'. These recordings helped to establish Leroy Smart in the vanguard of reggae vocalists.

In 1975 Jimmy moved to Micron and, while working with Pete Weston, started the Capricorn Rising label "I liked the name as I am a Capricorn". One of the first releases on the label was a new arrangement of Leroy Smart's 'Mr. Smart' titled 'Happiness is My Desire' . Desmond Young's prophetic 'Warning' followed. Big Youth, now at the height of his recording career, used the rhythm for one of his greatest ever outings 'Wolf In Sheep's Clothing'. 'Warning' was Jimmy's last hit record.

Produced By Ivan Lloyd "Jimmy" Radway - Jones Town's Finest!
Compliments of FE-ME-TIME - Denham Town, Kingston, Jamaica.
Compiled & Mixed Direct To Maxell XLII-S 90 By Selektah Twice In His Vault on Facebook LIVE -
July 29th, 2023.

Side One - Left Foot

01. Tyrone ‘Organ D’ Downey – Wicked Have To Feel It
(Fe-Me-Time, 1972)

02. & 03. African Brothers – Lead Us Father / Back To Africa
(Ital / Fe-Me-Time 1973)

04 & 05. Errol Dunkley – Keep The Pressure Down / Pressure Down
(Ackee ACK 507 A 1973)

Cinderella Suite

06. Errol Dunkley – Black Cinderella
(Camel CA 87 A 1972)

07. Big Youth – The Best Big Youth
(Advance, 1973)

08. I-Roy – Sound Education
(Ackee ACK 510 A 1973)

09. Augustus Pablo – Cinderella In-Black
(Ackee ACK 510 B 1973)

10. Fe-Me All-Stars – Cinderella
­---
11. Hortense Ellis – Hell & Sorrow (Extended)
(Fe-Me-Time, 1974)

12. Big Youth – Tribulation
(Fe-Me-Time, 1974)

13 & 14. Big Youth – Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (Chapters 1 & 2)
(Augustus Buchanan, 1975)

15 & 16. Desmond Young & I-Roy – Warning / Double Warning
(Capricorn Rising, 1975)

17. Fe-Me All-Stars – Black Rights


Side Two - Right Foot


Mr. Smart Showcase

18. Bobby Ellis – Mr. Ellis a.k.a. Burn Out
(Fe-Me Time, 1974)

19 & 20. Leroy Smart & Wailers Band – Mother Liza (Extended)
(Fe-Me Time, 1974)

21 & 22. Leroy Smart – Mirror Mirror / Awn Yah
(Fe-Me Time, 1975)

23. Leroy Smart – Happiness Is My Desire
(Capricorn Rising, 1975)
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24. Fe-Me All-Stars – Black I Am

25 & 26. Don D Junior – Tina May / Micron Way
(Fe-Me Time, 1974)

27. Fe-Me All-Stars – She’s Mine

28. Jacob Miller – Mixed Up Moods
(Top Ranking, 1979)

29. Organ D (Reprise)