This has got to be one of the most obscure LPs we've shared at electricjive. We came across the recording through a record-dealer but all our research to get more information has resulted in dead-ends. If you do have any information at all on this release please let us know.
Based on the loose ends and suggestions to date it appears that Zorro Five were a South African studio band consisting of both white and black musicians. The record was produced by Peter Thwaites and issued on the South African label Brigadiers in 1970. A single from the LP Reggae Shhh b/w Reggae Meadowlands was issued in the UK on Decca and became an underground hit on the mod/skinhead scene. It was issued in Italy in a picture sleeve and covered by Italian singer Rafaella Carra with a version entitled Reggae RRR.
The music is an eclectic mix of mostly instrumental organ and guitar led funk and reggae. Until we get some better detail we can only speculate about a studio band listening to late sixties reggae hit via LM Redio or on imports from the UK. Who knows where this story leads.
But it does provide an update to our ongoing exploration of recorded reggae in South Africa. See our earlier posts.
MF
RS
