Junior Byles is one of those artists that deserves to be a household name along with all the other reggae greats, but he was sadly sidelined by mental illness (at times living on the streets of Jamaica). He started as a member of The Versatiles in '67, and then starting in '69 released countless untouchable solo 45s, recorded the nearly perfect Beatdown Babylon LP with Lee Perry, and of course released the undisputed classic "Fade Away" (recorded at Channel One). One day while he's still on this mortal coil hopefully he gets his due.
Achilles In The Alleyway is a journal of art, prose, poetry, photography, politics, philosophy, life, death, and all the sounds that lie in between, over, under, sideways, and down.
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"When I was very young, I admired hardened criminals locked behind prison doors; I visited inns and taverns they frequented; with their eyes, I saw the blue sky and the blossoming work of the fields; I tracked their scent through cities. They were more powerful than saints, more prudent than explorers — and they, they alone, were witnesses to glory and reason!"
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