Dr Alimantado – Born For A Purpose / Reason For Living

One of the best Reggae tunes iv’e ever heard, so smooth, soulful, the beat’s pure summer. Fact is Dr Alimantado hits the spot. Dr Alimantado, born Winston Thompson, also known as The Ital Surgeon (Kingston, 1952- present). He started to record very young under various names (Prince Winston, Winston Cool or Youth Winston). His first recordings were for Lee “Scratch” Perry and Bunny Lee – “Place Called Africa Version 3” and “Maccabee Version”. He returned to Lee Perry in 1976, recording the DJ portion of Devon Irons 12″ “Ketch Vampire”. Between 1971 and 1977 his singles were unreleased outside Jamaica, only being available in the UK on import. He built his reputation with tunes such as “Oil Crisis” ( versioning Horace Andy’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”), “Sons of Thunder”, (toasting over Jackie Brown’s “Wiser Dread”), “Gimme Mi Gun” on Gregory Isaacs’ “Thief a Man” and “Poison Flour”, on a recut of the Paragons “Man Next Door” rhythm. He mainly met success in the mid to late 1970s, with his best known album being Best Dressed Chicken in Town (1978), a Greensleeves Records collection of tracks recorded in the mid-70s, featuring Alimantado toasting over singers such as John Holt, Gregory Isaacs, Jackie Edwards and Horace Andy. His tunes mixed his Rastafarianism with commentary on events then going on in his community; “Poison Flour” referenced a recent incident when a number of local Kingstonians had been poisoned by eating bread made with contaminated flour. Alimantado became popular with punk rockers in the ’70s following Johnny Rotten praising him in an interview. He was mentioned in The Clash song Rudie Can’t Fail in the line “Like the doctor who was born for a purpose”.

Alimantado’s biggest hits were “A Place Called Africa” and “Born for a Purpose”. The latter song was originally released on his Vital Food label, and told of his Rastafarian faith supporting him after bus driver had driven into him in Kingston on December 26th 1976, causing serious injuries. The musicians who played on the record did so without payment. The single, and its accompanying version “Still Alive” were released in the UK firstly as two 7″ 45s, then as a 12″, featuring the full extended mixes. By 1977 he had largely abandoned his toasting style, apart from occasional records such as “Go Deh Natty Go Deh” on a heavily dubbed mix of Delroy Wilson’s “Trying to Conquer Me”, preferring to release singing tunes, including “Mama (I Thank You)”, “Jah Love Forever”, and a cover of Billy Stewart’s “Sitting In the Park”.