"BOOK OF RULES" RULES

I just got some bad news a couple hours ago. Barry Llewellyn of the Heptones passed away on November 23, of pneumonia. While Leroy Sibbles was the main lead singer of the vocal trio, Llewellyn sang lead, and co-wrote their biggest hit, "Book of Rules." This hurts folks. The Heptones are one of my favorite reggae vocal groups and "Book of Rules" is my favorite song of theirs. It's a monster. Essential, for anyone that has even a casual interest in reggae. It was on the first reggae LP that I ever bought, the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come, and that was a long, long time ago. There are decades in there where it could have slipped in rank, but it has always up there near the top of the list. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to that song, with my eyes closed to get the full effect. So turn up the bass, and listen to a near perfect reggae song.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:

Here's two versions of the song, the first one is preferable if you ask me. The second version is sweetened up with unneeded strings.

The Heptones - Book of Rules mp3 at Lake Tahoe Real Estate (?)

The Heptones - Book of Rules (w/strings) mp3 at Town Full of Losers
The Heptones - Only Sixteen mp3 at Rasta Geeks
The Heptones - Fatty Fatty mp3 at Nintendo Planet Video
The Heptones - Our Day Will Come mp3 at DanielJohnsonWrites
The Heptones - Ain't That Bad mp3 at OCF.Berkley.edu
The Heptones - Hypocrite mp3 at Ear It Now
The Heptones - Crying Over You mp3 at Passion of the Weiss
The Heptones - Mr. President mp3 at Passion of the Weiss
Video:
The Heptones - Book of Rules (Live, 2009) at YouTube
Visit:
Barry Llewellyn - Obituary at the New York Times
Barry Llewellyn - Obituary at Ligali (Scroll down the page)
The Heptones at Wikipedia