Larry and The Mento Boys to reissue Jamaica Farewell this summer

Larry and The Mento Boys are putting Jamaica Farewell back into circulation this summer through Tad’s International Record, and the timing gives the reissue more weight than a routine catalog move. The 18-song album was first issued in 2013, but it still carries the kind of direct line into Jamaica’s older popular music that younger reggae listeners rarely get from modern playlists and algorithm-fed streaming feeds.

The set leans hard into mento’s core songbook. Commercial listings show tracks including Invitation To Jamaica, Zumbie Jamboree, Take Her To Jamaica, Ma & Pa, Island In The Sun, No Woman No Cry, One Drop, 3 Little Birds, Talking Parrot, Shame And Scandal, Big Bamboo, Love In The Cemetery, Stop Sparrow Stop, John B, Sandra, Moon A Shine A Natta Bay Road, Man Smarter and Jamaica Farewell. That mix matters because it moves the album beyond nostalgia. It places mento standards beside reggae-adjacent material by Bob Marley and a song associated with Lord Creator, giving the record a cross-generational pull that can speak to collectors, casual streamers and fans who know the Jamaican canon mostly from ska, rocksteady and reggae.

Tad Dawkins, who heads Tad’s International Record, said he was introduced to Larry and The Mento Boys by veteran broadcaster and singer Walter Charles “Bob” Clarke, whose years performing in tourist hotels in St Ann and St Mary helped keep vintage Jamaican music in circulation. Clarke died on January 27, 2026, in St Mary, a loss that adds a sharper edge to this reissue. Dawkins has also said he intends to change the way the album is promoted this time after feeling it did not get enough mainstream push when it first came out 13 years ago.

That point lands because mento has often been pushed to the side in wider reggae conversation, even though Jamaica Information Service says the style came to real prominence in the 1940s and 1950s, with the first recordings pressed in the 1950s by Stanley Motta and Ivan Chin. JIS also notes that ska, rocksteady and reggae later displaced mento, which is exactly why a title like Jamaica Farewell still matters. It is not just another summer re-release. It is a reminder that the island’s recorded music story began well before reggae became the global label.

The album’s digital trail also shows how legacy music can be flattened online. Apple Music and other listings keep the 18-song set alive, but Spotify metadata has shown a different release year, 2017, even though the original digital release date listed elsewhere is May 28, 2013. For fans tracking Jamaica’s musical DNA, Jamaica Farewell is worth the reset.