Review: Natty King - No Guns To Town

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

In 1928 Marcus Garvey predicted “…look to the East, a king would be crowned and that would be your sign.” This was in reference to the crowning of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, which occurred just two years after. Now, more than 75 years later, following in the tradition of National hero, Paul Bogle, another ‘Ras’- Natty King, from the East (St. Thomas), has received his coronation.



Natty King’s No Guns To Town took Jamaica, the Caribbean, Florida, New York and England by storm, racing to number one on record charts in these territories and sustaining this pivotal position for nine weeks in Jamaica. His follow up single Mister Greedy also went to number one on local charts. This heralded a string of accolades, including the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM) 2003 award for ‘Best New Artiste. JFM president, Desmond Young refers to Natty King’s music as “conscious, enriching and uplifting”.

These sentiments are amply borne out by the lyrics of the nineteen songs featured on Natty King’s debut cd album, No Guns To Town, which was publicly launched last week. The issues which are explored on this album, expounded upon by Natty King, could be classified in six broad categories- exultation (No Guns To Town, The Way It Is, Pray, High High); treachery (When The Money, Fed Up, Mister Greedy, Cut Down the Price); natural resources (Environmentalist, St. Thomas), karma (Thunder A Roll); love (Please Stay, Rainy Time, Love Me, Perfect Harmony); and human rights (Easy Officer, Equality, Survivor).

A sample of his lyrics includes:
“…Gravalicious people sell out dem families and friends, Why they keep doing this over and over again, When de money dun, When de money dun we nuh ha no fren’…” (When The Money Done)

“…Dem too greedy, Like dem no remember the poor and needy…” (Mister Greedy)

“…For the herbs of creation, nuff people get lock up down a station, Facing bear tribulation, Oh Lord What an isolation…” (Easy Officer)

“…No tek dem bad influence with dem nuclears and violence…Do nuh bring no guns come to town, Yuh should have left dem at home, Shoulda bring love come, I seh, Spread de joy around…” (No Guns To Town)

“…I want the world to be living in harmony, Even the blind could see that we need equality, I want the world to be living in harmony, That’s the way it should be, We need no partiality…” (Equality)

“…If we don’t have fresh air, we won’t have good ‘ealth…” (Environmentalist)

A cautionary note to the producers of this album for future products aimed at the international market - beware of copyright infringement. Although there is an old adage that states that nothing is original in music, without giving credit to the original creators, many of the tracks on the cd come across as composites or samplings of other songs. Chart topper, No Guns To Town, borrows lyrics from the 1959 Johnny Cash hit, Don’t Take Your Guns To Town, while the rhythm is a retake of Delroy Wilson’s hit tune of the 1960s, Who Cares. Ras Michael’s None A Jah Jah Children No Cry is leaned upon heavily to supply the rhythm for track 5, The Way It Is.

The horn progressions on Pray (track 11) sound a lot like John Holt’s hit, Tonight High High (track 12) comes in part from a tune known to many of us as Peanut Vendor, made popular locally by Henry Jerome and his Orchestra but originally composed in the 1950s by Cuban Don Azpiazu with the title El Mansiero.

Equality (track 14) samples Stevie Wonder’s Ebony And Ivory and People Make The World Go ‘Round by the Stylistics. Please Stay (track 6) employs musical and lyrical phrases from the Drifters’ Don’t Go, Please Stay and Rainy Time adopts Air Supply’s All Out Of Love.

None of this however detracts from the quality or likeability of the cd album and Natty King’s fans will certainly enjoy his lyrics, interpretations and baritone voice on all the songs.

The liner notes needed more careful proof reading for grammatical, spelling and factual errors. For example, the ‘M’ in the acronym JFM stands for ‘Musicians’ not ‘Music’ and while credit is given to Ansel Collins who is the featured keyboardist on four tracks alongside riddim duo Sly and Robbie, his name is incorrectly spelt.

However, these minor oversights do not take away much from a very impressive presentation, which is further enhanced by the inclusion of a special video cd featuring the music videos for No Guns To Town and Mister Greedy, which adds more value to the overall product.

© 2005 C.H.E. Campbell.

The Riddim-Driven Phenomenon

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

Let us go back to beginning when in most cases studio/session musicians were expected to not just arrange but also compose the music. To quote bassist Jackie Jackson, who from 1965 was a studio musician at Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label where Tommy McCook was musical director, “Singers would come with the lyrics of the song and sometimes the melody. Except in the case of those like Alton Ellis who had sufficient working experience, the singers never came with properly structured or constructed songs.” This task was the responsibility of the musicians. “Sometimes the bridge may come too early or too late in the song, or we have to put the solo first.”

When the singer/group enters the studio they “automatically go over to the pianist who finds and sets the key of the song, comes up with the introduction and often the melody. The guitarists and bassist join in with the pianist, then the horns, if any. Usually, the drummer is the last to join because all he has to do is provide the rhythm, while the others have to configure keys, instrumental chords, harmonies and progressions.” By the time this process is complete and the song recorded, the producer is delivered a product, which he can opt to accept, reject or even alter to his preferences, because ultimately, the producer had the final say in what was released to the palate of the public- the songs he knew were good and would become hits. This meant that producers like Duke Reid, Clement Dodd, Leslie Kong, Sonia Pottinger, clamored to surround themselves with excellent musicians, composers and arrangers, who could deliver the hit songs. Importantly, these were the days when songs were complimented by an arrangement which was unique to that song.

Nowadays, in our ‘riddim-driven’ market, where the riddim is being promoted over the song and where a riddim must have a host of artistes on it to sell, home studios rule the roost. The process has been virtually turned on its head, with one result being that oftentimes a distinct sound overwhelms the input of music on any particular (Dancehall) record. This entire trend began in 1985, early examples of which were King Jammy’s Sleng Teng Riddim, Blood Fire Posse’s Rub-A-Dub Soldier and Tiger’s When.

The revolution in technology saw the introduction and large scale use of drum machines, synthesizers and sequencers, as opposed to live instrumentation, and also led to the rise in the establishment of various ‘home studios’- ‘studios’ which can be housed even in a bedroom, but with the aid of a single piece of equipment like Pro-Tools, Midi Production Centre (MPC) or Nuendo and with the use of computor programs like Fruity Loops, to build rhythm patterns, record voices and produce other musical instrumentation. These facilities therefore, allow even one person to complete an entire song on their own.

This lone individual, the producer, will sit around the device or computor and begin the process of making a riddim. He will select a drum pattern, a bass line, guitar and piano riffs to compose his riddim. Oft times without the experience of a musical background.

The production and outcome of the riddim therefore, is left primarily up to the ‘producer’s’ whim or ‘vibes’. In some cases he may be aided by the computor program which can automatically detect errors in musical passages, for example, a note inconsistent with the key of a song, giving him the chance to correct it.

At the point at which the producer assumes or believes he has achieved a suitable product, he shortlists a batch of 10 or 20 artistes who will ‘voice’ the riddim- some artistes even approach producers to be on a particular ‘hot’ riddim. The riddim is given to the select top artistes who in turn retreat to their own home studios. The artiste writes a song on the riddim, voices (records his voice), then returns it to the producer.

The producer therefore has no say or input in the production of the vocal track of which the purpose is to compliment his rhythm. In cases where the producer may find that there are passages in the vocal performance that are not pleasing to the ear or complimentary to the riddim track, he has one of two options, scrap the project or ‘work wid it’.

This is not to say that there is no good music being produced locally, though it sometimes seems that this is what Jamaican radio would have us believe. One has to go to Europe- Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland- even as far away as Japan and Israel to hear these. What is more, their musicians have now mastered the genre and are producing some incredible indigenous works. I remember being in Ghana, in the 1980’s, fascinated by music I was seeing and hearing live in a night club- sometimes 36 piece orchestras playing Reggae, fusing African percussive instruments alongside the guitar, bass, keyboard, drum set and horns.

There is hope yet. Our music is turning again because some of our master musicians have taken up the role of producer. However, they still face the problem of how to compete with money launderers who elicit payola in the local mass media. Rather than going to a producer who has to hire a group of 5-10 session musicians at $5000 per track each- a figure which has remained unchanged for 20 years- plus other overheads like backing vocalists, engineers, booking studio time, tape and cds for a probable total of J$250,000, this executive producer contracts ‘reducers’ who can complete the project for J$60,000.

The ‘executive producer’ then goes to a sound system or two and pays to have the tune played. The radio stations follows soon as some disc jocks willingly accept cash upfront for the frequent play of particular records. These payments are often significantly higher than that which is spent on the actual production of the record.

In recent times, the corruption has worsened with the radio disc jocks themselves now producing their own riddims, played and promoted by their fellow disc jocks. This is obviously a conflict of interest which is by its very nature immoral if not illegal. Certainly, this is a burning issue that needs the attention of the Public Broadcasting Commission- over to you Mr. Cordel Green.

On yet another level, some producers will even approach roadside jugglers, who illegally reproduce compilations for the bandoolu market, including buses and taxis, pirating their own works while cheating formal music marketers in the process, in order to build local market hype, in the hopes that a major label or distributor like Greensleeves, VP Records or Atlantic will pick up their product for redistribution. Currently, the average dancehall single that will eventually chart, will sell only about as many as 1000 records locally, at J$80-100 a pop. You do the math. In the meantime, most dancehall artistes attain their main income from live appearances in the dancehall and on stage shows.

The irony in all of this is, whether you like a particular hit tune or not, if you listen with an objective ear to all the Dancehall singles that make it big internationally, they are well produced songs.

© C.H.E. Campbell 2005.

Review: Prilly Hamilton - U

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

Milton ‘Prilly’ Hamilton first started singing in 1968 with Hell’s Angels, while he was still pursuing his secondary education at Kingston’s Excelsior High School. Initially, that band included soon-to-be musical stalwarts like Wayne Armond (of Chalice), Courtney Robb (of Byron Lee’s Dragonnaries) and Bentley Rae (Pluto Shervington’s band).

By 1971, then enrolled in a first degree programme at the University of West Indies (Mona), he became the lead singer for the band Inner Circle. At the time, the band, along with Now Generation Band and Hell’s Angel’s, ruled the local entertainment circuit as premier show/backing bands. Inner Circle maintained a heavily booked schedule, touring all over the island, playing in clubs and hotels and even scored big as the core of Michael Manley’s band wagon, produced by Buddy Pouyatt, which took the island by storm.

Back then, Inner Circle’s sessions at Holiday Inn’s Witches’ Hideaway Club and Casa Monte Hotel’s poolside were signature events for teenagers and adults alike. Their party music drew from all genres- from jazz, ballads, rhythm and blues and soul to calypso, Reggae and rock. Then, the group consisted of Funky Brown, Douglas Guthrie (sax), Ian and Roger Lewis, Carrot Jarret, Ibo Cooper, Cat Coore and Carl Barovier (drums).

In 1973, Prilly, Cat and Ibo left Inner Circle to become the nucleus of the Third World Band, with Darren Green as their road/business manager. Prilly possessed a particularly distinct ballad sound, which he brought to Third World, and this has been maintained in the band since. The tracks Sette Messegana, Slavery Days and Sun Won’t Shine, from Third World’s self titled debut album released in 1976, on which he sang lead, exemplify this point well.

While not much was heard from Prilly in the interim years, he has consistently displayed a very principled, progressive, even circumspect image coupled with a great respect for his talent. He scored a major hit in late 1990 with the single Missing You which lasted until 1991. In 1995, V Records released his debut solo album, Heaven Sent, which included Missing You, as well as the other charting singles Night Doctor, Too Many Hearts and a version of Color Me Badd’s I Wanna Sex You Up.

Although it has been too long in coming, Prilly’s second solo project U is on the horizon. Evidently the result of years of creative work, this cd album is now. Commendable is the fact that the work has a broad (age demographic) appeal, which Prilly himself states in the liner notes is credited to his son and collaborator Kimani Hamilton aka He-Brue whose “youthful flavour…gave this project the right energy and sound”.

Possessing a new wave ballad format, the album features Sly Dunbar creating and setting the mood and groove for all the songs. The constant Reggae beat is buoyed by the excellently arranged melodies of Robbie Lyn and Mikey Chong, and evenly inspired by a crossover of soul and hip hop stylings. All of the fourteen songs feature Prilly’s smooth vocals, with six of these complimented by Kimani’s rap verses. Kimani stands out especially on track # 6, a cover of Stevie Wonder’s Living For The City. His lyrics and interpretations on this song are brilliant, ratcheting it up a couple of notches.

“…Living in the belly of the beast, you better believe, Is like living in the Tale Of The Crypt, right, Fright Night is the place where the bills bite, Where people hustle and struggle in the street fight, Bloody city ain’t looking pretty to squeeze tight, Nitty gritty ain’t no pity in paradise…”

Songwriting credit is given to Prilly for 12 of the 14 songs, with assistance from Kimani, Earl Grant, Robert Sutherland, Carl James and William Stewart. Little G (track # 4) is a beautiful ballad.

“…Go away little girl, Please don’t stay little girl, You’re not supposed to be along with me. Run along little girl, sing a song little girl, Someday you’ll be a woman just wait and see. Learn your ABC and your 1,2,3, Little Girl you should be in school. Learn to read and write, Learn what’s right from wrong, Don’t grow up to be nobody’s fool...”

U (track # 5), fittingly the title of the album, is a ballad that has a very easy sing-along chorus, and is arranged by Mikey Chong.

“…You are my everything, You turn my grey skies blue, All I want is you, You brighten up my smile, You’re my guiding light, You are the joy within my tear, Always want you near, All I want is you…”

It has seemingly familiar strains of Luther Vandross’ hit, Dance With My Father (Again). Despite this, along with Little G, these two tracks have the greatest mass appeal and stand the best chance of charting. All In This Thing Together, written by Gamble and Huff and made popular by the O’Jays, is the only other cover on this album and is done in collaboration with Innocent Crew. Sly Dunbar’s distinctive drum programming and arrangements stand out, as does Mikey Chong on guitar, Paul Henton and especially Robbie Lyn on piano/synthesizer, bass.

Given Prilly’s professional background in printing (Gentle Printery), it is not surprising that the presentation of this cd album is superior to many of the current products, even those being put out on the market by large distributing companies. There are however, two glaring omissions in the liner notes worth mentioning - as clip on Prilly’s career achievements and due credit to the music arrangers.

© 2005 Charles H.E. Campbell.

A Pantheon Of Musical Heroes

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

If we do not know where we are going, any road will take us there. So for us to even begin to examine and explain the sheer genius of our accomplishments, we must fully appreciate the roles that others played in advancing the indigenous development of Jamaican music.

It is not good enough to continue to accuse the Dancehall Culture of being in essence only about the ‘hype’ and ‘bling’ without conceding that long ago we set this train in motion by paying scant regard- not giving due credit- to the real creators or our music- the composers and arrangers.

Look keenly at the credits given on most Reggae albums. While you may get a listing of the musicians, you rarely get a listing of the composers and/or arrangers. This blatant disregard for their input, potentially cheats them of their intellectual rights and fundamentally, it robs us of a deeper appreciation of the complex, meticulous artistic process and the roles they played in its creation. This is an outstanding but grievous issue, long in need of corrective action by the industry, both on behalf of these composers/musicians and in order to complete the story of the birth and evolution of our musical legacy.

For instance, Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett and Tyrone Downie were the main musicians responsible for the arrangements of most of Bob Marley’s later songs while he was signed to Island Records. If you compare Marley’s earlier works to those after the mid 1970’s, you will detect a change in the music structure as Downie introduced synthesizers, strings and extra guitar parts.

I wish today to acknowledge the significant contributions of Jackie Mittoo, Jackie Jackson, Bobby Ellis and Dean Fraser, whom I single out because of the substantial body of work they have collectively arranged.

The most well known of our local songwriters, composers and arrangers is late pianist Jackie Mittoo (1948-1990), who started ‘running the sessions’ at Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s new studio at 13 Brentford Road in Kingston, when it opened in 1963. Mittoo and Dodd recorded thousands of tunes throughout the sixties. Solo singers, vocal groups and deejays all backed by a succession of brilliant musicians. Initially Roland Alphonso was responsible for the horn arrangement followed by Bobby Ellis. During this time, 1963-1968, Mittoo helped to develop new songs until they were sufficiently polished to meet standards. He composed and arranged virtually every record put out by the Studio One label, giving the bass player his lines, writing the chords for the guitarist while playing the piano himself.

This body of music is the foundation of Reggae, covered and versioned for 40 years. Mittoo’s Darker Shade of Black became the basis for Frankie Paul’s Pass the Tushumpeng, Freddy McGregor’s Bobby Bobylon, Alton Ellis’ I’m Still In Love With You, The Cables’ Rock Steady anthem, Baby Why and Feel Like Jumping, Marcia Griffiths’ first hit. In 1970, his composition, Peenie Wallie was versioned by the Wailers, becoming the hits Duppy Conqueror, Fatty Fatty by the Heptones and Loving Pauper, by Dobby Dobson.

Little known Bobby Ellis was the horn arranger at Dodd’s Studio One for a part of the post-Skatalites era (1965-68), along side rhythm arranger Mittoo. Ellis is responsible for the so well known horn bridge of Bob Andy’s I’ve Got To Go Back Home, as well as his own original composition, Crayfish. He arranged, wrote and played horn sections for many early Burning Spear recordings, including Days Of Slavery.

Meanwhile, bassist Jackie Jackson was arranging for Duke Reid over at Treasure Isle. His first hit was Alton Ellis’ Girl I’ve Got A Date, known for its memorable bass and guitar intro. Subsequent hits arranged by Jackson include Paragons’ On The Beach, Techniques’ Queen Majesty, Phyllis Dillon’s Don’t Stay Away (If You Knew), Melodians’ You Have Caught Me Baby and almost everything from Alton Ellis, the Jamaicans and the Paragons.

For Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Jackson arranged and played on Bob Marley’s Small Axe which possesses a distinctive bass and guitar intro credited to himself and Hux Brown. He also worked with Bob and the Wailers on Hypocrite, Nice Time, Thank You Lord, Pound Get A Blow and Soul Shakedown Party. He arranged Sitting In Limbo for Jimmy Cliff, Help Me Make It Through The Night for John Holt, Ken Boothe’s Freedom Street, Sweet and Dandy, Pomps and Pride, Pressure Drop and It’s You for the Maytals, Everything Crash for the Ethiopians, Intensified for Desmond Dekker and the Aces, and a host of other very popular Jamaican classics.

After receiving tutelage from Jamaican Jazz great, Sonny Bradshaw, for the latter part of his teenage life, Dean Fraser came of his own as a studio musician and arranger in 1978 at the age of 20 with Channel One’s whopper Death In the Arena. His subsequent arrangements include, Jimmy Cliff’s Treat The Youths Right, Bob Marley’s Wake Up And Live and Ambush In The Night, Peter Tosh’s album Wanted (Dread Or Alive), Maxi Priest’s Wild World and Culture’s1990-redone Two Sevens Clash. More recently, he has arranged for Sanchez, Morgan Heritage, Sizzla, Beres Hammond, propelled Beenie Man’s hit single Nuff Gyal and continues to arrange whole albums for the messenger, Luciano and others.

There are many other composers/arrangers to whom credit must be given: Tommy McCook, Ernie Ranglin, Carlos Malcolm, Ivor ‘Willie’ Lindo, Aubrey Adams, Sonny Bradshaw, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore, David Madden, Vin Gordon, Earl Chinna Smith, Cedric ‘Im’ Brooks, Grub Cooper, The Browne Brothers (Glen, Clevie (of Steely and Clevie) Dalton and Danny, Ibo Cooper, Peter Ashbourne, Robbie Shakespeare, Clive Hunt, Handel Tucker, Harold Butler, Jon Williams, Gibby Morrison, Lloyd ‘Obeah’ Denton, Billy Cooke, Neville Hinds, Geoffery Chong and Derrick Stewart. It would in my view, be appropriate to dedicate a day in Heritage Week this year to these our largely unsung heroes of Jamaican music.

© C.H.E. Campbell 2005.