NEGRIL, Negril, Klik, LP, UK/Micron, JA,
A production credit to Eric Gale can only add to any initial impression
of “easy listening” given by this instrumental set from 1975. But
as with those funky C.T.I. albums of the same decade to which the
smooth US jazz guitarist contributed there’s no denying the quality of
the musicianship on offer, in the present case supplied by the likes of
Peter Tosh (lead and rhythm guitar), Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett and Val
Douglas (bass), Cedric Brooks (saxophone and percussion), Paul Douglas
and Sparrow Martin (drums) and Joe Higgs (percussion). There’s a
credit to the great (sometimes unjustly overlooked) Sylvan Morris as
engineer, in addition, and the whole thing was recorded at Harry J’s
studio (just like parts of Catch A Fire and Burnin’ in its
entirety).
Having a version of Bob Marley’s international
hit “I Shot The Sheriff” as the opening track perhaps hints at the
market for which this was pitched, and nothing here was ever likely to
disturb the tourists flocking to the Jamaican coastal resort that gave
the set its title. In short, listeners with tastes limited to
heavy dub were never likely to find anything to tickle their palettes
here, yet anyone looking for a mellow, superbly-played mid-1970s
instrumental reggae album could do far worst than seek this out.
An eye-catching sleeve portraying the fun to be had in Negril, and
redolent of an era when being ‘dread’ was the fashion, completes the
package.
Peter Dalton
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