VARIOUS ARTISTS

Reactions  (0)

Review written by Sébastien Jobart on Thursday, December 02nd 2004 - 7 935 views "Aquarius Rock - The Hip Reggae World of Herman Chin Loy" is devoted to the work of the producer of the Aquarius and Scorpio studios, which specialised in instrumentals. With one essential man: Augustus Pablo. Aquarius and Scorpio: two Jamaican studios that enjoyed their hour of glory at the turn of the 1960s and 70s. At their head, one man, Herman Chin Loy, cousin of Leslie Kong. A shrewd producer and talent spotter, he was notably the one who launched the career of Augustus Pablo. The story goes that he used to perform himself under his own name until a young man with his melodica walked into his shop in Kingston. Horace Swaby became Augustus Pablo, and Herman Chin Loy his first producer. No surprise, then, that of the 24 tracks on offer, about ten are devoted to the two partners. Their collaboration was fruitful and popularised the melodica in professional recordings, at a time when it was disparaged and regarded as a children's instrument. It became their trademark: you therefore need to enjoy the sound of the melodica to dive into these tracks. Early Far East Sound The opening track, Aquarius Rock, perfectly illustrates the Chin Loy sound: a stripped-back riddim and three notes of skank, delicate yet hypnotic. The compositions are short (they rarely exceed three minutes) but dense. The Far East sound is here in its infancy. We find Iggy Iggy, the first track recorded by Augustus Pablo at Aquarius in 1969. Others too: The Red Sea, East of The River NileSoul Vibration and River Nile Version), Song of The East, and Snowball & Pudding, dominated, for once, by a piano. The other instrumentals, credited to Herman, Sounds Unlimited or the Aquarians, have little to envy them. All of them offer varied solos, like the horns of Aquarius Dub or Funky Aquarius. The studios' specialisation in instrumentals does not rule out vocal parts, far from it. Herman takes the mic on most of the versions in a deejay style, and there are several near-unreleased tracks by artists who passed through his hands. Such as Alton Ellis and the two versions of Alton's Official Daughter. Or the very young Dennis Brown and Beres Hammond, with The Song my mother used to sing and the penetrating No More War respectively. Let us also mention Dennis Alcapone on Return of Sabata. This hour-long wander through the world of Herman Chin Loy should delight fans and the curious alike.

No comment