Slim Smith - Platinum
Reviewed by Sadie O., 3/26/09
Hite of a little-known (in the US) Rock Steady vocalist notable for his soulful but rough-edged falsetto. Production is delightfully raw, with lots of missed notes and odd moments. It’s like you get one take, no warm up, and you have to live with what winds up on vinyl. Hooray! This is the sort of thing that turned me on to Reggae, while the rest of the world was going Disco… Gnarly bio moment: he died in 1973; trying to get into his parents’ house through the window, he broke the window and bled to death.
No FCCs. All tracks are good, but I like 4 best.
1. 2:41 **slow, groovy Rock Steady, very basic production, prominent harmonica. Interesting vocal moments.
2. 2:37 ***downtempo, great Rock Steady instrumentation, lyrics from the bit of the Bible one would expect. High vocal harmonies.
3. 4:21 **warning – doesn’t really get started until 12 seconds along. Once it does, it’s swingy midtempo Rock Steady, different version of the same song Gregory Isaacs had a huge hit with. Interesting falsetto and baritone vocals. Geeze, it sounds like someone actually did sit there and play that little piano line over and over and over…
4. 3:59 ****cool slow riddim, instruments on the low end and vocal harmonies on the high end. Wonderfully rootsy.
5. 2:48 **uptempo, light and bouncy riddim, solo vocals in front of mix. Vocals are sloppy and odd – and I love that they went ahead and recorded this mix.
6. 3:08 **slow Rock Steady with squeaky sax, simple dance number. Clarinet solo totally stolen from Blue Moon…
7. 3:32 **midtempo Rock Steady, pretty (if strained) solo vocals. Cover of an old minor rock ‘n’ roll hit.
8. 2:11 ***slow riddim, another cover, but really well done, fine backing vocals.
9. 2:32 ***uptempo and infectious riddim, totally twist-worthy.
10. 2:41 **midtempo cover of the Temptations hit, with extra vocal gymnastics.
11. 2:37 ***downtempo and rather odd cover of For What It’s Worth – complete misconstrued chorus. Quirky!
12. 2:41 **sweet slightly uptempo Rock Steady, really nice vocals.
13. 2:49 **slightly downtempo, fine vocals.
14. 2:53 **downtempo riddim, very rootsy, lots of vocal harmonies.
15. 2:06 ***a bit uptempo with big horns, much fatter production than most tracks.
16. 2:39 **downtempo version of a Rock Steady classic, nice lead and backing vocals.