ORIGINAL ROCKERS

 

Jamaica's most creative musical talent over the past decade has been a quiet, mysterious young man by the name of Horace Swaby - better known to thousands of music lovers as Augustus Pablo. In his role as musician and producer he has helped to shape reggae so much that his music can easily be described as the 'sound of the seventies'. Pablo was born in Kingston, Jamaica twenty six years ago, and taught himself to play the piano while attending Kingston College School. He would experiment with local church organ whenever he could, and but for a girl lending him a melodica one day our story may well have ended there. In fact, Pablo was fascinated by the instrument, and was rarely seen without it from that day. It was during 1971 sessions with Herman Chin-loy that he picked up his famous nick-name, and since then Pablo has worked his way up through the ranks to the top. As a session musician he was in continual demand, and his style is recognizable on many classic rhythms, having worked fore more or less every top producer in Jamaica. it was as a solo artist, though, that Pablo really made his presence felt and it was when he went into the studio for himself in 1972 that we saw the true potential of the man. Throughout all of his releases on his own  'Hot Stuff' and 'Rockers' labels (so named because the records were promoted on his brother's 'Rockers' sound system) Pablo was constantly setting new standards, searching for new ideas. His productions, distinctive as they already were by his 'Far Eastern' style of playing, became as individual by their arrangements as, say, Coxsone's or Upsetter's were  by theirs. The way in which the rhythms were mixed was also important to pablo, and Tubby's studio has always made its own highly innovative mark on Pablo's music. Something else that Pablo had in his favour was an uncanny knack for picking on unlikely or unknown vocalists to sing or toast over his rhythms, not only providing the public with good music but also the chance to hear what these people could do given the opportunity. Perhaps the most successful example of this is Jacob Miller, who under the influence of Pablo gave us  'Keep On Knocking', 'Each One Teach One' and 'Who Say Jah No Dread'. Dillinger is another artist whom Pablo captured at his best ('Brace A Boy'), and Hugh Mundell and Te-Track, the most exciting discoveries to date, are now held in the highest esteem by reggae consumers, especially as they appear exclusively on Pablo productions. Other singers such as the Heptones, Locksley Castell, Ricky Grant, Delroy Williams and Paul Whiteman have also met with some fame on Pablo's unique rhythms. This album, then, represents some of the best of Augustus Pablo's work, ranging from his earliest efforts ('Rocker's Dub' and 'Cassava Piece') to more advanced music ('Jah Dread' and 'Park Lane Special'). These classic rhythms still sounds as fresh today as they did when they were first issued ('72 to '75). So here we have it - an essential album of Jamaican music at its very best. Produced and of course played by a musician who has a special style that many have tried to copy, mostly without success. A musicians who has almost single-handedly brought an instrument of the humblest origins (to many people the melodica is only a kid's toy!) up to the heights of Drummond's trombone or McCook's sax. He is a most individual musician, full of innovation, class and creativity. He is Augustus Pablo - the Original Rocker. CHRIS LANE.