Big Earl Sellar wrote this review.
As soon as the snow melts around these parts, out come the ska discs in my house. Actually, most of the year there’s some ska lurking in the background, but Spring puts me in the mood for Caribbean music, the yearning for summer, and a bit of peppiness. A longtime fan of the Skatalites, (first stumbled across them in my mid-teens), this recent recording From Paris With Love is a nice addition to their discography, and a great intro to this legendary band.
The Skatalites were the original house band for Jamaican musicians in the early ’60s, backing literally every artist on the island. A jazz band that stumbled across a new beat and attack, their ensemble playing gave the world ska, and later reggae. Comprised of very talented players, the band often chose cheeky songs to cover, like “The Pink Panther Theme” or “Baby Elephant Walk,” and managed to to make even the most trite material sound vital.
This disc, recorded in a Paris studio during a 2001 tour, proves that more than 40 years on, these cats still have the magic. Although down to three original members (jazz-bridging saxman Lester Sterling, insanely inventive drummer Lloyd Knibb and the vastly underrated and under appreciated bass king Lloyd Brevett), the band still doesn’t stray from their roots. While old chestnuts abound on this disc, every take is simply righteous. “Freedom Sounds,” the definitive ska instrumental, sounds as fresh in this recording as the original did decades back. And sizzling takes on “Guns of Navarone” and “From Russia with Love” prove the band can still blow heavy chops over what could have been trite material.
The disc sounds like the band simply strolled into the studio and recorded their live set. The playing is great, if not spectacularly polished (like the somewhat ragged horns on “Glory to the Sound”), but this was never music meant to be polished to diamond perfection. The recording and production, however, are stellar: all instruments are balanced perfectly, and every nuance can be heard and felt. (And Brevett is predominant in the mix at last!) Singer Doreen Shaffer adds vocals to a few tracks, like on “When I Fall In Love,” but this is basically the classic Skatalites head-cutting instrumental sound. The booklet art echoes classic Jamaican album art from the early ’70s, although the translation of the liner notes is in rather clipped English.
Really, this is a fantastic disc, just the thing to make one long for spring and the promise of warm sunshine. From Paris With Love proves that great music never gets stale, and that even grandfathers can groove like mad. Utterly fantastic.
(Melodie/World Music, 2002)
