American R&B and soul have lengthy been intertwined with Jamaican music’s evolution – from the earliest imported sound system tunes by the developments of ska, rocksteady, and early reggae. However by the mid-’70s the once-ubiquitous Impressions-inspired harmonies of vocal trios just like the Cables, the Gaylads, the Paragons, and others had been an anachronism, usurped by the militancy of the roots motion. Enter the Mighty Diamonds, who concurrently managed to maintain aflame the torch of attractive group vocals whereas delivering a few of the most revolutionary materials of the interval.
Shaped in Kingston in 1969, the trio of Donald “Tabby” Shaw, Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson, and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson freelanced with varied producers, together with Pat Francis and Lee “Scratch” Perry, by the early 70s. Their sound wouldn’t really coalesce, nevertheless, till they started working with producer Joseph Hoo Kim and his brother engineer Ernest Hoo Kim on the siblings’ Channel One recording studio and label. The Hoo Kims had been likewise nonetheless establishing themselves once they recruited the musicians that might change into their in-house band, the Revolutionaries. Appropriately named, the ensemble’s newly paired drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare would advance an progressive (and subsequently extensively mimicked) rhythmic template at Channel One. In the meantime, Tabby, Bunny, and Decide penned songs that merged the affect of well-liked Stateside soul teams just like the Stylistics and Chi-Lites with the lyrical immediacy the period demanded. United within the studio, the powerhouse mixture yielded a collection of important Mighty Diamonds cuts.
Hearken to The Mighty Diamonds’ Proper Time now.
A extensively celebrated traditional debut, 1976’s Proper Time collects a number of of those elegant singles and surrounds them with further songs each bit their equal. Abetted by Simpson and Ferguson’s immaculate harmonies, Tabby Shaw’s lead voice right here is as achingly expressive an instrument as reggae has produced – commemorating Rastafarian beacon Marcus Garvey’s prophecy on the title monitor, exalting repatriation on “Africa,” espousing self-empowerment in falsetto on “Go Seek Your Rights,” or most gloriously on “I Need a Roof,” merely speaking a love for a individuals. But as sweetly sung by Shaw and firm, the defiance of “Gnashing of Teeth” (a forewarning of “when the earth has been cleansed and the righteous will be standing on the land”) or the vitriol of “Them Never Love Poor Marcus” (a condemnation of Garvey’s betrayer) are much more putting. Even a reboot of an earlier lovestruck single, “Shame and Pride,” is accented with righteous fervor.
Proper Time would trip the wave of the Nineteen Seventies reggae explosion, picked up by Virgin Data as a part of its marketing campaign to woo the worldwide viewers. The Diamonds would get pleasure from a exceptional longevity, persevering with to efficiently report and carry out for many years. However in a tragic postscript, Tabby Shaw was killed in a drive-by capturing within the Waterhouse part of Kingston in March 2022. Days later Bunny Simpson would additionally go, succumbing to issues from diabetes. Heard on this context, Proper Time’s plea for brotherhood within the face of division and violence “Why Me Black Brother? Why?” is much more heartbreaking, its ache extra prescient than anybody may have imagined.
Hearken to The Mighty Diamonds’ Proper Time now.
