Pacific Dub You Know You Are the Ish
The Techniques – Trivial Did You Know
Doc Bird
CD/DL
Released 13th March 2020
The beginning official reissue of key vocal group the Techniques' rare 1968 album, which nerveless some of their biggest hits during the ska and rocksteady eras. This edition comes with 21 bonus tracks which covers all of the band's Treasure Isle recordings for Duke Reid….LTW's Ian Canty hears an outfit with singing talent to burn….
The pivotal effigy in the Techniques' story was one Winston Delano Riley. He started the band and oversaw an almost complete line up modify over the years, but he however kept the various aggregations at the forefront of the Kingston music scene in the 1960s. Being a local boy he got his starting time early, forming a band with fellow Kingston High School pupils Franklyn White, Frederick Waite and Keith (soon to be Slim) Smith. When known every bit the Victors the youngsters learnt instruments to add to their obvious vocal talents, in event presenting 1 of the first "complete" Jamaican groups that could sing, play and write their ain fabric.
Their first recording as the Techniques was No One (Like Yous Do), cut for The Existent Jamaican Ska compilation album in 1964. They then made a marking with a couple of singles for Sonia Pottinger's Gay Feet label, Heartaches and What Love Can Do, but an introduction from Stranger Cole to Knuckles Reid really set up the Techniques on the road to success. Going through the later on period of ska and into rocksteady, the Techniques' were a hit machine that just did non stop.
The Treasure Island set upward was primed for success during the rocksteady era and even though the original members of the band bar Riley had flown the coop past 1967, the smashes kept on coming. Their pre-eminence equally the island'southward top vocal grouping even incurred the wrath of Bob Marley And The Wailers, which almost became physical when the leader of that band pulled of knife on Slim Smith after another show-stopping Techniques' live performance.
Slim Smith opted for a solo career in 1966 before eventually forming some other high quality vocal team the Uniques with Franklyn White and Roy Shirley. Riley brought in Bruce Ruffin and Junior Menz, with the latter being replaced by Pat Kelly amidst some more personnel shuffles. This version of the band ruled the roost during rocksteady with hits such as My Girl and Queen Majesty, a cool reworking of the Impressions' Minstrel And Queen.
By the time that the Techniques left Treasure Island in 1968 a few more talented folk had passed through their ranks, including Dave Barker who would proceed to have a UK number i hit in 1970 with Riley'southward production of Double Barrel. The ring themselves had split upward the previous year, with Winston Riley's fourth dimension at present taken upward by his studio piece of work. That was that for the Techniques, bar a brief reformation in the early on 80s. Riley himself though would take success through the years, always adapting smoothly to the changing trends on the Kingston music scene. He died in Jan 2011 after beingness shot – a tragic end for a key figure in Jamaican music across five decades.
One thing I do accept to accept issue with is the cut down of the original Piffling Did Y'all Know anthology to a paltry 7 tracks. What has happened is that the compliers have taken out four Baba Brooks instrumental offerings that rounded out the 1968 release of the LP and besides Please Say You lot Are Mine, a bit of a mystery vocal that. Which only leaves the remainder of the Techniques efforts. They have done so with the best interests at heart, equally the Baba Brooks efforts don't really have relevance to the Techniques. Dr. Bird's generally exemplary reissues have loped tracks off on the odd occasion, some times for valid copyright reasons, at others (like hither) because they aren't relevant. I can understand the reasoning, but I'1000 certain I don't just speak for myself in saying I just wish they left the original record intact hither and in nigh other cases too. After all it's not really a re-release of the album if only half the tracks remain.
Anyway bluster over, because the actual music included is superb. The album itself is broadly split into late entries into the ska canon and a couple of sound rocksteady tunes. The title track is one of their greats and leads off the set in fine way, with a driving rhythm and some polish as silk vocals, simply gorgeous. My Whole Life Depends On You has that classic jazz-inflected ska sound and if the audio quality is a wee bit more than muffled and the singing earthier, it yet has a very sweet groove indeed. Abroad from the LP Travelling Man is a peachy instance of what the Techniques excelled at, ho-hum-ish but still trip the light fantastic-friendly, with those clear as a bell harmonies.
The organ riff of Wat'cha Gonna Practise seems to pre-empt the skinhead/dominate reggae sound of a twelvemonth afterward and the have of r&b standard I Wish It Would Rain appears even further ahead, information technology would have fit in the mid-1970s with its fallacious summertime reggae experience. 1967's Bad Minded People chimes in with the "don't be a rude boy" sentiments of that time well, showing that the band weren't bullheaded to social issues and at the other end of the scale 'til My Dying Die is a real fresh nail, a devotional love song with a touch of gospel influence. Love Is Not A Gamble, a riff on the Imperials' doo wop classic Tears On My Pillow, is a fine example of the band at their all-time. The skanking rhythm was so infectious that it was reused many times in reggae circles over the years.
Coxsone Dodd credited the Techniques with being the most popular group in the land before the Wailers started to make headway and that's skilful enough for me. They were ideally suited to rocksteady where the vocal prowess of their lead singers Slim Smith, Pat Kelly and Bruce Ruffin could take centre phase. Treasure Isle, with its crack band of musicians on hand, provided the perfect bankroll for them to thrive and thrive they certainly did. Everything here is beautifully sung and nonetheless an open invitation to the dancefloor even in 2020. Despite a few misgivings well-nigh how the original is presented here, this collection all adds up to a brilliant selection of rocksteady from the Techniques, the masters at their craft.
All words by Ian Canty – come across his author contour here
Source: https://louderthanwar.com/the-techniques-little-did-you-know-album-review/
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