Records Go Round is an occasional column about albums I couldn’t do without.
Reggae tunes are often built around sex scenarios and political broadsides, but in the late 1970s, as the British punks were using ska and skank to drive some of their songs, a recording studio hermit infused Jamaican music with another essential element: mood. The lyric-less ditties of Augustus Pablo’s East of the River Nile (Shanachie) are both sweet and ominous. Thats an odd mix, and the fully engrossing music is made even more singular by its lead voice: the melodica. A handheld piano keyboard that creates sound when blown into, its long been deemed a childs toy rather than a professional instrument. But with Bob Marley’s bassist and drummer providing slinky propulsion, Pablo’s stark little tracks have a great seriousness to them. Swathed in a light blanket of echo, they provided a novel tangent for the then burgeoning sound of dub reggae. The 25th Anniversary version of the disc (with extra tracks) reminds how catchy and crazed Pablo’s ideas were, and with ears used to electronica-skewed soundscapes (The Orb’s Alex Paterson gives props on the CD booklet), its easy to hear River Nile as a primary source for chill-out room soundtracks. Gentle, steady, soothing, eerie – its indelible personality is still seductive after three decades. Essential summer music.