Lloyd Charmers – Reggae Is Tight & Reggae Charm
Doctor Bird Records
2CD/DL
Released 12 January 2024
Reissue of a pair of instrumental albums cut by singer/producer/musician Lloyd Charmers and issued by Trojan on their TTL imprint during the original Reggae boom, plus a host of bonus tracks. Ian Canty writes…
Lloyd Tyrell, better-known as Lloyd Charmers, had established himself as a force in the Jamaican music first as a performer, with his work as part of the popular vocal group The Uniques bringing him to prominence. But by the end of the 1960s, he was issuing solo material and also became known for his abilities in the fields of arrangement and production.
Although he was initially known as a vocalist, the first three long players he cut early in his solo career called more upon his keyboard talents. This set focuses on Reggae Is Tight and Reggae Charm, with material from the House In Session collection, where Lloyd was backed by The Hippy Boys, figuring among the bonus tracks.
5 to 5 sets Reggae Is Tight in motion with a chanted, insistent vocal line rendered atop a solid Skinhead Reggae organ rhythm and Follow This Sound, an instrumental take of The Uniques’ Watch The Sound that gives Charmers a chance to indulge in some flowing piano, comes next. Golden Moon takes oldie Blue Moon and moulds it into a Reggae-fied organ instro and Psychedelic Reggae makes ample use of echo effects. Crimson And Clover is an odd choice, being Tommy James & The Shondells’ cover, but it is interestingly realised, with Rat Trap coming hot on its heels with some rampant organ swirls.
The Whitfield/Holland Soul tune Everybody Needs Love has Lloyd’s keys right upfront. Likewise the title track Reggae Is Tight is Booker T’s Time Is Tight is given a Blue Beat backing with appealing results. The LP ends with Stronger, which comes welded to a solid beat that is just made for the dancefloor. The whole of Reggae Is Tight is excellent, filled with just the kind of thing that sound-tracked a thousand 1969 Skinhead love stories.
A flute leads Freedom Sounds, the first of 16 bonus items on this disc. After Dark has a loveable strut about it and (Get) In The Spirit is a real ace, a lovely knotty rhythm bolstered by a sharp toasting vocal. Paul Simon’s Sound Of Silence gets covered in a breezy, slightly queasy, manner, with the satisfying, slower tempo of Ducky Lucky coming next.
Soul Of England feels like it is pitched firmly towards the UK’s new young Skinhead fans, with a cod-Cockney vocal being added to the R&B Reggae of the tune. There’s a lovely organ glide to Cooyah and Shang I, one from House In Session, features some neat Boogie Woogie piano work from Charmers and intermittent DJ interjections. Cat Nip, otherwise known as Yes Sah, is a sunny number from the same source and the melody of Extension 303 skips along marvellously.
Harris Seaton’s There’s A Fire becomes Fire, Fire, where the singing becomes a ghostly whisper and after Burt Bacharach’s Walk On By gets an unlikely and frankly ill-fitting rejig, a fast moving Memphis Underground ends a disc replete with the correct materials to keep the dance going on all night long.
The Reggae Charm LP, where Charmers teamed up with Bryon Lee & The Dragonaires, emerged in 1970 and sets forth in a very relaxed mode. Lloyd’s piano is the dominant feature, something that is made plain by the stately sound of Dr No Go, a recut of a tune originally recorded with Sonia Pottinger. A twinkling Try To Remember and a version of Gospel number Oh Happy Day continue the sedate proceedings, but then an off-key stab at Honey I Miss You isn’t really a good candidate for a Reggae instrumental do-over.
Lloyd is on firmer ground with Desmond Dekker’s Israelites, with If I Only Had Time coming equipped with a sturdy dance rhythm. Mama Look, cut to a Monkey Man backing track, scores well and Pat Kelly’s How Long is expertly reworked too. Reggae Charm comes to a climax with Tribute To the Dragon aka Soul At Large, another number that saw the light of day on House In Session.
Overlooking the occasional foray into Les Dawson territory, Reggae Charm is an endearing and different platter. Like disc one, there are raft of bonus efforts appended to the LP. Who Done It aka I Did It, with warm organ and a vocal toast, opens up this section with a driving sound and Reggae-A Bye Bye then highlights the guitar. This acts as a good contrast to what has gone before on this disc, with Dollars And Cents unusually taking the subject of 007 James Bond in the voiceover and then splicing it to various unrelated film theme tunes.
It is an agreeably daft fun item though and along with the baby talk of Ensure aka Baby Huey at least shows Charmers was always ready to experiment. Sounds Familiar appears that it could have come from Reggae Charm at first, but later highlights chimes instead of piano. The Charmers are credited with Colour Him Father Version II and Cloud Burst is a very cool and brassy DJ cut.
Vengance cops Lee Perry style, replicating his method of daffy voices grafted onto a breezy rhythm and Ready Talk has a spoken word intro that again employs a British accent. The school room piano of Reggae Charm returns on Cool And Easy, with the disc ending with the smart skank of Ishan Cup aka Hi-Shan.
Reggae Is Tight gets the balance right for me between tasteful piano work and steady rhythms and as a result I preferred it to Reggae Charm, where the piano is pushed right forward and once or twice this stifles the action rather than enhances it. Having said that, there are a few gems among the bonus material and there’s no doubt that this a worthwhile and enjoyable release. Lloyd Charmers was a truly creative force in Reggae, one that liked to tinker with a pretty tight format and we can enjoy the results here.
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