The Gladiators – The Studio One Singles (Heartbeat, 2007)
To comment upon this group in an unbiased manner is ostensibly impossible for me. To extricate the sounds that I hear – the harmonies, the rhythms – from a time that, in my mind, is linked to them, simply can’t be done.
Whatever period of one’s life gets replayed incessantly in the mind, if you’re a music devotee at least, there’s a theme song that goes along with the images. I know others have made this same heartfelt and exuberant connection. But that just points to the fact that this music possesses the power to hold a literal and emotional meaning.
The reason that these meanings are possible most likely stems from the intense belief that this trio, whose only consistent member was Albert Griffiths, had the ability to enrich a mass of people who felt marginalized. Touching upon secular and spiritual life, Griffiths worked to give voice to points of culture that he felt were either misunderstood, ignored or exploited.
Since this disc is made up of singles, as the title clearly states, a quarter of the tracks represented here are versions, or dubs. Being arranged in such a fashion as to have each dub accompany the vocal track serves to exemplify a showcase style that Wackies exhibited, in contrast to a relatively recent reissue of the Mighty Diamonds’ Deeper Roots, which separates the versions.
Every vocal and every dub – save for “Don’t Fool the Young Girls” and its version – is rootsy and free from blemishes. The one exception wouldn’t be as blatant a departure from quality if it sat along side other artists or lesser tracks. Basically a weak Gladiator’s workout still surpasses a great deal of other Jamaican music.
If the listener is familiar with either the group’s first studio effort, Trenchtown Mix-Up or their Live at Sunsplash - split with Israel Vibration – these offerings occasionally sound a bit slower than the later recordings. It’s not a re-tread; it’s just a re-arranging of classics that might not have been heard in any other way.
Tracklisting:
01 – Fling It Gimme
02 – Sonia
03 – Solas
04 – Dub Ina Babylon
05 – Version Ina Babylon
06 – A Prayer To Thee
07 – Version Of Prayer
08 – Boy In Long Pants
09 – Part Two
10 – Bongo Red
11 – Bongo Version
12 – Beautiful Locks
13 – Sufferation Version
14 – Roots Natty
15 – Rearrange
16 – Mister Baldwin
17 – M. Baldwin Part. 2
18 – Big Boo Boo Day
19 – Version
20 – Pretending
21 – Don’t Fool The Young Girls
22 – Version
23 – Happy Man
