I like my Jamaican soul tracks smothered in spooky. The background singers have to moan like they're holding a candlelight seance. Lead vocalists should sound distracted, seized in the grip of mad flu. And I need a rhythm section that drags in unholy ways - like an evil code slurred backwards in a hidden message.
Here are a few cuts to that effect.
The Heptones - "Our Day Will Come"
I used to listen to this one in the mornings of my band's broke-ass tour, as we were pulling out of town, all tattered inside. This was included on the Trojan Records Lovers box set, but it's the un-romantic. The production and vocal sound completely beaten down. Our day will come, but in the next life.
The Heptones - "Our Day Will Come"
Cornel Campbell - "Devil in Bed"
Some guy singing about his lover, but recorded in a falsetto whisper like he's doing the take standing over her sleeping body - trying not to wake her cause he fears her and her menacing sex appeal. She's got the face of an angel, and the heart of a Jezebel.
Cornel Campbell - "Devil in Bed"
The Abyssinians - "Declaration of Rights"
More world weariness. Abyssinian is another name for Ethiopian, one who lives in the Rasta promised land. But these guys sound like they're residents of the Abyss. Get up and fight for your right, sung in defiance, but feebily, at half-power. This is the dredges of soul.
The Abyssinians - "Declaration of Rights"
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