INNA DE YARD ALL STARS

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INNA DE YARD ALL STARS

TRACKLIST


01. The Viceroys – Heart Made of stone
02. Jr Murvin – Rescue the children
03. Jah Youth – Well Ah Oh
04. Chinna – We got love
05. The Mighty Diamonds – Country living
06. The Viceroys – Ya Ho
07. Kiddus – No salvation until
08. Ras Michael Jr – White Line
09. Prince Allah – Great Stone
10. Jr Murvin – Gipsy Woman
11. Linval Thompson – Guiding Star
12. Congo – Congo Ashanty
13. Kiddus I – A prayer
14. Chinna – Homegrown


Various - Inna De Yard All Stars
Artist
Various


Title
Inna De Yard All Stars
Label
Makasound
Format
CD
Release date
Nov 2007

Reggae's potential in an acoustic setting has not yet been adequately explored on record. Tanya Stephens released some live versions MTV unplugged style, Richie Spice cut the wonderful Outta The Blue on a rhythm with a passing resemblance to the theme from the TV show Firefly, and of course, who could forget Buju Banton's Untold Stories? But the benchmark of reggae sans wires has to be the Bim Sherman, Adrien Sherwood and Talvin Singh Collaboration Miracle, now sadly unavailable on vinyl or cd.


The Inna De Yard Series was conceived by the guitarist Earl Chinna Smith to take reggae back to the yards of Jamaica ("Yard") that it originally came from. Featuring just an acoustic guitar and voice, and in some cases other rudimentary backing, these off-the-cuff performances resulted in albums from Kiddus I, Cedric Myton, Linval Thompson and others, released on a Makasound subsidiary, also called Inna De Yard. Although a little rough and ready sounding in comparison to the beautifully crafted Miracle, they are a fascinating journey into the roots of roots, and this Best Of, including a couple of unreleased gems, is as essential as Sherman's genre-bending 1997 release.


On hearing track one, The Viceroys harmonising dolefully on Heart Made Of Stone, it becomes obvious that reggae don't need no bass, putting paid to the essentialist dogma (tacitly accepted by many) that low frequencies occupy a similarly privileged position to that of the electric guitar in rock. On the contrary, with complete equality between the instruments, slotting together a jigsaw of sounds, rather than a series of plodding minor variations on the same theme, reggae can truly be said to be the sum of its parts.


The songs have been chosen perfectly (which is to say, had Reggae News been given the job of selecting the tracklisting, these are the ones we would have picked!) and the resulting compilation is one of the strongest from the Makasound stable. Junior Murvin wakes us up a little with a simple drums, bass and guitar arrangement on Rescue The Children, Jah Youth tells of his concerns about reduced sperm count (!) before delivering a mournful chant on Well Ah Oh, and Chinna offers a lilting version of his and Freddie McGregor's soulful We Got Love - complete with guitar solo and scat singing - that feels like we are sharing something very private and special indeed.


Ya Ho by The Viceroys is another full band affair recorded Yard style, while the smoky voice of Kiddus I (unchanged after all these years) gives a dark forecast over Smith's fretwork on No Salvation Until; a foreboding performance of almost unbearable tension. Ras Michael Jr's White Line is a moody strummer that could almost be the work of Richie Havens, and Cedric Myton's frenzied, ritualistic acoustic take on Congo Ashanty will have the Mojo crowd quivering with delight.


Then there are the previously unreleased tracks: The Mighty Diamonds' harmonies on Country Living are a dealmaker for anyone thinking of seeing them live, while Prince Alla's bass-drum, flute and guitar march through Great Stone is an apocalyptic beast that slouches of its own accord.


The coarseness of some of the recordings and the one-take approach has led some reviewers to lament the lack of budget and finish given to the project, but this is missing the point by a country mile. Once you stop treating this as an "unplugged" style album and see it as a post party back garden jam just for you, the versatility and history of the music and the power of this collection become clear.




Reviewed by Angus Taylor