JUNIOR MURVIN - INNA DE YARD

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JUNIOR MURVIN - INNA DE YARD

TRACKLIST


Police & Thieves (Intro by Danny Dread)
Gipsy Woman (feat. Next yard's dog)
Badman Posse (Intro by Chinna)
Rescue The Children
Closer
Roots Train
Salomon
World Inflation
Ain't No Sunshine


Title Inna De Yard
Artist Junior Murvin
Label Inna De Yard-Makasound
Format CD
Date May 25, 2007


Inna De Yard, Makasound's sister label, returns here with a sedate and atmospheric meditation of a record from Junior Murvin.


To some roots fans, the Inna De Yard series has always been of noble intention -- but has occasionally proved a little hit and miss sound/engineering wise -- suffice it to say however, the soon come Murvin release hits the target spot on, with an excellent fusion of roots meditativeness, soul and jazz.


Engineering wise, it is significantly more polished, edited and mastered than previous releases in the series too -- which makes it a markedly smoother, more pleasurable listen.


If you thought you never again needed to hear yet another cut to "Police And Thieves" -- think again, as Junior drops into the deeply contemplative trance of the rhythm, his near perfect vocals leading the flow, immaculately, still inspired after all these years. A sinewy bass creates an undertow, pinning down the ethereal vocals to time and place. An eerie melodica fades in and out of the dreamlike mix.


Next up, "Gypsy Woman" sounds like Bill Withers meets Nina Simone and Ernest Ranglin.


"Bad Man Posse" has a Rockers Meet King Tubby's style bass drop, and a timely lyric about the utter pointlessness of following any kind of bad man posse -- "So many men lost their lives innocently, because of following the wrong posse. Don't go there son. Please throw away your gun. Which (kind of man) do you want to be? Take your choice."


"Roots Train" has a classical acoustic jazz groove from Chinna, what sounds like an acoustic double bass line, melodica melody and harsh Studio One sounding percussion, rooting it firmly in the mid/late 70's meditative period.


"Salomon" is another groove from the "Police and Thieves" set, though the rhythms and patterns are slightly reworked here, changing the vibes into more of a folk tune. Chinna leads the track with some almost Mozart or even Bach influenced baroque classical picking -- sophisticated, focused, calm, masterful and cerebral -- Chinna at his finest, year 2007 style.


Murvin's voice hasn't faded or degenerated at all over the years -- check it out, and grab yet another version of these great tunes originally out of the Black Ark.