General Trees – Negril

1986, Black Scorpio

General Trees (or Jack Scorpio) had a sore habit of putting the same hit songs on two or even three LPs, which really detracts from their individual character, but at least guarantees that you get at least one hit song per record. Now it may not really be the case, but this record more than the rest in Trees’ catalog gives you that feeling that you’re listening to an artist at his peak. It’s hard to feel otherwise with Gone A Negril as the opener, perhaps Trees’ best-remembered hit, and for good reason – the arrangement is so confidently different in a market hyper-focused on the train of style and fashion that it remains one of the most identifiable and iconic tunes of the whole decade. No exaggeration! It is an island tune through and through, lyrically all about travel and rhythmically reminiscent of calypso with its fast and incessant tresillo.

Thematically this motif is defining of the “Negril” record – ‘island’ sound, coupled with thickly Jamaican lyrics in thick Jamaican patwah, and a healthy amount of disregard for the trendy styles of the time. Indeed it is the most ambitious Scorpio production I can think of off the top of my head, and it’s hard to not call the result as ICONIC. Even the weaker tunes on the record such as This Is Threes and Threes In De Place are memorable earworms, by no means bad tunes, and willing to continue into left field, with the latter being not so much ‘reminiscent of calypso’ as it is well and truly a calypso song.

Threes’ vocal prowess and musical idiosyncracies shine through in this record no less than his others. Careful ears on Serious Ting will catch these qualities – take a moment to imagine another deejay from the time on the same riddim, say Super Cat or Peter Metro or Josey Wales, and the picture becomes clearer. On a similar note, take a moment to think what they might bring to the table lyrically and again compare to what you get on “Negril” – you will not hear a boops tune, a ‘keeping a dance’ tune, a connection tune or so on. There is a small amount of lyrics piracy to the end in Great Jamaican Jockeys but it is done tastefully enough to perhaps qualify as a tribute instead.

My personal favourite section of the record comes through with Vege Bun and Scatter Me Scatter, the two of which have a very distinct lo-fi sound to them, evidently not built with the same hardware as the rest of the album. I have not heard these riddims anywhere else (Scatter Me Scatter is arguably Sleng Teng, but a unique cut) and assume them to be purpose-built for this album, and they are seriously cool, among the best that Trees rode in his full career. Scatter Me Scatter, as a bad boy versus police tune, also delivers one of Trees’ top performances of all time. A serious ting if I ever heard one.

This being “Negril” by General Trees, there is yet more to write about. Fresh is a tribute to other hit entertainers, recounting a session in Buckingham Palace featuring Mister Chin by Yellowman, Kingston Hot by Josey Wales, Wheely Wheely by Early B, Pain by Brigadier Jerry, and a tune by Charlie Chaplin I can’t identify. Sorry! FORWARD a comment if you know it. Anyway General Trees does the lyrics from all these tunes together and it’s great. And then you have Great Jamaican Jockeys, the ultimate horse tune from the best horseman in the horseman posse, and as Yellowman fans may have guessed from the title, done in tribute to Mad Over Me.

In closing this fully baked waffle of a blogpost, I justify my VERY GOOD appraisal of “Negril”. This is without a doubt the most iconic General Trees record, and features the two biggest hit tunes among some very hard hitters. but frustratingly, this is not the first Trees record I would recommend to anyone. Depending on my impression of their taste it would be “Heart, Mind & Soul” or “Ragga Ragga Raggamuffin”, despite the excellent performance from Trees from start to finish on “Negril” (with perhaps a dip in Threes In De Place), and a great assortment of creative and memorable riddims. Still it is not to be missed by any Trees fan.

Bim count: 0
My picks: Negril, Serious Ting, Vege Bun, Scatter Me Scatter