The Gaylads – Soul Beat

1967, Studio One

Studio One ska and rocksteady records are some of the deepest and strongest roots that reggae can trace back to. Any given dancehall record in the 80s is likely to have at least one riddim or lyric that comes right out of late 60’s Studio One, with C.S. Dodd as producer and one to three guys in suits singing sweet melodies and harmonies. “Soul Beat” by The Gaylads is one record from this category that didn’t have such a noticeable impact on the reggae and dancehall legacy, but it’s just as good as its contemporaries and I would recommend it as “worth a listen for anyone who has found a taste for rocksteady”. Or if you are a well-evolved creature with a pattern-recognising brain you will notice this is a good record just by the release date and studio.

For this time period the Gaylads are best known for their hit My Jamaican Girl, which isn’t on this set, but we do get pingers & bangers like She Want It, Simple Way Of Living and Go Away. More importantly we get a grand total of zero duds. Most of the tunes on this set only have one or two musical ideas behind them, and once they’re played twice, there’s an instrumental interlude and you get one more after that (as an extra treat). Musically the Gaylads run exactly the same concepts as the Heptones, but if you’re not familiar with them, it’s like this: Three dudes sing in sweet harmony, but one of them is more independent than the others, and likes to get a bit more showy and shouty and off-beat from time to time. Every now and then he’ll take over and relegate the other two to being backup singers. In this case I believe it’s B. B. Seaton but FORWARD a comment if I am wrong.

Let me stress again, there are zero duds on this record. Everything is at a perfectly steady rocksteady tempo, played mezzo-forte, with entirely sensible and unambitious sequences of major and minor and seventh chords. Among early reggae producers, C. S. Dodd was certainly the most conservative; this man plays by the rules and this particular album is just straight textbook. Punchy fat bass that doesn’t overstay its welcome, plucky muted guitar licks, et cetera et cetera. It’s an infallible formula, it is the wheel that doesn’t need reinventing.

As a BONUS FUNNY COMMENT about this record, check the wrong note in the bass at 1:26 in Simple Way Of Living! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

My picks: Picular Man, She Want It, Simple Way Of Living, Go Away
Bim count: 0