Think I'm a fool?

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Hemsley Morris / Ernest Ranglin – You Think I'm A Fool / Heart Beat
Clancy's Records / TRS Records – TRS-CE-1
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Europe, 2023
(Original releases: 1968)
info

The mention of Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin playing on the Monty Alexander album I just posted reminded me that I had this single in a pile of 45s waiting to be heard. Ranglin is most famous as a jazz artist, recording since the mid 1950s in JA and internationally, but his guitar work graces plenty of nice ska, rocksteady and reggae recordings from the 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. Here he's credited with the B side instrumental, Heart Beat. 

The regularly high quality French label Top Ranking Sound (or TRS Records) smartly paired Ranglin's track with the vocal cut by Hemsley Morris on the same rhythm. Both tracks were originally released in 1968, Morris's rocksteady vocal on Clancy's Records in Jamaica and Ranglin's instrumental take on a Pama single in the UK. A Clancy Eccles production, the backing rhythm here is a take on Hot Milk, a Jackie Mittoo stone classic released by Studio One that same year. I know nothing about Morris other than a handful of rocksteady and ska sides that he cut around that same time, but I think his vocals on this plea to a drifting lover are especially nice. Such a distinctive voice, not sure why he didn't make a larger splash. The instrumental is excellent with harder, borderline rock licks from Ranglin. (This is Ernie cutting up for the dancehall, not the international jazz audience mode you might know from modern albums!) I'd never heard this Eccles cut of Hot Milk before this single and it's a good example of just how different a version on the same rhythm can feel, in this case reworking it in the same year as the original.

I hope you enjoy... especially since there will probably be more Ernest Ranglin on the way. Jonderblog also just featured Ranglin (and Monty Alexander), so maybe I should take great minds thinking alike as a sign?

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Tracklist
A Hemsley Morris    -    You Think I'm A Fool
B Ernest Ranglin    -    Heart Beat

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You love me baby in FLAC (24 bit/96 kHz, download zip): https://mega.nz/file/BS5QSQBZ#aMRUYEqyKjCGdej_siabSS75x5FEfNgv-EaUDI7s4zE

With six other guys in MP3 (320 kbps, download or stream): https://mega.nz/folder/Bb53RDqI#LJh1yqX9GGg5ClbY4Xz8mg

Comments

  1. jonderDecember 22, 2023 at 5:22 PM

    The great minds thinking alike are you and Koen! I read somewhere that Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin started playing together when both were teenagers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. art58koenDecember 25, 2023 at 6:32 AM

    Listening to it now, classic, thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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