Johnny Nash - The Prince of Peace

Johnny Nash is probably best for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now" a song I once thought my uncle Lloyd had written because he sang it when I was a kid. When I finally heard Johnny Nash's version on the radio I was pretty excited. "My Uncle wrote that!" Sigh, the innocence of youth. But before his big breakthrough he recorded on his own label JAD records, which was named after himself, producer Arthur Jenkins and his manager Danny Sims. They would record in Kingston, Jamaica, which was a pretty tropical place to record a holiday record - it kind of explains why songs like "Baby It's Cold Outside," "Winter Wonderland" and "White Christmas" are absent. - but record a Christmas record he did, and in 1969 The Prince of Peace was released.

I'd never heard any of these songs before, which gave me a moment's pause, but the album looks really cool with the 3D image of Johnny on the cover. As an added bonus it was still in it's original shrinkwrap - and while there was no insert, the vinyl itself looked okay. For a dollar how could I go wrong?

While this is an enjoyable record, there isn't really

anything memorable that stood out the first time through. Which is too bad, as he has a very nice voice, the arrangements are quite good. There are elements of R&B and gospel, and light orchestrated pop but nothing for me to really get excited about. I will say he took a chance with his arrangement of the classic "The Christmas Song" and sang it differently than most versions I've heard, but it wasn't necessarily an improvement on the original. Still he made a go at making it his own.

That being said, I will give him props for his song selection. For that alone I'm okay putting this on as background music - it's nice to have unfamiliar carols like "The Borning Day," "The Prince of Peace" and "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" playing once in a while. I've played the album a few times through now, and it's these songs that have emerged as the centre pieces of the album.

I have to remind myself this was released in 1969 and that I'm sitting in my cozy chair by the tree listening to this in the present and judging it by my standard - which are pretty loose at times. I should know better than to sit and write in real time as unlike movies where you are mostly one and done - music is more nuanced. My first time through it was nice but didn't really resonate. So I played it again while I went back and did some editing - yes, I do edit, not very well - and as it's Christmas what better way to close out with a really badly paraphrased Bible verse that sums up Prince of Peace. "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but I can see clearly now."

I'll see myself out.

Comments

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

It was going to happen sooner or later. Nostalgia is a cruel Mistress...she can dull the sharpest edges and over time can even soften the hardest of opinions. I found this in the dollar bin, and frankly at a dollar I was worried about what this would cost me. Not only from a monetary perspective, but my time, and more important my credibility. Fourteen year old me was screaming "Don't you dare. DON'T DO IT! Put it down. Walk away!" Then there was grey bearded me holding it and looking at it, thinking, "How bad could it be? I actually kind of like "Staying Alive" and me buying this record won't bring disco back, and no one will have to know I bought this." I pulled the album out of the bin, and carefully took out the records. They'd seen better days, and there were a couple of decent scratches that would no doubt make their presence known later. The jacket was in decent condition, and both of the albums had the original sleeves. I dusted the

Old Enough to Forget

Search This Blog