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PRICE:
$15.00
$12.75
$12.75
IN STOCK
ARTIST
PALMA, TRISTON
TITLE
Joker Smoker
FORMAT
LP
LABEL
ABRAHAM
CATALOG #
AA 679LP
AA 679LP
GENRE
WORLD
RELEASE DATE
1/27/2023
2022 repress. A reissue of
Triston Palma
's
Joker Smoker
, originally released in 1981.
Angus Taylor
of the BBC on
Joker Smoker
in 2008: "Triston Palma's (or
Palmer
as he was also known)
Joker Smoker
was notable not just for his praise of herb smoking (nothing new in reggae) but for its sardonic appraisal of the moochers and chancers that those who live such a lifestyle are fated to encounter. Its continuing resonance was proven in 2006 when the Italian singjay and producer,
Alborosie
, released his own anthem, 'Herbalist', on the 'Joker Smoker' rhythm. . . .
Joker Smoker
was released in 1981, when reggae had become fascinated with its own fundamentals: sparse reworkings of familiar rhythms, with pounding kick drums, simple plodding basslines, and effects laden, highly evocative guitar and keyboard lines. These tended to be played by the
Roots Radics
band who created all the backings for this disc, produced by the deejay
Jah Thomas
at the famous Channel One Studio. The received mainstream critical wisdom on this era is that it was a musical blind alley that necessitated the iconoclasm of hard dancehall later in the decade. But the captivating ambience and musical intricacies of a record like
Joker Smoker
show this up for the reductive nonsense that it is.
Bingy Bunny
's chopping rhythm guitar work,
Sowell Bailey
and
Dwight Pinckney
's plaintive, chorus laden, lead guitar phrasing, and the primordial, relentless drum and bass foundations laid down by
Errol Holt
and
Style Scott
are typical of a time when modern production techniques, live instrumentation, dancehall rhythms and rootical lyrics came together as one. But it is the small touches that really impress. These include
Dean Fraser
,
Nambo Robinson
and
Deadly Headley Bennett
's mocking horns (parodying Palma's dried honey vocals) on the title track,
Gladstone Anderson
's precisely considered, minimal piano, and percussionist
Sky Juice
's use of a cuica friction drum on 'Give Me Give Me Your Love'. 'Joker Smoker' may be the album's centre, but every one's a winner here. A perfect example of what was, in reality, a high point in reggae's golden age."
Other releases on ABRAHAM
Other releases by PALMA, TRISTON