Cornel (l) Campbell: Natty Dread In A Greenwich Farm - 1975


This was probably the first album from Cornel Campbell (spelt with one "l'", often mis-spelled with two) that people began to take notice of. Dating from 1975, it was a Bunny Lee production. 

The only copy I can access via streaming is most definitely a "needle drop" taken from the original vinyl as there are scratches and pops all over the place. Apart from that it still has a reasonable sound quality. This is why, for me, I will aways choose digital over vinyl. Damn the authenticity - give me a faultless sound!

Campbell began at this point to become influenced, as so many reggae singers did, by Rasta concerns, and turned towards a roots style as opposed to the rocksteady/lovers style he had been using thus far. This album, however, is certainly not a righteous Rasta groove. Far from it. Campbell has a light, melodious tenor voice - no Prince Far I gruff growl here - and the material is light too - Why Did You Leave Me To Cry, I Am Just A Country Boy and Somebody Has Stolen My Girl don't have a hint of fervent Jah praising in their gentle, loved-up tones. 

King's Heart is also very poppy and breezy, with touches of early seventies reggae or even sixties material like Kingston Town in its attractive melody. As opposed to looking to the righteous future, if anything, this stuff is seriously retrospective. The same applies to the gentle skank of I Wonder Why. Lost In A Dream is the sort of mid-seventies reggae you can imagine UB40 covering on their Labour Of Love series. It's got a great easy skanking groove to it. It has echoes of Honey Boy's It's Impossible. 

Things finally get a bit roots (only a bit, mind) on the brassy, slightly heavier Natural Facts. The album now ends with two copper-bottomed roosters in Dance In Greenwich Farm and Natty Dread In A Greenwich Farm. The latter was the track that has remained as the "go to" one for Campbell, the one that appears on roots compilations. The bass has become deeper on these two tracks and the lyrics are now talking about "dread, Jah Jah dread" as opposed to love concerns. That said, Natty Dread In A Greenwich Farm is still a mightily accessible, vibrant and melodious track, as indeed is the whole album. 


Two more from 1976

Far more rootsy are The Gorgon and The Stal-A-Watt, both of which came from the following year, 1976, which was a big one for roots. Although they are both rootsy offerings, with titles like A Poor Jah Jah Man, Give Me Strength O Jah, Press Along Natty Dread, Have Mercy O Jah, Two Face Rasta and O Jah Forgive Me, Campbell's natural tuneful, light voice helps to retain their airy, slightly poppy and appealing sound. Righteous Rasta material always seemed far better suited to a rough growling vocal, didn't it? Here, Campbell is singing of serious devotional issues as if he is serenading his girl.

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