George Faith A Lover torrent

George Faith

To Be A Lover

Hipo Select CD 80001693 Limited edition of 3,000

Of all the albums Lee Perry produced for Island Records, the one that stands apart on several levels is To Be A Lover, the debut set from the George Faith. Instead of being filled with the conscious social material of Junior Murvin and Max Romeo or the thundering Rasta proclamations of Jah Lion, To Be A Lover was a set of mostly soul and pop covers, delivered by a smooth, romantic crooner. Of course, as the disc was cut with Perry at his Black Ark studio, these were no ordinary cover tunes: the entire album is swathed in excessive doses of delay and subjected to Perry’s powerhouse phasing technique.

The Island version of the disc began with an extended take on one of Perry’s long-standing favourites, Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour. Then, the new cut of To Be A Lover that surpassed the popularity of all previous Jamaican versions: this cut was a slower, heavier, and generally more creative rendition, powered by modulated horns and sliding bass grooves; Faith’s vocals were more emotive than his earlier cut, aided by unobtrusive backing harmonies. The slow and smoky Opportunity is followed by choral attack of So Fine, its vocals cutting through a thick haze of delay. The driving version of The O’Jays’ I’ve Got The Groove was also a very big hit; its intriguing instrumental arrangement is marked by subtle phased guitar and keyboards, plus echoing sax bursts from veteran Deadley Headley Bennett, who had recently returned to Jamaica from Canada, while Faith’s subdued vocal phrasing is enhanced by wordless male harmonies. Paul Anka’s Diana is given an absurd Upsetter re-working, with Faith’s disjointed voice floating above a virtual river of delay and reverb. A re-cut All The Love I’ve Got here has prominent piano and organ lines and an exceptionally emotional vocal delivery; Turn Back The Hands Of Time has become another Headley Bennett skank. For this re-issue, our bonus track is the fully extended mega-mix of To Be A Lover, assembled and transmogrified in a thoroughly excessive manner, as keeping with Lee Perry’s modus operandi of the period.

01. Midnight Hour/Ya Ya (7:12)
02. To Be a Lover (Have Mercy) (5:59)
03. Opportunity (4:26)
04. So Fine (4:43)
05. I\'ve Got the Groove (5:42)
06. Diana (4:44)
07. All the Love I\'ve Got (4:51)
08. Turn Back the Hands of Time (4:27)
09. To Be A Lover (Have Mercy) [Extended version] (9:31)

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