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Good evening to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, as promised! It’s a wet, frosty and in most places, icy, February where I’m situated in the UK, with my local area of Stoke-On-Trent being hit by snow storms especially. As they say, Jack Frost’s been nipping at my toes. So, rather than moan about the weather, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to whisk you away to a bright, sunshine-glazed destination to start off your week, and I’m going to do so with an old Jamaican Rocksteady classic from 1967. A little known fact is that “I Will Get Along Without You”, by classic Jamaican vocal trio The Melodians, is actually a reworked cover of a song published by Milton Kellem all of the way back in 1951, originally titled: “Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now”. There have been many versions since, with The Melodians being credited for influencing the likes of UB40 and She & Him to produce their own versions in more recent times. Formed by Tony Brevett, Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton, The Melodians went on to receive the coveted “Iconic Award” from the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) in 2017, although the trio had a few line-up changes and different producers over the years, with Bramwell Brown, Renford Cogle and Vin joining the ranks later on. Cogle was involved from the off, writing and arranging material for the vocalists. I discovered “I Will Get Along Without You” through the “This Is Trojan: Rock Steady” compilation album, released in April 2018, where the individual tracks are comfortably sitting on the system of my student radio station’s playout software. Let’s hear the track below!

The track immediately begins with a Vintage Jazz sound, which gets created by a nestled solo from trumpets courtesy of backing group The Supersonics. The vocals sink in: “You had a heart that I used to share/And then you went away, girl/Now you come back, telling me to forgive you/But I won’t change my mind”, Brevett takes the lead as he sends his ex-girlfriend packing: “I’ve found someone who loves me more than you do/And she will never, break my heart”, with Dowe and McNaughton tweeting and whistling in perfect harmony. Brevett continues to play up the lyrical theme of joyful break-up from a romantic partner: “So don’t you ever try to change my mind/Cause’ I won’t take you back”, with Dowe and McNaughton adding: “You gotta tell her one more time”, over a light, hazy and sun-dripped acoustic guitar riff and the effortlessly smooth use of Vibraphones and Saxophones. Simplicity is key, with minimalist production work and a jaunty, swayable dance beat which reminds me of the undeniable influence that classic Jamaican music has carved into the pop sensibilities of today, even if it isn’t noticed at once. The brass instrumentation is the musical stand-out, as it adds the signature groove which carries the slow-paced harmonies along. The lyrics are fairly interesting, with a slight implication that the narrator may have cheated on his ex-partner, who cheated on him prior to this, which adds a darker tone to contrast the light-hearted quality of the traditional Dub sound. By using elements of Ska, Jazz and Soul – The Melodians have created a thoroughly enjoyable classic which holds up on it’s own two feet decades after it was originally released. It precisely hits the sweet spot of the traditional Reggae sound on the head!

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Thank you for reading this post! Make sure that you check back with the blog tomorrow, as I’ll be back with an in-depth look at another old classic! However, this time – it’s a classic ambient dance anthem, released in 1991, by a London-formed dance group who collaborated with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on their tenth studio album, released in 2010! They’re also set to play this year’s All Points East Festival at Victoria Park in London this May! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/