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'Joy in my Soul' - Rare tune from The Paragons
Reggae | Monday 24th September 2012 | Osh
The Paragons 'Joy in my Soul' - Rare tune from the deep vaults of Treasure Isle comes to Trojan records
After months of digging around in ancient vaults and sifting through the endlessly prolific output of Treasure Isle's vaults, a glimmering gem from 1968 has emerged from The Paragons, a rare record called 'Joy In My Soul'. The Paragons' most famous tune you may recognise more immediately from Blondie or Atomic Kitten, who both covered 'The Tide is High', written by John Holt.
Originally, the Paragons were Bob Andy, Junior Menz, Leroy Stamp and Garth "Tyrone" Evans. Before the band became big news in Jamaica, Junior Menz went on to join The Techniques and Howard Barret was replaced by John Holt himself. The band were noticed in '64 and swept up immediately by Coxsone Dodd, who directed them to Studio One - and the tutelage of Duke Reid, the founder of Treasure Isle. The band produced several rocksteady hits and Reid's influence is explicit; he was a huge fan of American Soul. This influence is apparent in many of The Paragons' tracks, even ranging to the dark and foreboding, such as in the brilliantly moody 'Man Next Door'.
'Joy in my Soul' offers the best of classic rocksteady. The gripped jangle of the Hammond sings behind the three part vibrato-soul harmonies of Holt and co. The track acts out its title, like any good record should, as rocksteady is essentially soul music with a ska rhythm. So you could say that this tune is a testament of rocksteady, as the off-beat puts the skip into the step of the soul, you get 'joy' in your 'soul'. On the B side you will find an alternate version of the Techniques' 'Travelling Man', also an excellent rocksteady tune.
Only 500 numbered copies of this 7” have been pressed so get your hands on them while you can.
MJH Milner x
