Right Time
Encyclopedia
Right Time is the 1976 studio album
debut of influential reggae
band the Mighty Diamonds. The album, released by Virgin Records
after they signed the Mighty Diamonds following a search for talent in Jamaica, is critically regarded as a reggae classic, a landmark in the roots reggae
subgenre. Several of the album's socially conscious songs were hits in the band's native Jamaica
, with a few becoming successful in the UK underground. Influential and sometimes unconventional, the album helped secure the success of recording studio Channel One Studios
, and rhythm team Sly Dunbar
and Robbie Shakespeare.
into the Jamaican marketplace, they, too, discovered The Mighty Diamonds. Virgin's representatives set up a table at a Sheraton Hotel with $100,000 and, after police intervention calmed the resultant excitement, left with such artists as the Mighty Diamonds, Prince Far I
, Johnny Clarke
and Big Youth
on their roster. The album, the Mighty Diamonds' record debut, was recorded at Channel One Studios in Kingston, Jamaica
, with production by Chinese Jamaican Joseph Hoo Kim
, whose family owned the studio. 2006's Caribbean Popular Music notes that "[w]ith the release of ...Right Time in 1976, the studio came into its own."
. A number of the songs on the album were hits in Jamaica, and several of them were big in the UK underground. The title track, a "roots masterpiece" according to Allmusic, hit big in both places, although Virgin Records lacked the foresight to release the number as a single. "Shame and Pride" was also successful in both Jamaica and the UK. Other Jamaican hits on the album include "I Need a Roof" and "Africa" Rolling Stone suggested that if charts had been permitted, "the Diamonds' brilliant singles, like 'Right Time' and 'Have Mercy,' would have been on top all last winter."
encapsulates as "broken bodies" and "the exultation of oppression defied." The album has a strong spiritual base, with multiple references to Jah
and repeated exhortations to proper behavior.
Though several of the songs draw on ancient texts or historical events, they remain essentially oriented on the future. The song "Africa" is a relatively jaunty if wistful dream of repatriation
that is more optimistic about the future return to Africa than mournful about the brutal separation from it. The "right time" referenced in the title track, the first song penned by the band itself, is the upcoming Apocalypse
, with the band envisioning public response with lyrics that reference the Bible
and the writings of Marcus Garvey
.
The latter song features a particularly tricky drum beat, which drummer Sly Dunbar
recalled in 2001's This is Reggae Music evoked both skepticism and imitation: "When that tune first come out, because of that double tap on the rim nobody believe it was me on the drums, they thought it was some sort of sound effect we was using. Then when it go to number 1 and stay there, everybody started trying for that style and it soon become established." According to the Independent, the entire album was "revolutionary", the breakthrough album of "masters of groove and propulsion" Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, with "Sly's radical drumming matching the singers' insurrectionary lyrics blow-for-blow."
Garvey, Jamaica's first national hero and a recurrent referent in Rastafarian music, doesn't only feature on "Right Time", but appears on several other songs on the album, establishing what would become a persistent theme in the Mighty Diamond's work. His words are utilized in "I Need a Roof", which draws together musical themes from "Right Time" and the traditional song "Ol' Man River
" in a "bouncy yet moody" prayer for basic shelter, a "sufferation" classic that was penned in response to the rampant inflation in Jamaica at the time. "Them Never Love Poor Marcus" speaks directly of Garvey, castigating those who betrayed him.
Other songs focus heavily on proper modes of behavior. Track "Why Me Black Brother Why" explores black on black crime in Jamaica and warns that Jah
will judge. The album's British single debut, "Have Mercy", is another religious appeal to Jah, described by 1998's Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music as "perhaps" the band's "best song." "Go Seek Your Rights" intermingles the expected message of requiring righteous treatment with an appeal to living righteously. On a similar theme, "Gnashing of Teeth" is another Apocalyptic song that warns that the only salvation is righteous behavior. Even the relationship song "Shame and Pride" focuses on righteous living as its narrator tries to keep his girlfriend from self-destruction.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
debut of influential reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
band the Mighty Diamonds. The album, released by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
after they signed the Mighty Diamonds following a search for talent in Jamaica, is critically regarded as a reggae classic, a landmark in the roots reggae
Roots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...
subgenre. Several of the album's socially conscious songs were hits in the band's native Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, with a few becoming successful in the UK underground. Influential and sometimes unconventional, the album helped secure the success of recording studio Channel One Studios
Channel One Studios
Channel One is a recording studio in Maxfield Avenue, West Kingston, Jamaica. The studio was built by the Hoo Kim brothers in 1972, and has had a profound influence on the development of reggae music....
, and rhythm team Sly Dunbar
Sly Dunbar
Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
and Robbie Shakespeare.
Background
The Mighty Diamonds were among the first artists signed to the Virgin record label after it entered the reggae music market. The Mighty Diamonds had been discovered by Jamaica's Channel One Studios, and when Virgin followed Island RecordsIsland Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
into the Jamaican marketplace, they, too, discovered The Mighty Diamonds. Virgin's representatives set up a table at a Sheraton Hotel with $100,000 and, after police intervention calmed the resultant excitement, left with such artists as the Mighty Diamonds, Prince Far I
Prince Far I
Prince Far I was a Jamaican reggae deejay, producer and a Rastafarian. He was known for his gruff voice and critical assessment of the Jamaican government. His track "Heavy Manners" used lyrics against measures initiated towards violent crime.-Biography:He was born Michael James Williams in...
, Johnny Clarke
Johnny Clarke
Johnny Clarke , Whitfield Town, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae musician.-Biography:Clarke grew up in the Kingston ghetto of Whitfield Town. In 1971 he won a talent contest in Bull Bay, his prize a meeting with producer Clancy Eccles, with whom he recorded his first song, "God Made the Sea and the...
and Big Youth
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
on their roster. The album, the Mighty Diamonds' record debut, was recorded at Channel One Studios in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, with production by Chinese Jamaican Joseph Hoo Kim
Joseph Hoo Kim
-Career:Shortly after the Jamaican government banned gaming machines in the early 1970s, Joe Joe Hookim and his brother Ernest, abandoned their jobs as machine operators, and jumped into the music business. By 1973, the Hookims had opened their own studio, Channel One, with Joe Joe as its hands-on...
, whose family owned the studio. 2006's Caribbean Popular Music notes that "[w]ith the release of ...Right Time in 1976, the studio came into its own."
Critical reception
The album has been critically well-received. In 1976 Rolling Stone described the album as "simply one of the finest reggae LPs ever released. In 1977, it called it "the finest stateside reggae release of last year." It has come to be regarded as a reggae classic, a landmark in the roots reggae subgenre. The album is listed by Pop Matters among the "Five Reggae Albums You Cannot Live Without", with reviewer Sean Murphy commenting that "Right Time manages to combine several styles and merge them in a seamless, practically flawless whole. This, to be certain, is roots reggae, yet at times it sounds like the most accessible soul music, closer to Motown than Trenchtown."Popular reception
At the time of the album's release, violence within the music industry in Jamaica had led to the banning of official record charts there, but according to Rolling Stone, the Mighty Diamonds were the second-most popular band in the country after Burning SpearBurning Spear
Winston Rodney, OD , also known as Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages.-History:...
. A number of the songs on the album were hits in Jamaica, and several of them were big in the UK underground. The title track, a "roots masterpiece" according to Allmusic, hit big in both places, although Virgin Records lacked the foresight to release the number as a single. "Shame and Pride" was also successful in both Jamaica and the UK. Other Jamaican hits on the album include "I Need a Roof" and "Africa" Rolling Stone suggested that if charts had been permitted, "the Diamonds' brilliant singles, like 'Right Time' and 'Have Mercy,' would have been on top all last winter."
Songs
The music is succinctly described in 2000's World Music: The Rough Guide as "[a] fine selection of sweetly harmonised vocals, militant 'rockers' rhythms and Garveyite lyrics." Although the music is sometimes unconventional, the themes are typical of reggae, focusing on what critic Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
encapsulates as "broken bodies" and "the exultation of oppression defied." The album has a strong spiritual base, with multiple references to Jah
Jah
Jah is the shortened form of the divine name YHWH , an anglicized version of the Tetragrammaton . The name is most commonly associated with the Rastafari movement or within the word hallelujah, although Christian groups may use the name to varying degrees. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses use a...
and repeated exhortations to proper behavior.
Though several of the songs draw on ancient texts or historical events, they remain essentially oriented on the future. The song "Africa" is a relatively jaunty if wistful dream of repatriation
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
that is more optimistic about the future return to Africa than mournful about the brutal separation from it. The "right time" referenced in the title track, the first song penned by the band itself, is the upcoming Apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
, with the band envisioning public response with lyrics that reference the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and the writings of Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
.
The latter song features a particularly tricky drum beat, which drummer Sly Dunbar
Sly Dunbar
Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
recalled in 2001's This is Reggae Music evoked both skepticism and imitation: "When that tune first come out, because of that double tap on the rim nobody believe it was me on the drums, they thought it was some sort of sound effect we was using. Then when it go to number 1 and stay there, everybody started trying for that style and it soon become established." According to the Independent, the entire album was "revolutionary", the breakthrough album of "masters of groove and propulsion" Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, with "Sly's radical drumming matching the singers' insurrectionary lyrics blow-for-blow."
Garvey, Jamaica's first national hero and a recurrent referent in Rastafarian music, doesn't only feature on "Right Time", but appears on several other songs on the album, establishing what would become a persistent theme in the Mighty Diamond's work. His words are utilized in "I Need a Roof", which draws together musical themes from "Right Time" and the traditional song "Ol' Man River
Ol' Man River
"Ol' Man River" is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that expresses the African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River; it is sung from the point-of-view of a dock worker on a showboat, and is the most famous song from the show...
" in a "bouncy yet moody" prayer for basic shelter, a "sufferation" classic that was penned in response to the rampant inflation in Jamaica at the time. "Them Never Love Poor Marcus" speaks directly of Garvey, castigating those who betrayed him.
Other songs focus heavily on proper modes of behavior. Track "Why Me Black Brother Why" explores black on black crime in Jamaica and warns that Jah
Jah
Jah is the shortened form of the divine name YHWH , an anglicized version of the Tetragrammaton . The name is most commonly associated with the Rastafari movement or within the word hallelujah, although Christian groups may use the name to varying degrees. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses use a...
will judge. The album's British single debut, "Have Mercy", is another religious appeal to Jah, described by 1998's Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music as "perhaps" the band's "best song." "Go Seek Your Rights" intermingles the expected message of requiring righteous treatment with an appeal to living righteously. On a similar theme, "Gnashing of Teeth" is another Apocalyptic song that warns that the only salvation is righteous behavior. Even the relationship song "Shame and Pride" focuses on righteous living as its narrator tries to keep his girlfriend from self-destruction.
Track listing
Except where otherwise noted, all songs composed by Lloyd Ferguson, Joseph "Jo Jo" Hoo Kim, Donald "Tabby" Shaw and Fitzroy Simpson.- "Right Time" – 3:17
- "Why Me Black Brother Why" (author unknown) – 3:10
- "Shame and Pride" – 3:21
- "Gnashing of Teeth" – 3:07
- "Them Never Love Poor Marcus" – 2:44
- "I Need a Roof" – 2:51
- "Go Seek Your Rights" – 3:30
- "Have Mercy" – 3:19
- "Natural Natty" – 2:49
- "Africa" (Ferguson) – 3:09
Performance
- Radcliffe "Rad" Bryan – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Tony Chin – guitar
- Ansel Collins – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Anthony "Benbow" Creary – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Sly DunbarSly DunbarLowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
– drums - Pat "Lloyd" Ferguson – vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- Vin GordonVin GordonVin Gordon is a Jamaican trombone player.-Biography:Gordon grew up in Jones Town, Kingston, Jamaica as one of eight children. He went to Kingston's catholic Alpha Boys School where he learned to play trombone and string bass. One of his tutors was Lennie Hibbert...
– tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate... - Ossie HibbertOssie HibbertOswald "Ossie" Hibbert is a Jamaican organist, keyboard player and record producer.-Biography:Hibbert began to be active in Jamaican music in the mid-1970s, working as a keyboard player as part of The Professionals, The Aggrovators and The Revolutionaries, and playing on dozens of albums by...
– keyboards - Herman MarquisHerman MarquisHerman Marquis is a Jamaican saxophone musician who has played with many reggae artists including Burning Spear. He recorded for Arthur "Duke" Reid in the 1960s and was a member of The Revolutionaries and The Upsetters in the 1970s...
– alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions... - Tommy McCookTommy McCookTommy McCook was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.-Biography:McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in...
– tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble... - Ranchie – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Robbie Shakespeare – bass
- Donald Shaw (aka Tabby Diamond) – vocals
- Fitzroy Simpson (aka Bunny Diamond) – harmony vocals
- StickyUziah ThompsonUziah "Sticky" Thompson is a Jamaican percussionist, vocalist and deejay active since the late 1950s. He has worked with some of the best known performers of Jamaican music and played on hundreds of albums.-Biography:...
– percussion - Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace – drums
Production
- Ossie Hibbert – engineer
- Ernest Hoo Kim – engineer
- Joseph Hoo KimJoseph Hoo Kim-Career:Shortly after the Jamaican government banned gaming machines in the early 1970s, Joe Joe Hookim and his brother Ernest, abandoned their jobs as machine operators, and jumped into the music business. By 1973, the Hookims had opened their own studio, Channel One, with Joe Joe as its hands-on...
– record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Dennis MorrisDennis MorrisDennis Morris is a British photographer best known for his images of Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols.In 1979, he created the logo for the band Public Image Limited and the legendary and innovative Metal Box album packaging....
– photography - Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie - Engineer