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18 April 2018

Magnificent Seven - Reggae Bagpipes/ Roll Out The Barrel



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Label: Decca
Year of Release: 1972

Pop and rock, of course, have continually evolved as they've adopted and mixed and meshed various apparently conflicting styles. If during the sixties British groups hadn't had one eye on music hall ditties and the other on rhythm and blues, so much interesting material might never have been written and released.

But a combination of reggae and the sound of the bagpipes? Really? Never has the Simpsons slogan "Nuts and Gum, together at last!" felt more applicable. It's not as if "Reggae Bagpipes" is a mess, which is to the credit of everyone involved. While it doesn't have a particularly authentic production or arrangement going on, it would be just about credible enough to pass were it not for those droning great pipes playing "Scotland the Brave" throughout. 

To cap things off, there's a reggae take of the London saloon-room standard "Roll Out The Barrel" on the flip, which sounds almost exactly as you'd expect it to.

According to someone who has kindly uploaded the song to YouTube, The Magnificent Seven were actually a South African group who consisted of Emil Dean (Zoghby) on vocals, Paul Ditchfield on keyboards, Peter Michael and Barry Jarman on trumpet, Harold Miller on bass, Jimmy Kennedy on guitar and Doug Abbot on drums. Why a South African group were so obsessed with bagpipes, and who in the band actually played them, is not documented. This has to be one of the most puzzling singles I've ever come across. 


3 comments:

Fanny Blancmange said...

This looks right up my cup of tea. And if that's THE Harry Miller on bass, ex-pat SA Jazz legend, all the better. Thanks again.

Legendes & Vergete Sterre van Afrikaanse Musiek said...

This is defnitely not South-African! Here's the real info... "In 1968 Clive Crawley began working for Trojan doing promotions to increase radio play, in 1970 he would have the idea to add overdubs of orchestral string arrangements to some commercially oriented Early Reggae tracks, resulting in the huge crossover hit version of "Young Gifted & Black" by Marcia Griffiths & Bob Andy, as well as other hits with the string passages arranged & conducted by the Pop music maestro John Arthey. As a result of this success Joe Sinclair at Trojan would organize and release instrumentals of top hits with original vocals removed to highlight the added string arrangements. This recordings contains productions by Trojan & by other top Jamaican and British producers. Of the outside material Bob Andy produces his own "One Woman" while Harry J does Andy & Marcia Griffiths' aforementioned hit, Clancy Eccles offers Merlene Webber's version of "Stand By Your Man", Harry Mudie contributes Jo Jo Bennett's classic "Leaving Rome", & producer Joe Gibbs delivers "Lonely For Your Love" & "God Bless The Children" both originally sung by Nicky Thomas. The material yielded from the Trojan sessions was largely produced by the Shrowder, Bryan, Sinclair team & Clive Crawley & Tony King. Included are Greyhound's hit version of Mancini's "Moon River", Del Davis' take on The Beatles' "World Without Love", The Pioneers' "Roll Muddy River" & the catchy “Reggae Bagpipes” by the British studio outfit The Magnificent 7. These energetic instrumental tracks from the Early Reggae period blend well with strings, making this a fairly unique listening experience for this genre......"




23 Daves said...

Thanks for clarifying that! It did seem a bit unlikely that the group were South African.