Roots Archives Forum

Tenor Saw- Come Me Just A Come

http://youtu.be/8_h1rUCAqBc

Familiar riddim but can't place it except
Jah Batta-Tricky Girl is on a Wackies cut of it.

Anyone know others?

The riddim is based on Val Bennett's "The Russians Are Coming".

On of my favourite versions is Sugar Minott's "Have You Ever Found a Love".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOYPpb1b_Jo

That's a great Minott tune.
Interesting that you say it's based on the Val Bennett. I would never have made that connection.
I only hear a vague similarity to Take 5/ Russians are coming though. If it is based on that, it is a significant variation. I do hear something of the Take 5 piano shuffle but its positioned differently over the rhythm. Not sure how to put that idea into words! And the bass line is simplified but also very differently rhythmically.

If you put the Minott tune side by side with, say Barrington Levy- Captivity, which I believe is on Take 5, they sound drastically different.

http://youtu.be/TIV5gqEAzHc

But, I can see how they are related. It's interesting how much can be done with rhythmic variations.

Another example is Storm as exemplified by the Gregory Isaacs tune and then remade in the early 90's for a bunch of tunes like Pinchers - Bandelero. Same notes in the bass line but played in a different pattern. Took me a while to place it as a Storm variation but once you make the connection it makes sense.

Hi Flash

The association is one I made, with "based on" meaning "influenced", as opposed to a re-lick of "The Russions Are Coming"...total conjecture on my part, it's not de facto information coming from the session musicians or producer!

Yeah, well I think there is some substance to your conjecture. It took me a bit to hear it but I think "based on" is a reasonable claim. I'm glad to have opened my ears and made the connection.
I still want to know where I heard the Tenor Saw rhythm first though. It's these mysteries that make being a reggae fan so endlessly entertaining. Well, aside from the music itself!

Well, I found another Wackies cut. Max Romeo - Birth of Reggae.
There's got to be others on that Sugar Minott cut of it. Guess I'll spend my Saturday morning digging.

flashman wrote:Yeah, well I think there is some substance to your conjecture. It took me a bit to hear it but I think "based on" is a reasonable claim. I'm glad to have opened my ears and made the connection.
I still want to know where I heard the Tenor Saw rhythm first though. It's these mysteries that make being a reggae fan so endlessly entertaining. Well, aside from the music itself!

Agreed. Come to think of it, in some ways the newer cut sounds more like the tune "Russians" was based on (Brubeck's "Take 5") because of the piano shuffle....so it may be truer to say that it is based on "Take 5" than it is based on "Russians".

Love how you dig deep into these things with a musical ear!

Flash, another one for your list comes to mind:

Michael Palmer's "I've Got A Problem" (a Black Roots 45 that came out in 83 or 84, also available on Palmer's "Star Performer" LP)

Al Campbell - Bad Boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea9TPkxIQ5c

I do love to talk about this stuff!

Thanks for the Palmer. I'm well on my way to a 20 min excursion on this rhythm now.