Next Up: Soundclash 6.27 | Taking The Piss 7.18 | The Champion Superior Soundsystem 8.15 Click event to check mix

This collection on VP Record’s new 17th North Parade imprint documents tunes that Jacob "The Killer" Miller recorded with producers Augustus Pablo and Joe Gibbs. Having signed a deal with the Gibbs family for the recently deceased producer’s catalogue, we can expect many more future oldies reissues from the Brooklyn-based VP, whose normal cache is the dancehall scene.

Jacob Miller's career began at a young age at Studio One, but he eventually matured into a dreadlocked performer who sang about social issues as comfortably as he sang about love. Half the tracks on this handsome new release come from exclusive 12-inch mixes, while the other half focuses on hard-to-find versions of previous tracks. Many will know Miller from the wonderful "Rockers" movie, where he endeared himself throughout as a big man with a big appetite but even bigger voice. His yodel-esque style may seem dated, but there is no denying his voice is ‘strong like lion’ (on "Just A Dread" Miller even roars like the lion of Judah).

The album opens up with "I'm a Natty/Knotty Nots," which uses the original Wailers rhythm with some added synthesizer. Miller's voice carries the song just like Marley’s did, but halfway through I-Roy cuts in with some chatting over Miller's left-hanging chorus. One of Joe Gibbs’ best cuts with Miller is "Shaky Girl," another extended mix that clocks in just over seven minutes. Alton Ellis's Studio One standard "I'm Just A Guy" is renamed "Just A Dread," with Miller righteously proclaiming "I'm just a dread who likes to cook up my ital." Trinity compliments Miller perfectly on this with "One Shut."

The 12-inch format works well with Miller, because his own unique vocal inflections enhance a DJ’s delivery. On some Jamaican cuts, the DJ takes full control of the track and the vocal just fades in echo, but with Miller his voice is too powerful to just fade away on the mix. "Keep On Knocking" is a re-recording of "Love Is A Message," making use of the Wailers’ "Hypocrites," which at the end of album Augustus Pablo reworks with the melodica instrumental "Above Rocks." There is another Wailers connection with "Back Yard Movements/Fussing and Fighting," which makes use of Rita Marley and the Soulette's version of "Play Play Play." "Fly Away" is the last cut on this album, and it’s one of Miller's later recordings; his voice has a scratchy somberness to it. 

"Lives On "
Jacob Miller and Friends
Lives On
VP records, 2008 (mid-'70s)

The end of the album concludes with dub instrumentals from the Mighty Two (Gibbs and hall-of-famer engineer Errol T) and Joe Gibbs and the Professionals. And after a listen one could only wonder "what if” – Miller’s career ended in tragedy in 1980 in a car crash. He was only 25 years old.  But this collection offers something new for Miller fans and shows Miller living on via the music.

– Bobby Bobson
bobby@dcsoundclash.com

Back to Labberish