Pressure Sounds’ recent re-issue of The Inturns’ Consider Yourself on CD and 180 gram vinyl highlights one of Jamaica’s finest vocal trios. The Inturns’ debut album, produced by Channel One stalwart Phil Pratt, includes reworked versions of several of their earliest singles along with a handful of tracks written specifically for the album by Wesley Tinglin, founder and spiritual leader of the Kingston trio.
The Inturns entered Channel One studios in 1976 to record their debut LP with producer Phil Pratt, one of Channel One’s most successful producers who by the mid-1970s had produced hits for Dennis Brown, Pat Kelly, Dennis Alcapone, I-Roy and U-Roy. Between 1976 and 1978 the group recorded five new tracks and reworked several of their previously released singles including “Consider Yourself “ (Deliver I, 1974), “Nothing Is Impossible” (Attack, Techniques, 1975), “Get To Know” (Techniques, 1975), and “Ya-Ho” (Studio One, 1968).
The album was initially released under the title Consider Yourself in Jamaica in 1978 on the Chanan-Jah label. It was also issued that same year under the title Do We Have to Fight. One year later it was re-issued as Detour on the Burning Rockers label. It was issued once again in 1985 under the title Ya-Ho on the Burning Sounds label out of the UK, this time credited to The Viceroys.
While Consider Yourself doesn’t quite measure up to their brilliant 1982 collaboration with producer Linval Thompson We Must Unite, it is a fine introduction to one of reggae’s most significant vocal trios from the golden era of reggae (despite the fact that the group is largely unknown outside of serious reggae circles). It is an album which finds the group in a transitional period, recording at Channel One at a time when the sound of reggae was evolving from foundation roots into early dancehall.
Consider Yourself features an all-star collective of musicians including Carlton Barrett on drums, Robbie Shakespeare on bass, Bertram “Ranchie” McLean and Radcliffe “Dougie” Bryan on guitars, and Ansel Collins on keyboards. One of the highlights of the album is the outstanding percussion work of Noel “Scully” Sims, Jamaica’s most treasured percussionist. Producer Phil Pratt brings Scully’s work to the surface of the mix, featuring his hand drumming front and center throughout.
While none of the tracks will set the world ablaze, Phil Pratt’s remixes of the group’s early singles are a fascinating listen. It is very rare that a producer can improve upon tracks produced by the likes of Clement “Coxsone” Dodd or Winston Riley, however Phil Pratt is up to the task. Pratt proves that “Nothing Is Impossible” as he slows the mix on this Winston Riley-produced gem and squeezes the “roots and culture” from the song like blood from a turnip.
With Consider Yourself, Pressure Sounds breathes new life into a classic set from one of reggae’s most significant vocal trios. The label has also turned on a whole new generation of reggae fans to this classic album, which embodies the long lost sound and vibe of an era when the classic Jamaican vocal trio ruled the charts.