Post-Cymande (RR like it should be)
spelunk
3,400 Posts
School me on what these dudes did after the group broke up in the mid 70s. One of my favorites of all time, more for their slower stuff (Bra is so different from all their other music, these dudes had a nyah-rock style of their own). I haven't found much info on their careers after Cymande. On my top 10 of groups I wish I'd been there to see live.GET THE RECORD RELATED BUSINESS ROLLING AND DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE.
TAGGED:
Comments
I have no idea, but I would like to know what the story was with that fourth LP they did for Paul Winley (and why the hell would they be hooking up with a shysty record producer like that in the first place).
Steve Scipio was one of the most bass-playingest muthajuggas ever walked the earth and I don't mean maybe...
1) If you cop the comp on Castle records (still in print???), it's got 3 bonus tracks, but I don't know if those were from an alleged 4th LP session or takes from the first 3. I had no idea about that Paul Winley business, sounds shady.
2) Scipio is untouchable. I played Cymande for my friend whose a bassist and he FLIPPED, dude is on fire. Would love to learn how they recorded that bass cause it sounds niiiiice.
Apparently they did a reunion show last May in London. There was video of it floating around at one point...
thanks
brothers on the slide
~ely
Could be some that Paul Winley got some fake ass band to record as Cymande. Paul Winley was
shady with a capitol S. I've never heard that record, Arrival, I believe it's called. I've only seen the
repress.
Who's got an ORG?
I'm really feeling this house remix of brothers on the slide... when I first saw it on the lab, i didn't think much of it, but I recentlly bought a wav of it and it's been one of my favorite purchases recently.
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=26777F344221B21F
That shit looks so unofficial, artwork looks like they had a 4th grader copy one of their other covers. And none of it is on any of the comps...not on the bio of the group that I have. And 81? When a 10 member band split in 75? There has got to be something shady going on there.
i knew there was a reason i stay up late at night!
thanks
Spelunk, i'm not sure what you're musical interest are but 2 years some UK cats made a boogie/disco version of brothers on slide. Probally still easy to track down.
continued recording session horns (sax & some flute) for tons of UK based reggae acts,
including Aswad
He also released solo lps in the 80's & 90's
i think i sold off the ones i had, but will post pixs if they are still in the crates
As for how it ended up on Winley, that's easy. Paul booted "Bra" pretty heavily on 12" so it figures that he might've tried to have some success with the name on an LP... although again, I wouldn't be surprised if he just hired out some Harlem sessioners and called it "Cymande".
"Arrival" albums were unreleased tapes
recorded in 1975 - whether that's true
or not who knows, but that is definitely
the PW style, to just buy up some unreleased
shit and sell it as new.
I was filling in for Ralph at the store the other day and I found this in the behind-the-counter stash. I think Cymande is one of the few bands that made three essential must-have albums. Suffice it to say that they did not reach the next plateau and make that essential fourth record. Maybe I'm deluding myself in an attempt to keep the Cymande legacy untarnished in my private mindgarden, but I honestly believe that the ever-scrupulous Mr. Winley threw some session musicians in a room and called it a Cymande album, because I don't hear nann musical resemblance.
So here's the list of names of group members along with what they played. If any of these ring a bell for being on anything else, holler at it. I'm sure some of this info would be easier to track down in the UK...I'd kill to have seen that reunion.
Michael Rose - Alto/Flute/Bongos
Ray King - Vocals & Percussion
Sam Kelly - Drums (found his website, he did some session & touring work after Cymande and is still playing. Check the bio: http://www.sam-kelly.com/Biography.htm)
Steve Scipio - Bass (this is the killer one)
Pablo Gonsales - Congas
Joey Dee - Vocals/Percussion
Peter Serreo - Tenor Sax (some of his solos are so well composed, he really nails that perfect sound for the group's style)
Patrick Patterson - Guitar
Derek Gibbs - Alto/Soprano
Desmond Atwell - Sax?
The internet is pooping out the same information copied and pasted onto different websites. Seems like Scipio and Patterson were the leaders and have the songwriting credits (they're also the ones who filed the lawsuit and won $400,000 from the Fugees' sampling of Dove). Also says on Kelly's bio that "Desmond Atwell and Joey Dee later replaced Serreo and King." (I'm guessing after the first album?)
that's the 12'' I was talking about. I had this 12'' and lost it in Japan.
thanks for bringing THIS up:
listen: http://www.juno.co.uk/products/140788-01.htm
NO its not cymande!!!
One of my favorite bands ever.
What are some other groups that achieved a similar sound? The production of their albums seems unique. Or maybe I just hear funny. Cosign on that bass being almost too good.
side note: I haven't bought records in like 3 weeks. I might go do that right now. It's good to see some record speak around here. That's what usually motivates me to go digging nowadays. Maybe that's why I haven't been in a while...
Some guy over on VV found a press sheet for one of their lps... There was some pretty interesting info on there.
Dress
Although not necessarily that similar in sound, I like to think of Cymande in the context of other contemporaneous bands that were also mixing different influences from rock, funk, reggae, Latin, Afrobeat, etc. I'm thinking of like War, Mandrill, Osibisa, Santana...
my only knock on Cymande is that one singer with the more 'rock and roll' voice who takes the lead sometimes- that kinda grates on me. I think the second album is the least essential. but yeah, great group.
i don't have second time around though.
little dude alert!
Cosign, what a killer tone. "Dove" is completely unfuckwitable from beginning to end, but those bass lines once the drums come in are on some
I really like the Kapingbdi album. It's obviously not in the same league as Cymande, but it's a really solid mixture of African music and rock that never sounds over-produced or gimmicky and the singer has real good voice.
musicwise their sound sorta reminds me of s.o.u.l.s burning spear... heavy stuff!!
one of the band members was later involved with a group called View from the Hill. i tracked it down and it was not memorable at all.