A spoken intro drenched in echo; for European ears, meaning unclear, but then again, not: ” ‘ow come you so trigger-’appy?” Then a simple guitar/bass motif set against a second guitar glissando; vocal percussion, soon aided and abetted by furious snare drum and hi-hat, tight, edgy, resonant. A playful, childlike vocal, as much rhythmic as it is lyrical or melodic; “do it Hank/do it Frank/from bank to bank/ah-uh, ah-uh, ah-uh”. A sublime exercise in rhythmic uncertainty and an incisive questioning of what reggae, or indeed music, is. Brian Eno recalls eulogising this recording to UK music journalists in the mid-70s. They laughed at him. Doubtless they all sported red green and gold badges and copies of “Live at the Lyceum” a few years later.
You can find it on this
and on this
Both are packed to the rafters with other examples of singularity.
