Perfect Tens Dept. - Two Sevens Clash

If you've been following this Pulitzer-nod series, you'll be aware that elevation to this lofty musical élite is contingent upon the album having no demerits, faults, or lapses from artistic or professional perfection in any area. Yes, yes, *eyeroll emoji* yeah well it's all subjective innit one person's opinion is as good as another's innit *yawn emoji*. Bearing all this in mind the inclusion of Culture's benchmark album might seem to be a surprise, because the cover, at first glance, doesn't reach the Warner Brothers Art Department standards. And the cover has to be as great as the music to get a Perfect Ten (so no Pet Sounds, f'rinstance - harsh? Maybe, but I don't make the rules).

The cover, for all we know designed by a Dave at the Kingston printer's, makes a unique and immediate impact. I can only think of the inferior sleeve to Ry Cooder's Paradise And Lunch (ironically a product of the Warner Brothers Art Department) that looks remotely similar. The colours are straight from the process ink tins, the photograph is snapshot quality (that horizon! the cropping! the finger in the ear!), the sevens seem clipped from an ironmongery catalogue, the dash before the band name is bonkers ... it should be a graphic graveyard, but it works. The layout is inspired (even the Joe Gibbs logo and credit adds to the composition), with a dynamic use of space, light and shade, and proportion. No shit. Some eye is at work here. The sun-saturated vibe of Jamaica warms you up just looking at it. And - it's mysterious. Two sevens clashing? What the actual?

Joseph Hill, yesterday

From the sleevenotes, the songs wrote themselves. Nobody gets a composition credit, which makes you wonder, naively, what happened to the publishing money. Ri-ight. Culture was the vocal trio of Joseph Hill, Albert Walker, and (possibly) Roy Dayes, none of whom get a credit on the sleeve of any Joe Gibbs Jamaican release. Incredible, although a "written by - Culture" credit appears on a later Blue Moon release. Joe Hill, who sings lead, apparently wrote the songs, but if you know better, I'd like to know too, because they're original, unforgettable, and varied enough to be the work of a true melodic talent. The musical backing is supplied by the relaxed, un-showy perfection of a dream team of home-grown session players, and fueled by blissful clouds of home-grown.

This may have been the first true roots reggae album I heard. Bob Marley? Well, okay. euuhhh. But Culture packed an atmospheric punch that hit me in the heart, like stepping into tropical heat from an air-conditioned plane. This was the beat of lazy submarine depths, the shimmer of water under a limitless blue sky. The whole album was a trip outside a grey suburban life, authentic, unique, beautiful, its shining power undiminished over the years. For Culture, it was a peak they never quite reached again, but very few did.

 

 

Hi to Koen, who passed through my home town yesterday!