More Info
Sweet And Nice is the vital debut album from Jamaica’s undisputed first lady of song
Marica Griffiths. It’s reggae at its most soulful. Slinking through a eight ten tracks of
R&B and pop-sourced material, it became an instant best seller. 45 years aoer its
initial release the LP is available again on vinyl, now as a double LP, with an extra
record collecting 14 rare tracks.
Sweet And Nice has appeared over the years with a revised running order and under
different titles. But the original’s opening sequence of loping soul is legendary, even
beyond reggae circles. These songs are now returned to how they were presented on that first Jamaican release, and under their intended album title. Be With doesn’t
mess with magic.
Marcia’s version of “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” has long been lusted after,
played by genre-hopping selectors to snapping necks for decades now. It’s followed
by the sophisticated, rollicking wah-wah funk of “Everything I Own” and the slice of
smooth lovers soul par excellence that is “Green Grasshopper” and her ace, lilting
Neil Diamond cover “Play Me”.
The thundering, humid funk of “Children At Play” “sounds uncannily like a precursor
of Massive Attack”, as FACT Mag astutely noted when they put Sweet And Nice at
number 16 in their list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s. Otherworldly, moody and
essential.
Side two keeps the fire burning. “Sweet, Bitter Love” should leave you swooning, and
is also one of the album’s alternate titles. Curtis Mayfield’s already-eternal “Gypsy
Man” is up next, recast as proto-lovers rock.
“There’s No Me Without You” is elevated to canonical status by the majestic, forlorn
horns of the Federal Soul Givers and Marcia’s heartbreaking delivery. And if this
doesn’t get you then surely the next track will: arguably the definitive version of
Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. Yes, seriously.
“I Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely” re-takes its rightful place at the end of the LP’s
second side… but we couldn’t leave it at that. So we added an entire second record
of rare material recorded around the same time as Sweet And Nice, much of it
unavailable since it was originally released. Some of these songs have only ever been
found on now unattainable 7" singles and no, rarity doesn’t always correspond with
quality, but in this case we’re talking about some seriously jaw-dropping music.
Amongst 14 extra tracks you’ll find the exquisite late-60s singles “Melody Life” and
“Mark My Word” which, along with the sumptuous reading of “Band Of Gold”, are
now £100 records, if you can find them! Just sayin’. There‘s also a fantastic version of
“The First Cut Is the Deepest” and an alternate take of “Play Me” with producer Lloyd
Charmers adding his own vocals.
Everything’s been remastered of course, including the original LP, so Sweet And Nice
now sounds even sweeter, and even nicer.
Tracklist
A1 : Here I Am Baby (Come And Take Me)
A2 : Everything I Own
A3 : Green Grasshopper
A4 : Play Me
A5 : Children At Play
B1 : Sweet Bitter Love
B2 : Gypsy Man
B3 : There’s No Me Without You
B4 : The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
B5 : I Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely
C1 : Mark My Word
C2 : The First Cut Is The Deepest
C3 : Melody Life
C4 : Work And Slave
C5 : Working To The Top (My Ambition) (Part 1)
C6 : Don’t Let Me Down
C7 : Band Of Gold
D1 : Put A Little Love In Your Heart
D2 : I See You, My Love
D3 : It’s Too Late
D4 : Baby If You Don’t Love Me
D5 : Love Walked In
D6 : When Will I See You Again
D7 : Play Me (Part 2)