Not to Maintain Consistency....
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Artist:
Alright, this one's a bit different from the last post, but I couldn't resist. This is truly one of my favorite reggae tracks ever, and I don't even really know why. The production is simple, the instrumentation is standard. It would seem that there was nothing special about this song at all. Yet Pat Kelly's "How Long" is great. I've listened to this song too many times, and tried to solve the mystery of the song's immediacy, its potency. Perhaps it's Kelly's sumptuous, heart felt vocals. The song bodes well for letting a singer carry a song rather than some funky instrumentation behind him. Kelly's sad, but determined lyrical line is highlighted by the beautiful pulsing back beat, forever straining for the forward momentum that Kelly himself seeks. It makes for an elegantly simple and effective tune that becomes far greater than the sum of its parts. Kelly recorded with the Techniques and was often compared to Curtis Mayfield. Yet Mayfield never recorded (to my mind, and this is by no means a dissing of Mayfield) something so earnest and true. 
Locating MOG account...
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