AMG Review of Skanking with Pablo: Melodica for Hire 1971-1977

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

Jamaica's Augustus Pablo took what was essentially a child's toy, the melodica, and turned it into something else again. The exotic, eerie, slightly Far Eastern and delicately mournful sound that Pablo coaxed from the instrument soon became a staple of Jamaican reggae and dub releases in the 1970s. This wonderful set spotlights some of Pablo's early freelance efforts for a host of island producers, including Herman Chin-Loy ("East of the River Nile"), Clive Chin ("Java"), Lee "Scratch" Perry ("Vibrate On"), Keith Hudson ("Fat Baby") and Joe Gibbs ("African Queen"), making it an almost ideal introduction to Pablo and his marvelous melodica before sheer repetition and overuse combined to turn the instrument's distinctive sound into a dub cliché.