Please, please, don’t let the moaning at the beginning turn you off and make you click away. With Willie Lindo’s guitar reggae »Midnight« from 1975, it is worth waiting for the end of the first 25 seconds of disco intro, because then it really gets going – and without any further sounds of pleasure, which are probably meant to take into account the late hour named in the title. In essence, this six-minute instrumental number is an outstanding example of sophisticated dub and a friendly invitation to get to grips with one of Jamaica’s great session musicians. His achievements include his debut album »Far and Distant« (1974) with the number »Darker Shade of Black«, a socially acceptable instrumental cover of the Beatles song »Norwegian Wood«. On »Midnight« and the moan-free, somewhat shorter version »After Midnight«, which his fellow musician Lloyd Charmers contributed under the name C.h.a.r.m., Willie Lindo demonstrates with unstrained sovereignty what he is capable of doing with six strings, without wishing to compete with his counterpart Ernest Ranglin in terms of speed. By the way, Barry White provided the template »Midnight and You«. Instead of a reggae riddim, though, it features plenty of strings.
Midnight
