Third World … The Spirit Lives
The music Third World delivers is an all encompassing music - Reggae with R&B, Soul, Latin and Jazz influences. Yes! All kind of different music have inspired a generation of some gifted artists and musicians who grew up listening to James Brown, Wilson Picket, Gladys Knight, Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley, Santana, Earth Wind And Fire and the Ohio Players among others. It is the amalgamation of all of the above artists that has shaped the music of Third World or “Worlers” as they are affectionately called.
These Reggae Ambassadors’ music has become a voice for their vast legions of fans and for the music professionals with whom they have worked and recorded, such as Kool And The Gang, Stevie Wonder, Linel Jobe, James Mtume and Gamble & Huff. And they did it with an open mind while breaking new ground when collaborating with Hip Hop rapper Daddy O on the track Forbidden Love.
Now they have released their 23rd album aptly titled ‘Patriots’, a 13 track set that recognizes and features combinations with 11 different artists. The lead single taken from the album is called The Spirit Lives. It was written for Third World by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and was first released on their album ‘Hold On To Love’. Cat Coore explains, “For ‘Patriots’, we decided to revamp The Spirit Lives and rebuild it with a harder reggae groove in a modern version, and Junior Reid contributed his infusion along with Inner Circle and gave it a new presence. At the end of the album, we featured a live version with the band paying tribute to Haiti. Richie Daley is responsible for the basic rhythm track with some good help from Norris ‘Noriega’ Webb, our keyboard player, and then we added our thing - now it has become our opening song. When we are opening our set we have to make a statement - setting the tone of what is to come, so we really concentrate on playing it with a certain level of proficiency”.
The album ‘Patriots’ not only bigs up Paul Bogle, Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley, but also the guests on the album who the group regard as musical patriots; icons such as Marcia Griffiths, Mykal Rose, Gregory Isaacs, Toots Hibbert, Capleton, Dean Fraser and even the younger people that are on it like Tessanne Chin, Tarus Riley, Jessica Yepp, Stephen and Damian Marley are seen as future Patriots of the music too. Cat Coore said “The album has two meanings, we are bigging up Bogle, Garvey & Marley, but also we’re bigging up our friends who through the years have been putting in a lot of effort and contribution to Jamaican music, and they are Patriots in their own ways”.
‘Patriots’ is distributed physically courtesy of Ernie B and digitally courtesy of Zojak World Wide. It is produced by/and issued on the Third World Music Group label. Booking falls under the label with management control by Victor Lewis (VickRae Inc.) and publicity is handled by Triple 7 Entertainment. Musician credits are shared with some brilliant guest players, Sly and Robbie on Revolutionary People. Dean Pond also shares some musician/production/engineering credits. The album is getting good radio and press responses and is currently bubbling on the Billboard Reggae Charts.
The genesis of Third World began in 1973 with an amicable split from the original Inner Circle Band which at the time consist of Ian and Roger Lewis on rhythm and bass guitars respectively. Ibo Cooper on keyboards, Willie Stewart on drums, Stephen ‘Cat’ Coore on Lead guitar and ironically Williams ‘Bunny Rugs’ Clark on vocals. At that time, Inner Circle was a Jamaican show band playing top ten hits. Not long after, Rugs migrated to New York and was replaced by Jacob Miller, and then Cat, Ibo and Prilly Hamilton (vocalist) regrouped as Third World for an initial trial period along with Collin Leslie on bass and Carl Barovier on drums; shortly afterwards the group was restructured with Cornell Marshall on drums, Richie Daley on bass and “Carrot” Jarrett on percussions. They started playing their own material at a number of different shows in hotels and clubs in Jamaica, tirelessly working away at their craft (Marshall played with the band for the first two years and was replaced by Willie Stewart).
They recorded and released their first album (self titled ‘Third World’) and ventured out to England as a virtually unknown group. With the assistance of Allen Sturdy and Evan Williams, who were helping to manage the group at that time, they got a couple of gigs but the critical gig was the one that they got in the west end of London at a club called Gilleys. Chris Blackwell came and heard them there and instantly said he was going to take the group onboard the Island Label roster. Interestingly, Third World had approached Blackwell before and he had passed on the group, saying that he was too busy with Bob Marley and did not have the time to take them on. “That was a pivotal time for us,” Cat recalls “ it really inspired the whole future of the band. Another pivotal time for us in our career was when we did the “Explanation” shows with Dr. Fred Hickling, which taught us the business of show business. “Explanation” helped to develop us in our presentation, because even after we stop running the actual show, we were guided by it in how we presented ourselves. Just at that time, we were doing our third album which included Now That We Have Found Love, and once Now That We Have Found Love hit we started getting lots of gigs and began touring heavily around the world. So what we did was to take elements from “Explanation” and toured the world with that act and got the reputation for the kind of show that we do. But prior to that, we had paid our dues like most artists, regardless of who they are, they pay their dues one way or the other”.
Yes it’s true, “Worlers” have had the small times and the hard times when they had to lift their own equipment, play in small joints, but with dedication and the love for what they do, the group never loses relevance and please themselves in the process.
The group has shared many memorable and important moments, one of which was when they linked up with Stevie Wonder who was visiting Jamaica at the time and requested a rehearsal with Third World when they were going to play at SunSplash. Together they performed two songs on SunSplash Master Blaster and Now That We Have Found Love. That went down so well that Stevie extended an invitation for them to come forward with him to Los Angeles. Third World was working on an album at the time and he offered to finish up the album with them, so they took up the offer and went to LA – the rest is history. Stevie wrote two songs for the album, Playing Us Too Close and Try Jah Love, the latter became the title track for the album and one of “Worlers” signature tunes.
On the other hand, they have also had moments of disappointment, like when drummer Willie Stewart and keyboardist Ibo Cooper decided to go their separate ways. The remaining core members, Cat, Richie and Rugs had to revamp a lot of things and resist a lot of skepticism. But it brought a new sense of commitment and sacrifice and with the current line up with drummer Tony ‘Ruption’ Williams and keyboardist Norris ‘Noriega’ Webb they have come full circle.
To be able to accurately reproduce your record live is a true testimony to the concept of working hard. Third World’s spirit lives in all their fans, in all the people who have seen them perform live and that was not easy to achieve. The group has completed an ‘Outa’ Circle with the will to keep on doing what they are doing to the best of their abilities.
C. Danny Breakenridge
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