Cool, studded with Diamonds at Studio 38

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The prospect of Gregory Isaacs and The Mighty Diamonds on the same bill in up-close-and-personal format is an intriguing one. The ‘Cool Ruler’, as Isaacs is known, has this nasal singing tone which no other popular Jamaican singer has approximated until Gyptian, while for four decades the Diamonds have delivered three-part harmony to outlast the trios of the 1960s and take newbies like One Third to school.

On paper, Isaacs has the hits to stay all night, from the signature Night Nurse through to the wry personal commentary Hard Drugs. However, over at least the past decade, his Jamaican performances have been tantalisingly brief and he has not closed a concert. Diamonds have I Need a Roof and Pass The Kutchie, among others, and have turned in sparkling performances, extended past their hit limits with a healthy dollop of fun.

No surprise

Last Sunday night, the contrasts in style and the respective track records made for a good night at Studio 38, Pulse headquarters, Trafalgar Road, New Kingston, before a good-sized audience (though the Beres Hammond jampacked turnout was never threatened) for the restart of the fortnightly series three days after state of emergency affairs had been officially lifted.

There was no surprise in Isaacs going first after the band’s warm-up set, and he was like a 150-metre sprint – long enough to be more than a flash on the monitor but not tackling anything as technical as the bend.

It was a blast and a singalong from start to finish, Number One through to Hard Drugs, his encore song with the standard stage re-entry of “dem still want more”, which never fails to thrill the audience. The stage at Studio 38 is small and Isaacs was not one of those performers who ventured off it to get closer to the audience.

His jacket came off, though and somewhere between Tune In and Top Ten, the knot of the red tie loosened and one side of his shirt came out of his waistband by Love Overdue. The hat stayed firmly in place, through the roars for Night Nurse, the interjection of Private Secretary and after Rumours and Border.

It was still there when he closed with I Don’t Want To Be Lonely Tonight.

His stiff-legged hop off stage and disappearance behind a speaker box was brief, as naturally “dem still want more” and were happy with the dose of Hard Drugs which Isaacs gave.

As often happens at the Studio 38 series, the promised 20-minute break ran about double that, but unlike previous stagings there were no impatient handclaps for the resumption of the show. The Mighty Diamonds, hardened in the undeclared battles of the harmony groups of yore (among the many The Paragons, The Clarendonians, The Wailers, The Jamaicans and The Gaylads), did a 400-metre-style performance.

They were out of the blocks smoothly with Right Time and Have Mercy, cruised into Africa and picked up the pace again with I Need a Roof.

Their harmonies were tight and, far ahead in the race for approval, they found time to wave to the gallery during a pair of lesser known songs – Heads of Government and Natural Natty.

Individual styles

They paused for a love song cause, which is where the personalities of the individual Diamonds came out. After wowing the audience with There’s No Me Without You they had a mock competition. The prankster Bunny Diamond did a Satchmo, the more serious, shades-sporting Judge was Smokey Robinson and lead singer in between as he crooned “some say that Rasta don’t sing love songs”.

They honoured Marley with an uptempo Keep on Moving and the Studio 38 audience honoured The Mighty Diamonds by howling for the music and singing the first part of Pass The Kutchie before they got to start the lyrics themselves.

Their first recording, Juvenile and a spiritual medley on Behold I Live, Hail HIM and the quasi-invitation “if you only knew the blessing Rastafari give” sent them thundering through the tape and the Diamonds bid all goodnight, their teeth sparkling in a trio of smiles.