Aquarius Rock

Herman Chin Loy's sound was highly distinctive specialising in the quirky and the offbeat his Scorpio and Aquarius labels were responsible for some of the most innovative instrumentals in Jamaican music.

He was actually making instrumental records under the name of Augustus Pablo before a skinny youth called Horace Swaby turned up in his shop holding a melodica! Herman took him to the studio and gifted the name Augustus Pablo to the young Swaby. The rest is history.

Based in his Kingston record shop at Half Way Tree and deejaying at some of Kingston's coolest clubs Herman was perfectly placed to pick up on the 'street' vibes of his young hip customers in the early seventies.

What we have here are some of the liveliest funky reggae music that was ever made with a handful of vocal tracks including two different cuts of Alton Ellis' 'Alton's Official Daughter', Dennis Brown's classic 'Song My Mother Used To Sing' and the little known but very talented Archie McKay with 'Pick Up The Pieces'. DJ Dennis AlCapone and super scat intros from Herman himself also feature and this album is a delight from start to finish.

Tracklist

A1.   Augustus Pablo & Herman - Aquarius Rock
A2.   James Eastwood - Darkest Night
A3.   Augustus Pablo - The Red Sea
A4.   Alton Ellis - Alton's Official Daughter (Version One)
A5.   Herman - Aquarius Dub
A6.   Alton Ellis - Alton's Official Daughter (Version Two)

B1.   The Aquarians - Funky Aquarius (Aquarius Horns)
B2.   Charlie Boy - Funky Strip
B3.   Augustus Pablo & Herman - Iggy Iggy
B4.   Sounds Unlimited - Roadrunner
B5.   Augustus Pablo - Song Of The East
B6.   Sounds Unlimited - Middle East Skank

C1.   Archie McKay - Pick Up The Pieces
C2.   Beres - No More War
C3.   Herman - No More Version
C4.   Augustus Pablo - East Of The River Nile
C5.   The Teacher - Soul Vibration
C6.   Herman - River Nile Version

D1.   Augustus Pablo - Snowball And Pudding
D2.   Dennis AlCapone - Return Of Sabata
D3.   Herman - Sabata
D4.   Dennis Brown - Song My Mother Used To Sing
D5.   Leroy Parker - Groove With It
D6.   Herman - I Man

Credits

Bass - Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Robbie Shakespeare, Val Douglas
Drums - Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar, Mikey 'Boo' Richards
Guitar - Alva "Reggie" Lewis, Mikey Chung, Lorraine "Ronny Bop" Williams
Keyboards - Earl "Wire" Lindo, Geoffrey Chung, Glen 'Capo' Adams, Horace 'Augustus Pablo' Swaby, Lloyd Charmers, Tyrone Downey
Liner Notes - Harry Hawke
Melodica - Horace 'Augustus Pablo' Swaby
Percussion - Uziah "Sticky" Thompson
Tenor Saxophone - Tommy McCook
Trombone - Vincent 'Don D Junior' Gordon
Trumpet - Bobby Ellis