Jesse Green’s Nice And Slow

Title: Nice And Slow

Label: BBR

An interesting album if, for no other reason, that it integrates soul and R&B into a reggae atmosphere to create a disco/soul album that, in 1976, surprised many people who were more familiar with Green as part of the backing band for Jamaican vocal outfit, The Pioneers.

By the end of 1974, Green was playing drums and singing with reggae artists such as Jimmy Cliff. Deciding on a solo career, he turned to the EMI-distributed Red Bus label. Another odd choice because the label was best known for the glam outfit, Geordie (featuring future AC/DC vocalist, Brian Johnson).

Looking to change emphasis, Green decided to shift from reggae to the slick form of soul/disco. In addition to singing, Green added guitar, bass and percussion. The first single was, indeed, Nice And Slow which hit No 1 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club chart and hit the national charts in, of all places, Holland and Belguim that betrayed its broad-based appeal (The UK saw it reach No 17).

Flip was the second single that followed a similar structure to Nice And Slow and did almost (but not quite) the same level of business as the debut single. Fun and bouncy with lots of key words for listeners to instantly remember, it was perfect chart fodder.

There were other, more considered, songs on the album, though. For example You Came, You Saw, You Conquered featured endearing falsetto sequences while The Greatest Love was a soft and gentle ballad. The feel-good playing and arrangements of tunes such as Let’s Get It On and Don’t Let Me Down distinguish Green’s material from other disco records while tracks such as Easy provide a measure of depth to the tracklisting.