welcome back to the Skaject folks! today we’re looking at The Maytal’s first full record, Never Grow Old!

yeah I’ll Never Grow Old is a fun short track to kick the record off for sure. there’s some real fun vocal messing around here, and i like that they give some space to the trumpet too. good times. Sweet Sweet Jenny is an interesting track for sure – uses the same general structure but winds up a little more bluesy (a little). Are You Mine is a full out ballad – pretty good vocal performance here, but its interesting to place a slow track like this so early in the record. Matthew Mark picks things back up a little bit with a more gospel-y track. its aight. My Destination is a really nice, really sweet track. good time. True Love is another slower ballad, and its p sweet. Just Got To Be is another p aight track. Treat Me Bad has some good sax on it, keeping pace along on the off-beats, its a good time! i like this one – wish the recording had a little better quality – the effect on the vocals is kinda strange, but on the whole i like this one. Hallelujah is another religious track. its aight. Don’t Let has some real fun vocals here (funny that its on a track where the lyrics are more a bummer, haha), and the organ here aint too shabby either. War No More ends up a little muddled, but its not a bad listen. Tell Me You Love Me is another slower paced love song to close out the record. not too shabby.

faves – I’ll Never Grow Old, My Destination, Treat Me Bad
dislikes –

yeah this was p good. the vocal performances are nice (i especially liked the tracks where they did a kind of call-and-response or slightly mis-aligned vocals, like on Are You Mine or Don’t Let), there’s a good rhythm throughout even on the slower tracks, and they give plenty of space to the horns which i love. some of the pacing gets completely halted in areas, but its not too bad. predictably, i enjoyed this most when they were picking up the speed a little more, but overall not a bad listen at all!

Never Grow Old – 5/10

next up we’re gonna check out another Maytals record, 1965’s The Sensational Maytals!


previous: National Ska: Pain In My Belly | next: The Sensational Maytals

this is the first Maytals record | next: The Sensational Maytals

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