Musical mission energizes Third World
LONGEVITY: Formed in 1972, band has become one of Jamaica’s most successful acts of all time
Richard Daley has been a member of Third World since the band’s founding in 1972. One of the few originals in the group’s otherwise fluid membership, he has been around to watch it become one of Jamaica’s most enduring and consistently successful acts of all time.
“And you know, man, it’s still a mystery to me — the longevity,” said Daley. “Praise be to the Almighty that we have this mission that it keeps going. Don’t want to sound overly philosophical, but Third World is a collective mind that is bigger than the individuals.”
The mission was to make music that crossed over reggae, R& B and pop genres. While purists might have winged about the band’s slick style, they couldn’t deny its appeal.
It put the band in British and American charts countless times over the decades with classics such as 96° in the Shade (1977), Try Jah Love (1982) and Committed (1992). Last year, it was a version of Jackie DeShannon’s 1969 hit Put A Little Love in Your Heart. This was from 2014’s covers album Under the Magic Sun.
“That wasn’t really meant to be a proper album, but instead was Cleopatra Records asking us to pick songs that we had loved over the years and listened to on our car stereos in our own time for a compilation,” Daley said.
“But then when it came along they decided to release it. It’s not really material we play so much.”
Which isn’t to say that Third World doesn’t throw in a classic OJay’s tune or even the occasional country and western hit into a set. This music has always been part off the band’s heritage.
“Growing up in the ’60s in Jamaica you know that there was no format on the radio so you could have something by Marty Robbins followed by Fats Domino and then the Impressions,” he said.
“So for us — for most Jamaican musicians — it became more about the song than anything else, and then about everyone singing as sweet as Jim Reeves, you know?”
These influences turn up everywhere in the music of the island and the hybrids that have been produced — from ska to reggae, dance hall to dubwise — have then influenced generations of musicians all across the world. Key to getting the sound right is getting locked in the groove. Daley said there is still nothing like that experience when it happens playing live.
“When you feel the bass line become one, it’s quite a sensation, quite a really beautiful thing,” he said. “It keeps you feeling young.”
The band still spans the globe but aren’t the months-on-end road warriors they were in their youth. These days, Daley said, they go more places but with much more time in between.
The Third World way now is a week in the Ivory Coast, another in Dubai, a few weeks’ road trip such as the tour that brings the band back to Vancouver with acclaimed co-headliners Morgan Heritage.
“It’s really about the world now, perhaps because many people in countries such as India or Africa grew up with those same kind of radio stations,” Daley said. “Whatever it is, there is a younger global generation that wants reggae and we are more than happy to bring it.”
He said the new material that the band will be performing is some of the strongest of its career. The band goes into studio with Damian Marley later this year to finish the new, as-yet-untitled album.