Cymande - Arrival

Weird fourth LP never quite takes off

It’s a wonder that more people don’t know about London-based British- Caribbean funk powerhouse Cymande. Their trio of albums released on Janus in the early 70s have provided DJs with an endless source of breaks, their mix of rock, calypso, soul and funk launching perfect street party anthems with tracks such as Bra and Brothers On The Slide. Amazingly, they’re barely even known in England, let alone abroad.

Disbanding in 1974, they seemingly had time to record one more LP, which remained unreleased until 1981, when the NYC-based Paul Winley label put it out among their hip-hop catalogue. Arrival has always been the oddity in Cymande’s discography, though. Compared with earlier work, it’s wholly lacklustre. Even the opener, What’s The Word – Good Times, fails to really settle into any driving groove.

Perhaps the onslaught of disco forced Cymande to simplify their sound. Incredibly dull ballads alternate with less-than-inspired attempts at floor-fillers, with, perhaps, only the closing It’s Magic, a Philly International-inspired groove, coming close to scaling the heights of earlier gems.

2 stars 2 stars

Paul Winley/Traffic | TEG-9927

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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