IN CROWD
Milk & Honey / Version / AZUL Bitter Sweet / Sour Juice

One of the many unsung heroes of Jamaican music, Clive Hunt is a multi-instrumentalist that played a key part in many studio conglomerates, before moving on to become a producer in his own right. Hunt’s intrinsic feel for music manifested early, while a student at Stony Hill reform school, leading to a stint on the trumpet in Jamaica’s military band. In 1972, Geoffrey Chung invited him to Harry J to play on Lorna Bennett’s debut album, and because he offered suggestions to improve the arrangements, he became part of Chung’s band the In Crowd, then the top studio ensemble in Jamaica. By 1975 he was recording and producing his own material, sometimes under obscure nicknames such as Azul or Lizard; though Dennis Brown’s subsequent cover version is better known, ‘Milk & Honey’ was a spirited Clive Hunt original that surfaced in minute numbers on Jigsaw (and also on his Azul label as ‘Milk & Honey Bees’), crediting the In Crowd but actually featuring Hunt on all instruments, as well as lead vocals. In addition to its original version B-side, we’ve also got a couple of alternate instrumental takes here, namely ‘Bitter Sweet’ and ‘Sour Juice,’ the former making the most of a sprightly keyboard melody, the latter shifting emphasis to drum and bass.
David Katz ©