Chalice keeps it burning with Let It Play

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

LET IT Play is the title of the new album from veteran band Chalice.

Recently completed, guitarist/vocalist Wayne Armond says it will be released in a matter of weeks by Tads International. The self-produced 12-track set is Chalice's first full-length studio project since Tuff Enuff, which was released in Europe in the late 1990s. Let It Play will also be released 30 years after the band hit local charts with the ballad, I Still Love You.

A reggae version of Caravan of Love is one of the songs from Let It Play Chalice is banking on to get them back onto the charts. With the recent bloodshed in west Kingston, Armond feels a cover of the Isley/Jasper/Isley gem is timely.

"It's appropriate, I think Jamaica needs some form of unity," he told The Gleaner.

Armond, keyboardist Winston 'Alla' Lloyd and bass player Keith Francis are the survivors of Chalice's original line-up. The current roster is completed by lead singer Dean Stephens, guitarist Steve Golding, drummer Wayne Clarke and keyboardist Chris McDonald.

Let It Play, Armond explained, is a typical Chalice album as it covers several moods. Candle Burning is a ballad in the vein of I Still Love You while Lovers Rock and Let Jah Music Play are nods to traditional reggae.

A lack of original music

Though he is pleased with the emergence of new bands like Rootz Underground, Curfew and Uprising, Armond bemoaned the lack of original music being produced in Jamaica. He believes it is important for upcoming bands to break that mould.

"They need a 96 Degrees (In The Shade) or a Good To Be There to appeal to their generation," he said.

Good To Be There was one of the songs that established Chalice during the 1980s when its line-up included vocalists Trevor Roper and Robi Peart, drummer Desi Jones and keyboardist Mikey Wallace.

Roper and Peart gave up the music business a long time ago. Jones, who still jams with Chalice, went on to form the Skool band and toured with Jimmy Cliff while Wallace was murdered by gunmen at his St Andrew home in 1999.

Armond also toured for several years with Cliff, and has worked with a diverse set of acts including jazz pianist Monty Alexander, Richie Spice and Singing Melody. Keeping Chalice burning, however, has always been top of he and his bandmates' list.

Bands were still vogue in 1980 when Chalice broke through with I'm Still Love With You on which Armond sang lead. They released a string of hit songs over the next decade including Good To Be There, Marie, Stew Peas, Heroes and Revival Time, one of their last chart successes.

Chalice has kept busy, appearing on high-profile events like Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival and Rebel Salute. They were honoured by promoters in Cayman early this year for their contribution to Jamaican music.