Twinkle Brothers Pon Top

Given the fact that Jamaica is roughly the size of New Jersey – that’s an approximation, so don’t hold me to that – it’s surprising that more groups didn’t find themselves switching players and singers more often. That thought is basically what the story of the Twinkle Brothers was (and is seeing as the group still tours).

The Twinkles, founded by the brothers Grant (Norman and Ralston), began recording during the ska and rock steady era during the ‘60s. The group put out some singles that weren’t sub-par by any stretch of the imagination, but with such an engorged market at the time, the Twinkles didn’t make any in-roads. Persisting through that era, it seems that the group found its footing during the early phases of the roots thing that took over JA music during much of the ‘70s. Releasing its first proper album in 1975, Rasta Pon Top, Ernest Hoo Kim worked the boards and helped the group issue the disc through Channel One.

The album is considered a good distillation of the music and values of the time being purported by roots acts. While that all might be true, the Twinkle Brothers’ first album didn’t exactly ignite the flame of its career. Not directly related to this, but perhaps informed by the group’s situation, Norman Grant began recording as a solo artist and was eventually invited to join the ranks of Inner Circle subsequent to the death that group’s singer Jacob Miller.

Miller, who himself should be considered a pillar of JA music, had joined Inner Circle during the early ‘70s after the ensemble had been working for a good few years cranking out soul covers. Miller’s approach radicalized the band to a certain extent. But the singer was still focused on his own solo career and would come to inform only portions of Inner Circle’s albums splitting time in the studio between his own Rasta infused works and the more pop oriented fair that his group put out.

Grant’s inclusion into the Circle, though, made his association with the Twinkle brethren seem tenuous at best. There were sporadic breaks in recording and it appeared that Grant was more concerned with fame chasing than with the group that he founded. Regardless of that perspective, some of the early roots work that the Twinkles ratcheted out from studios stands up today as not only a proper antecedent, but pillar of religiosity in the genre.

That first disc, Rasta Pon Top, possesses some antiquated sounding guitar, but apart from that, the production and vocals can easily said to have informed John Brown’s Body, a NY based reggae group active since the ‘90s. JBB’s vocalist, Elliot Martin, shares more than a passing reference in soul and RnB with Norman Grant. Both bands are also able to make that one recognizable reggae tempo jump up and move with only the slightest bit of difficulty.

If there wasn’t a proper vocal heir to the Grant throne, the Twinkles discography, which is relatively difficult to come by considering the fact that most albums were initially released by the group’s own imprint, still needs to be considered an important one in reggae’s trajectory.