Music obsessives keeping an eye on the underground at the beginning of 2025 might have already spotted The Gamblers making a few waves. The reggae band – fronted by punk band Booze & Glory vocalist Mark – rush released a couple of singles in January and February which not only provided an early showcase for the still new band’s writing talents, but coupled with great cover tunes, also suggested these were also musicians with great taste.
This third instalment from The Gamblers follows the exact same format as their previous releases, in that it pairs original piece with a well chosen cover. Hey, if it worked before, it’ll work again…right? Unfortunately, in this case, the answer is no.
The choice of cover this time around is somewhat misjudged. Instead of playing safe and picking something else from the vast archives of the Trojan, Upsetter or Blue Beat Labels, they’ve turned their attention to the mighty Motown, and decided that The Supremes’ ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ needed a reggae makeover. It’s not a song that’s lent itself well to covers in the past (the Vanilla Fudge mauling is fit for the bin, and even the great pop talents of Kim Wilde resulted in something uninspired), but this is…horrible. At best, possibly laughable. A grand intro where an old school organ rises suggests something interesting, possibly even great, and then Mark starts to sing. In this instance, his affected reggae tone sounds rather silly. The arrival of a great bassline and rocksteady rhythm appears to save face briefly, but as the vocal melody kicks back in, the faux reggae tone and stilted rhythm sucks the life from the familiar number. A gang vocal applied to the chorus attempts to sound rousing, but just sounds a bit half-arsed, and an instrumental break – changing the rhythm from a solid rocksteady into something that veers closer to reggae sounds of the early 90s – takes things from bad to worst. By the time the last verse arrives, this feels as if it has gone on for far too long…and even a round of whoahs – clearly an overspill from Mark’s punkier interests – can’t save face. Imagine the worst thing you ever heard by Sublime. It’s not as bad as this.
Luckily, the original cut ‘One More Time’ fares much better. From the outset, it hits upon a steady, sun filled groove, occasionally hinting at something from the early Specials catalogue, and the vaguely calypso infused elements that creep in via a muted guitar and gentle rhythm suit the band perfectly. The contrast between the swirling organ – often used to take the lead between the verses – and pointed bassline show how tight these guys can be, musically speaking. A lead guitar with an early 60s twang provides extra musical interest along the way, and a gang vocal – as per usual – on the main hook does some really heavy lifting to make this as catchy as possible. If you’ve heard The Gamblers’ previous self-penned tracks, this won’t be big on musical surprises, but in terms of capturing their love for the classic reggae sound with a little extra vocal punch, it fares brilliantly.
The Gamblers are still musicians with great taste – ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ is a superb tune – but this third outing shows them to be musicians with rather poor judgement. That shouldn’t stop you checking out this release if you’ve enjoyed their previous work, though, since ‘One More Time’ is still a massively enjoyable track, but there’s no escaping the fact that this is a much weaker outing from Mark and friends, and a disc to approach with caution.
March 2025