Marcia Griffiths - Sweet And Nice (2LP) [Be With Records]

Format: 2x12". 2026 Reissue, 140g vinyl, remastered, double LP with the original album plus a second disc featuring 14 rare tracks.
CAT: BEWITH056LP

Sweet And Nice is the seminal debut album from Jamaica's undisputed First Lady of Song, Marcia Griffiths. Reggae at its most soulful. Elegantly traversing ten tight tracks of R&B and pop material, it immediately became a best-seller. 45 years after its original release, the LP is back on vinyl, now as a double LP, with an extra disc bringing together 14 rare songs.

Over the years, Sweet And Nice appeared with a modified track order and under different titles. But the original's opening sequence, laden with relaxed and enveloping soul, is legendary even outside reggae circles. These songs now return as they were presented in that first Jamaican edition and under the original title conceived for the album. Be With doesn't touch the magic.

Marcia's version of “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” has for years been an object of desire and selected by DJs of different genres to ignite dance floors for decades. It's followed by the sophisticated and vibrant wah-wah funk of “Everything I Own,” the impeccable smooth lovers soul piece that is “Green Grasshopper” and her excellent and rhythmic rendition of Neil Diamond's “Play Me.”

The thunderous, damp funk of “Children At Play” “sounds surprisingly like a precursor to Massive Attack,” as FACT Mag rightly noted when they placed Sweet And Nice at number 16 on their list of the 100 greatest albums of the seventies. Atmospheric, melancholic, and essential.

Side B maintains the level. “Sweet, Bitter Love” should leave you completely captivated and is also one of the album's alternative titles. Then comes the now eternal “Gypsy Man” by Curtis Mayfield, reinterpreted here as a kind of proto lovers rock.

“There’s No Me Without You” achieves classic status thanks to the majestic and melancholic horns of Federal Soul Givers and Marcia’s moving performance. And if this doesn't convince you, the next track surely will: possibly the definitive version of Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Yes, seriously.

“I Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely” regains its rightful place closing the second side of the LP… but we didn’t want to stop there. That’s why we added a full second disc with rare material recorded around the same period as Sweet And Nice, much of which had not been available since its original release. Some of these songs had only appeared on now virtually impossible-to-find 7” singles, and no, rarity doesn’t always mean quality, but in this case, we're talking about truly stunning music.

Among the 14 additional tracks, you'll find the exquisite late-sixties singles “Melody Life” and “Mark My Word,” which, along with the sumptuous rendition of “Band Of Gold,” are now £100 records… if you can find them. Just saying. There’s also a fantastic cover of “The First Cut Is the Deepest” and an alternate take of “Play Me” with producer Lloyd Charmers adding his own vocals.

Of course, everything has been remastered, including the original LP, so Sweet And Nice now sounds even sweeter… and even nicer.