A ‘Spoonful’ of Jersey City Reggae

Eddie Skuller

Willie Dixon wrote “Spoonful” for Howlin’ Wolf in 1960. He borrowed the song from Charley Patton’s 1929 “A Spoonful Of Blues” who borrowed it from Papa Charlie Jackson’s 1925 “All I Want Is A Spoonful.” In 1961, Etta James tore the cover off the song in a blistering duet with Harvey Fuqua of doo-wop group The Moonglows. Five years after that Cream stretched it out into a psychedelic jam on its 1966 debut.

Eddie Skuller, from Jersey City, has now turned it into a reggae. Escape Hatch Records will release a limited-edition seven-inch hunk of vinyl on April 1. Produced by Victor Rice, the song is a hypnotic drug steeped in dub, richly textured and positively pulsating. Skuller says, “blues and reggae are my favorite genres of music and I wanted to fuse them together using a classic blues song that is obsessive and haunting. The lyric expresses the addictive power of love and the dark, wicked nature of human craving.”

To which producer Rice adds, "the Howlin’ Wolf version is THE version and I wasn’t sure how to retain that. But I let the sultry, sinister vibe guide the arrangement, trusting that Eddie’s voice would make sense of it all. The result is a track with many of reggae’s basic components – but it’s a different sound. And different is good.”

Bet you never heard “Spoonful” like this!

https://soundcloud.com/eddie-skuller/sets/spoonful/s-uOLJA6rWvxG

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Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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