LORD NELSON VERBATIM: THE BRADLEY CONNECTION
 

BRADOS

I began working with dive since the 70s, recording for KH Records. We did songs like “Black Gold,” “Shango,” “Calistra Jackass”...  Later on came "Disco Daddy.” “Mih Lover,” “We Like It” and so on.  And when we up-scaled the music and came to those later ones some people started saying that we crossed over.  We didn't really cross over, it’s just that I did things differently than regular straight-through calypso. They used to say my music was foreign music. They didn’t have a name for it.  Clive said, 'What we have going here, Nello, ii will take them a long time to realize it.'  And that was the truth.

It's a funny thing.  I can ‘1 play an instrument, but I can hum things, bass lines and so on  - all the bass lines are mine.  What I usually do is do a bass line before I could make a song.  Once I get the bass line I work the song to suit. And he was amazed that I could do these things, that I could create what I created there. And he happened to be the kind of person who could fix the creation.  He would get on the piano and reproduce the stuff fur the instruments.

Of course I knew of his great love for steel band music too.  I was aware of his earlier years of involvement with Despers up the Hill.  One of my memorable collaborations with him was “Going and Party Tonight” when the band had to go to court to he placed back in the competition.

We were like family I knew all the kids, knew his wife visited my home.  He visited my home.  I visited  his. We spent a lot of time together.

As far as "Brados", it seems like he (Les Slater) read my whole system, read my thoughts. I would have loved to do something like that but I didn‘t think I was capable.  And God sent me somebody who was capable and showed me it could be done.  I think it's just about the perfect tribute I would want to pay to Clive Bradley.