Winston Holness, aka George Boswell, aka Niney the Observer, got his nickname from the missing digit on his hand. He started off his music career working with producer Bunny Lee. At the same time, he was moonlighting at Joe Gibbs' studio. When Lee Perry, who was working for Gibbs at the time, got fed up and quit the employ of Joe Gibbs, it was Niney that stepped into the role of engineer and producer in the studio. (These were the days before Errol Thompson stoked the fires of Gibbs studio.)
Niney has an interesting place in the reggae sound scape, with his early involvement in the Bunny Lee sound, to his role in the Gibbs output and to his connections socially and aurally to Lee Perry. Perry and Niney worked together at times and the the effect can be heard in both of their output.
On this show, I worked through a variety of Niney material for the first time. We start off with the blazing rocker from I Roy, "Roots Man." Then into a quick mix on the "Smiling Face" riddim, before getting into the King of Babylon tune that had Junior Byles on the vocal cut. Rasta No Pickpocket came next, followed by some Gregory - I Roy connects.
Other than the first tune in the mix, there are many other personal Niney including the Delroy cut of "My Baby Is Gone" with its simmering trombone line, two nice tunes from the obscure Sang Hugh, the anthemic horns cut "Zimbabwe" along with the beautiful "Wipe Away" and its ethereal dub version.
View the Setlist
[original radio broadcast 04.19.2002]
http://www.algoriddim.com/show.php?show_id=2002041
![[PLAY]](/img/play_button.gif)
