John Oates Releases Mini-Doc of Recent Jamaica Recording Session

When John Oates appeared on the Questlove Supreme podcast last year, he revealed that the Hall & Oates classic “Maneater” originally started out as a reggae-flavored guitar idea inspired by Oates’ trip to Jamaica in 1980. Of course, the song we all came to know ended up sounding radically different than what Oates first heard in his head. But Questlove’s listeners lobbied for Oates to let the world hear what he’d originally put down on tape. Since that early recording amounted to little more than a sketch, Oates decided to travel back to Jamaica to record a proper reggae version closer in spirit to the vision he’d had all along.

Today, Oates is sharing a mini-doc that gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the recording session, which featured some veteran reggae heavyweights including legendary drummer Sly Dunbar, guitarist Earl “Chinna” Smith, late bassist Chris Meredith and keyboardist Robbie Lyn all under the guidance of producer Native Wayne Jobson. The collective resumé assembled in the room is far too deep to list here, but let’s just say that, between them, this group of musicians worked with some of the biggest names in reggae, including Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Toots and the Maytals and Burning Spear as well as Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse and Bob Dylan.

Longtime fans may be surprised to discover that “Maneater” was only superficially about a female character and was instead supposed to function as a metaphor for the grittiness of New York City during the 1970s. It’s also enlightening to hear musicians of such prominence talk about what big Hall & Oates fans they are.

Watch “Maneater (Reggae Version),” the fifth in Oates’ series of standalone singles, which he discussed at length with Paste back in March.

Watch John Oates perform with Guthrie Trapp perform last year at the Paste Studio on the road in Brooklyn.