The Rythmn Boys from Singapore backed many popular singers in the mid to late 1960s and even performed in a couple of movies. The band is said to have won a battle of the bands competition in Singapore in 1965 playing Rolling Stones songs. The Rythmn boys were M. Ayob Taib (lead guitar), M. Osman Said (rhythm guitar), M. Ali Taib (bass), A. Rahim Razak (organ) and M. Nor Ahmad (drums).

The Rythmn Boys first came to prominence backing singer A. Ramlie on his first few EPs, which were big hits in Singapore and Malaysia in 1966. The band made recordings following that with a number of other singers, including S. Mariam, Novel (from Indonesia), M. Amin, Adnan Othman, and S. Ahmad. Not all those recordings include organ and some of the record covers have pictures of the band with only four members, so A. Rahim Razak may have joined later.

Presented here are the first two EPs The Rythmn Boys recorded with Ramlah Aziz. There are good songs on both EPs, but the thing that really impresses me is the organ playing, especially on the second EP, which adds a very atmospheric tone.

The titles on the first EP are Bertemasha (Excursion), Kaseh Yang Suchi (Pure Love), Kerana Setia (Because Of Loyalty) and Rela (Consent), which seems to be another song related to Indonesia’s ‘Confrontation’ with Malaysia, in which Ramlah consents to her loved one going off to ‘defend the nation’.

On the second EP the songs are Janji (Promise), Untok Mu (For You), Balasan Illahi (God’s Judgement) and Sukma Ria (Proud Soul). A number of songs on both EPs are credited to Salleh Aziz, who may have been Ramlah’s brother, or other relation. I have seen reports of The Rythmn Boys playing nostalgia concerts over many years. Perhaps they never stopped.

(Updated from the original January 3, 2008 post to include new text and the first EPs scans.