Blue Haze - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

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I inquired on a different forum about this recording, but so far no one has a good answer. Blue Haze's A&M 1972 recording has an unusual sound during the first couple of verses in the left channel that I will describe as a growl or something causing friction somewhere. It ends when the whole groups joins together during the bridge. A responder in the other forum said (I like this one) it sounds like someone has a tummy ache. Oddly, it does seem to follow the beat somewhat, but I find it very strange. Did A&M acquire this recording from a smaller label perhaps which might have been the source of the growls, or did reggae music in 1972 have this strange kind of subvocal? I'm just searching to acquire any knowledge of what the funny sounding noise is or what the noise is supposed to be. Thanks all.
 


Take it from someone living in central Florida - it sounds like a frog croaking!
 
I thought the single that I bought might have been damaged or my turntable's arm or needle could have been malfunctioning. But none of my other recordings "croaked" like this one.
 
It's in perfect rhythm. I suspect it was intentional. Harry or somebody---what's that instrument that makes kind of a squeaky/grunting sound? It's in the last few seconds of Al DeLory's "Song from M*A*S*H" (cue to 2:14):



I think Brasil '66 and some other Brazilian artists have used it too, but I'm drawing a blank.
 
Interesting. I get the feeling the answer lies somewhere in the reggae music realm which I'm not familiar with. I recognized the reference to the instrument in the M*A*S*H theme right away, but I wouldn't have connected that with what I heard on the Blue Haze record.
 
Maybe it's not a cuica on the Blue Haze record, but something similar. The rhythm of the sound and where it appears tells me it's not an incidental or accidental sound.
 
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