Dig Deeper is honored to present two legends of Jamaican soul, ska, and rocksteady – Stranger Cole and Patsy – who will appear for the first time together in NYC for one night only, backed by local supergroup Crazy Baldhead. Tickets available on Ticketweb: http://tinyurl.com/strangerpatsy-digdeeper
The Bell House 149 7th St. Brooklyn, NY $20 advance/$25 at door
Casbah Taj Mahal 1000 Boardwalk @ Virginia Avenue Atlantic City, NJ $20/$10 with CK Expo badge
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Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Eastern Standard Time, Mr. T-Bone, Bigger Thomas, The Rudie Crew DC's Eastern Standard Time comes to Brooklyn together with Italian trombone sensation, Mr. T-Bone to meet up with Bigger Thomas and the Rudie Crew for a great night of dancing tunes! Don't miss it!
Goodbye Blue Monday 1087 Broadway Brooklyn, New York J train to Kosciuszko $6.00/All Ages
According to the Jamaica Observer, the extraordinary ska and rocksteady vocalist of The Ethiopians Leonard Dillon died of lung and prostate cancer yesterday at the age of 69.
Essentially a mouthpiece for singer and songwriter Leonard Dillon, the Ethiopians were one of Jamaica's most influential vocal groups during their heyday. Not only did the duo (completed by Stephen Taylor) spearhead the transition between ska and rocksteady, Dillon's heavily Rastafarian lyrics also paved the way for the socially conscious roots reggae era that was to come. Born in Port Antonio in 1942, Dillon grew up in a Christian family and discovered music through their church. Having written some original songs, he moved to Kingston in 1963; finding the going difficult, he returned home for a time to regroup, but made the move back to Kingston permanently in 1964. Not long after, he met Peter Tosh, who liked his original material and introduced Dillon to the rest of the Wailers. The Wailers in turn brought Dillon to Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One, where Dillon made his first recordings under the name Jack Sparrow. Two Sparrow singles, "Ice Water" and "Suffering on the Land," were both released in 1965.
Around the same time, Dillon discovered a street-corner singing duo consisting of Taylor and singer/guitarist Aston Morris. At first, he invited them to sing backup for him, then decided to form a full-fledged group dubbed the Ethiopians. Together they cut several excellent singles for Studio One in 1966, including "Free Man," "Live Good," and the ska/rocksteady-bridging "Owe Me No Pay Me." Morris, a songwriter in his own right, elected to leave the group by the end of 1966, reducing the Ethiopians to a duo. Meanwhile, Dillon was working a day job in construction and met another singer there named Albert Griffiths (who would later found the Gladiators). Together they convinced their boss to finance a recording session, and the result for the Ethiopians was the breakthrough smash hit "Train to Skaville," which even managed to scrape the lower reaches of the U.K. Top 40.
With this success under their belt, the Ethiopians recorded prolifically over the remainder of 1967, cutting hits like "Engine 54," "Train to Glory," "Stay Loose Mama," and another big smash in the percussion-driven "The Whip"; all but the former were recorded for rocksteady producer Sonia Pottinger, and they also worked a bit with Lee "Scratch" Perry. 1968 saw the release of their first LP, Engine 54, and the arrival of a semiofficial third vocalist, Melvin Reid. Toward the end of that year, the group teamed with producer Carl "Sir J.J." Johnson in what would become their most celebrated association. Their first hit for Johnson was the proto-reggae "Everything Crash," a socially conscious, rhythmically jerky juggernaut that became arguably the group's signature tune. Through 1970, Johnson and the Ethiopians collaborated on numerous other groundbreaking hits, including "What a Fire," "Gun Man," "Hong Kong Flu," "Woman Capture Man" (the title track of their third LP), and "The Selah," all of which helped keep them popular in the U.K. as well as Jamaica.
The restless Dillon subsequently moved the Ethiopians to a succession of other labels and producers; over 1969-1971, they recorded popular material for Harry Robinson ("Fire a Mus Mus Tail"), Lloyd Daley ("Satan Girl"), Derrick Harriott ("Lot's Wife," "No Baptism"), and Duke Reid ("Good Ambition," "Pirate"). As the group evolved into a rootsier reggae outfit over the next few years, all the producer-hopping grew even more frantic over the next several years, with Vincent Chin, Prince Buster, Joe Gibbs, Bob Andy, and Rupie Edwards numbering just some of the group's collaborators. Part of the reason was that Dillon hadn't been receiving his fair share of past royalties and was forced to record constantly just to make money. Reid left for good in 1974, by which time Dillon and Taylor had taken day jobs once again. Sadly, Taylor's day job would turn into tragedy in September 1975: he was working at a gas station when he was killed by a van while crossing the street.
Taylor's untimely death effectively spelled the end of the Ethiopians' golden age. Dillon, understandably distraught, took a hiatus from music for a time, returning home to Port Antonio for two years. Eventually, he contacted charter member Aston Morris and revived the Ethiopians name, cutting the rootsy, political album Slave Call in 1977 with producer Winston "Niney" Holness. Dillon toured off and on under the Ethiopians name afterwards, sometimes with Harold Bishop and Neville Duncan, and recorded occasionally as a solo act in the '80s and '90s. Toward the end of the millennium, he formed a new Ethiopians lineup with female backing vocalists Jennifer Lara and Merlene Webber, who appeared on the 1999 album Tuffer Than Stone.
There really is no other reason to be anywhere else this Saturday night (10/1/11) in NYC than the Bell House in Brooklyn (click on the image at right for all of the details) to see the first performance together in NYC by Stranger Cole and Patsy, backed by the all-star Crazy Baldhead band (plus Mr. Robinson & DJ Honky on the decks, as well as the Deadly Dragon Sound System). This is an extremely rare and historic opportunity to witness two of the ska and rocksteady eras' greatest and most soulful singers making incredible music (apparently it took the promoters--namely Agent Jay--around four years of pursuing, pleading, and negotiating with the artists to make this happen)!
For those not in the know, my friends at Marco on the Bass and Lawless Street have some terrific background on Stranger Cole and Patsy that will inform you of their great significance to the history of Jamaican music and provide you with some more info on the show (like who's performing in the all-star Crazy Baldhead band).
From the event's Dig Deeper Facebook page, it looks like everyone who is anyone in the current ska scene will be there, so there will be lots of familiar faces in the crowd to catch up with and share the experience.
Tickets are available for purchase online here. It might be a good idea to buy them in advance (I've got mine right here), since there is a big buzz about this show...
Big, big news for NYC ska fans--UK-based King Hammond has just announced two New York City shows in early December! He'll be backed at both gigs by the fantastic NYC skinhead/dirty reggae band The Hard Times. The Duff Guide to Ska is a rabid fan of both acts (and was very jealous of SoCal ska fans when KH played several gigs in San Diego this past June), so I'm completely ecstatic that these shows are happening--and I strongly urge you to make it to a least one of them (I'm going to both)!
Here are the details (The Hard Times will be playing their own set at each show in addition to backing King Hammond):
If you're not familiar with King Hammond (aka Nick Welsh, ex-Skaville UK, Selecter, Big 5, Bad Manners), read The Duff Guide to Ska reviews of his latest albums here, here, and here.
And check out The Duff Guide to Ska review of The Hard Times' EP Two Bucks for Bobhere--and our write-up of one their gigs from earlier this year here.
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Lastly, here are videos from KH, The Hard Times, and Dub is a Weapon:
Discotheque Records
2011
4-track 7" vinyl single
(Available in the US through Jump Up Records)
(Review by Steve Shafer)
Things don't look very promising when you first peruse the list of artists on "Doin' the Popcorn Ska" and come across such early 1960s squeaky-clean, Wonder Bread-types as Neil "Breakin' Up is Hard to Do" Sedaka, former Mouseketeer and Beach Party movie series star Annette Funicello, and doo-wop trio The Fleetwoods (the exception is "Baby" Earl and The Trini-Dads--but we'll get to them in a minute). You'd think to yourself, what could these pop artists possibly know about ska music?
Plenty, it turns out. And that's what is so surprising about this record. All of these artists aren't just lazily mimicking the ska sound--they were making serious attempts to work within the parameters of this musical genre (albeit while pursuing their dreams of topping the pop charts).
The unlikely and now almost unimaginable hit that Millie Small scored in the USA in 1964 (#2 on the US and UK charts--the first ska crossover hit--selling over six million copies world-wide) with her cover of Bobby Spencer's "My Boy Lollypop" (which was originally recorded by Barbie Gaye in 1956 and was a minor R and B hit in NYC on Alan Freed's show on WINS) spawned the first, brief ska craze in America (see the surreal Bob Hope/Annette Funicello video below, where Hope bungles which album she's promoting), as musicians scrambled to capitalize on Small's hit sound (produced by Chris Blackwell and arranged by Ernest Ranglin, who also played guitar on the track). The interest in ska, no doubt, was also reinforced in part by the appearance of several ska artists in the Jamaican Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City, where Byron Lee and the Dragonaires backed Prince Buster, Eric "Monty" Morris, Millie Small, and Jimmy Cliff. Plus, other forms of traditional Caribbean music had proved extremely popular with music fans in the US. Harry Belafonte's 1956 Calypso album (which contained mostly mento, actually, and featured songs like "Day-O" and "Jamaica Farewell") was the very first LP in any genre ever to sell over a million copies.
Musically, The Fleetwood's buoyant "Ska Light, Ska Bright"--written, recorded, and released by the band a few months after Millie Small's chart success--hews fairly closely to the established "My Boy Lollipop" model (each short vocal line alternates with the horn riff), but mixes in a few elements of teen pop from that era--like the spare vocal intro sung over strummed guitar chords and the trio's vocal arrangements during the chorus (as well as chastely pining for a special someone: "I used to wish upon a star/But stars can't hear/they're much too far/Instead, I've learned to wish upon a ska/You'll hear me, ska light, ska bright/First ska I dance tonight/I wish I may/I wish I might/Do the ska with her tonight"). Considering that this Pacific Northwest group (Olympia, Washington to be exact) had very limited access to recorded Jamaican music (let alone culture), this is a strong outing in uncharted territory.
For Annette Funicello's latest "Beach Party" sequel tie-in LP in 1964 (the movie this time out was "Bikini Beach"), the folks at Disney turned to Byron Lee and the Dragonaires' song "Jamaica Ska." That year, Atlantic Records had released a compilation of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (appearing as The Ska Kings) productions called Jamaica Ska, which included the 1962 song of the same name (Lee distributed Atlantic releases in JA, so the label had a direct connection to other ska artists after "My Boy Lollipop" hit it big--apparently Atlantic label head Ahmet Ertegun went down to Jamaica to check out the scene and Atlantic tried to score a hit on the US charts with "Oil in My Lamp" by Byron Lee and The Ska Kings, with Toots Hibbert on vocals, but it flopped, as it only appeared at #98 for one week). So for her Annette at Bikini Beach album, Funicello's producers probably decided to take a shot with a ska song. It's "beachy" dance music from the Caribbean that already had some huge exposure/traction in the US--and since any teen music fan worth their salt probably knew that "My Boy Lollipop" was a ska song, it didn't hurt that Lee's track had ska in its title and chorus. Annette's version is a good and faithful reading of the tune, but her vocals definitely conform to the (white) mainstream teen pop expectations of the day, which can seem a bit jarring when heard in the present-day context. (Annette also revisited this tune years later for the Beach Party parody Back to the Beach (1987) with Fishbone making the music--see the video below).
Neil Sedaka's "Do the Jellyfish" (1965)--which he must have written when he was slumming between hits, as it appeared on the soundtrack of the jellyfish monster-man B-horror film "Sting of Death"--skates perilously close to novelty record due to its crummy lyrics ("Wella/Fella/Get your Cinderella/and do the jilla-jalla-jella/It's really swella/To do the Jellyfish"). However, if you block out what Sedaka is actually singing, he's penned a pretty decent, catchy ska song--one that is ripe for being covered, but with brand new lyrics (I'm begging you!).
The real treasure on "Doin' the Popcorn Ska" is "Baby" Earl and the Trini-Dad's revved-up "Back Slop," which beautifully illustrates the connective tissue between R and B, early rock 'n' roll and ska. It's essentially a pumped-up 12-bar blues instrumental (something the early ska artists in JA would hear broadcast from a radio station in New Orleans) married to a Jamaican ska offbeat--and it works so well (I actually hear "Night Train" in there, which was covered both by The Toasters and The Scofflaws in the early 90s). "Baby" Earl and the Trini-Dads were better known as the Church Street Five, the Norfolk, Virginia-based Legrand Records' house band, which played on raucous early-'60s R and B/rock 'n' roll hits by Gary "U.S." Bonds and Jimmy Soul (interestingly enough, both artists recorded calypso or calypso-inspired cuts backed by the Church Street Five). Now that "Back Slop" is in print once again, you're gonna hear a lot of ska DJs play this one, as it's guaranteed to fill the dancefloor...
Dig Deeper is honored to present two legends of Jamaican soul, ska, and rocksteady – Stranger Cole and Patsy – who will appear for the first time together in NYC for one night only, backed by local supergroup Crazy Baldhead. Tickets available on Ticketweb: http://tinyurl.com/strangerpatsy-digdeeper
The Bell House 149 7th St. Brooklyn, NY $20 advance/$25 at door
Casbah Taj Mahal 1000 Boardwalk @ Virginia Avenue Atlantic City, NJ $20/$10 with CK Expo badge
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Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Eastern Standard Time, Mr. T-Bone, Bigger Thomas, The Rudie Crew DC's Eastern Standard Time comes to Brooklyn together with Italian trombone sensation, Mr. T-Bone to meet up with Bigger Thomas and the Rudie Crew for a great night of dancing tunes! Don't miss it!
Goodbye Blue Monday 1087 Broadway Brooklyn, New York J train to Kosciuszko $6.00/All Ages
Washington, DC's Eastern Standard Time is teaming up with Italy's Mr. T-Bone for a short tour of parts of the Midwest this October--as well as a night over the border in Canada at the Montreal Ska Festival and another in my home base of NYC! You like traditional/jazzy ska? Then you need to get yourself to one of these shows, since EST and Mr. T-Bone are two of the finest acts you can hope to see (plus, along the way, they will be sharing the stage with special guests like The Skatalites, Murder City Players, 1592, Bigger Thomas, and The Rudie Crew)!
Side A of The Crombies' debut single contains Niney the Observer's dread apocalyptic/spliff-sparking classic "Blood & Fire" re-fashioned as if covered by a Too Much Pressure-era Selecter (and the results are knees-up fantastic). The flip is "Mad at the World," an old Mike Park-penned DGB tune from the late 90s that is run through the 2 Tone converter--and I have to say I much prefer this version to the original.
The Crombies have a long-player coming out this fall (on LP, CD, and cassette, even)--and, from listening to this, it promises to be a real stormer!
The Duff Guide to Ska Grade: A
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To stream The Crombies' "Blood and Fire," go to the Jump Up website and click on the track on the label's player.
This October, if you are anywhere within striking distance of Montreal, you must get yourself to the third annual Montreal Ska Festival, presented by the Montreal Ska Society, a non-profit, 100% volunteer-run organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Quebecois and Canadian ska music and culture.
Since there are a slew of ska gigs and events coming up this fall in the NYC area, The Duff Guide to Ska though it might be helpful to put them all together in one place for the ska fans around Gotham...
Thursday, September 15, 2011 from 6:30-10:00 pm
Roots Rock Reggae Resident selectors Hahn Solo (Dub Is A Weapon, Lee "Scratch" Perry) and President Carter (WKCR, Wax Poetics) will be on-hand to serve up the finest selections on 100% pure vinyl.
Motor City Bar 127 Ludlow Street (between Rivington and Delancey) New York, New York Free/21+ (This event takes place most Thursday nights!)
The Stanhope House 45 Main Street Stanhope, NJ $10.00/21+
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Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 9:00 pm
NYC Champion Reggae / Move Your Mule: Big Boss, Maddie Ruthless New Orleans ska songstress and all-around anarchist Maddie Ruthless is in town. She'll be doing a solo set to get you started. Then, Big Boss bigs up the back room with reggae, rub-a-dub style.
Otto's Shrunken Head 538 East 14th Street New York, New York Free/21+
Dig Deeper is honored to present two legends of Jamaican soul, ska, and rocksteady – Stranger Cole and Patsy – who will appear for the first time together in NYC for one night only, backed by local supergroup Crazy Baldhead. Tickets available on Ticketweb: http://tinyurl.com/strangerpatsy-digdeeper
The Bell House 149 7th St. Brooklyn, NY $20 advance/$25 at door
Highline Ballroom 431 W 16th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues) New York, NY 10011 $12 in advance/$15 day of show/16+
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Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Eastern Standard Time, Mr. T-Bone, Bigger Thomas, The Rudie Crew DC's Eastern Standard Time comes to Brooklyn together with Italian trombone sensation, Mr. T-Bone to meet up with Bigger Thomas and the Rudie Crew for a great night of dancing tunes! Don't miss it!
Goodbye Blue Monday 1087 Broadway Brooklyn, New York J train to Kosciuszko $6.00/All Ages
Voting for the 2012 London International Ska Festival band competition is now open! To vote, choose one act from the 20 finalists listed below and email the band's name to enquiries@rockersrevolt.com. There is only vote per person (only valid email addresses will be count)--and the contest ends on December 1, 2011. You can listen to tracks from all 20 finalists on the LISF band page.
Since I'm based in New York City, I'd love to see an American band win this contest, so I've started the list below with the US acts...
Bigger Thomas The Forthrights Maddie Ruthless See Spot Green Room Rockers Babylove and the Van Dangos Offbeat Offensive The Riffs The Downsetters Akatz The Simmertones Monkey Boots Kinky Coo Coos Captain Accident Jamaica 69 Bombscare Los Furios The Oldians Jeramiah Ferrari The Liptones
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The 2012 London International Ska Festival will be held between 3rd - 6th May 2012 at Brixton Academy, Shepards Bush Empire and Islington Academy. Already confirmed for 2012 are: The Dualers (UK), Neol Davies aka The Selecter (UK), The Hotknives (original line-up; UK), The Moon Invaders (Belgium), Los Granadians (Spain), Capone & The Bullets (Scotland)--plus DJs Andy Smith (Trojan Document/Jam Up Twist); Count Skylarkin (Skylarkin Sound System/Big 10"); Tim 'Bilko' Wells; Mark 'Bazza' Barrett (Pressure Drop); 3DJ (Funkdub). More bands and DJs to be confirmed and announced over the coming months.
The Copy: The Beatdown cook up a tasteful stew of roots reggae, ska, 60's soul, delivered with a gritty and uncompromising punk rock ethic. Formed out of the ashes of the now legendary ska bands, The One Night Band, The Planet Smashers and Kingpins. With special guests, The Royal Swindle, trad soulful ska from Connecticut (and made of members of Sgt. Scagnetti, Flip Ya For Real, The Stepbacks, and The Mugwams).
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Read The Duff Guide to Ska's review of The Beatdown's debut album here.
North London band the Usual Players produce a spirited brand of spiky post-2 Tone ska that could be best described as what you'd hear if Dick Lucas of Citizen Fish were ever to front The Toasters. (Yes, Usual Players singer Lewis Norton's voice is strikingly similar to Lucas'--compare this Citizen Fish track to one of the UP's tracks below). As the album's title might suggest (and the singer's working class accent re-affirms), the world perspective presented here is that of the average man in the street--but the kicker is that all the lyrics here essentially relate to having lived long enough and been let down so often that you've become completely disappointed by life.
Songs on Street Ska include those about being totally uninspired by corporatized, rebellion-free modern rock ("The Soul of Rock and Roll (is Dead)"); guiltily trolling for semi-anonymous sexual liaisons on Facebook ("Fancy a Facebook"--a new crude phrase for the digital age!); dysfunctional relationships with the opposite sex ("Free" and the stuck-in-my head "Cool Girl"); disgust at a political system that only rewards the powerful and rich ("Right on John"); a tale about an immigrant from Italy who pays her way through prostitution (the reggay-ish "Santa Maria"); and struggling to find an escape from the boredom and monotony of school and work, but finding yourself trapped in the same old same old and being painfully aware of your life slipping away ("Bad Pills," So Whatford"). Despite all the cynicism, disillusionment, and bleakness on display here, it's not all grim. There is much wit and humor to be found in the Usual Players' lyrics (from "Tatt's Too Bad": "Hooligans with Buddha on their arms/but they can't even tell you what religion reads the Qur'an")--plus it doesn't hurt that the songs are get-up-on-your-feet catchy!
In "Right on John," Norton's sung criticism of "how things are" is pretty sharp and furious (but not off the mark): "We like to keep the dog well fed/by keeping half the Third World dead/Fueling our homes and our cars/by the means of illegitimate wars/There's no such thing as climate change/just another one of their controlling aims/Using fear as a way of tax/to keep us on the straight, narrow tracks." But then later in the song, he deflates any trace of self-righteous Bono/St. Bob pomposity by stating, "Don't you just hate the song/when politics are spoken by some musician/It's not that you disagree with the opinion/It's just lame/I know I should do more, join a march/or rally for some cause/But that just seems long/So for now I'll protest in this song." He's got something to say, and the platform to share it...but feels that it's unlikely to change anything (though Billy Bragg might want a word with you, boys).
But what seems to truly raise the hackles of the Usual Players is how all of the obligations and responsibilities that come with adulthood eventually corrupt and grind you down--so that complacency sets in, you make all sorts of moral compromises, and forgo your dreams of greatness for something much less. In "So Whatford," Norton can barely choke back the bile as he blisteringly sings: "Spend your days in the same jobs/Spend your nights in the same pubs/Forty pound for cocaine, that's a shame, mate/You've been taken for a mug/You're poncing money off the government/Exclaiming it's to be your entitlement/You blame everything on immigration/And you call yourselves honest men...No ambition/Just repetition/This is the story and this is the mission/Calling all town rats and estate cats/Your life is over/That's a fact." (Guess it should be mentioned here that the exact town the band is from is Whatford--so this barbed attack is on their own.)
Yet there's a way out and he's taking it (and wouldn't mind it if you'd join him): "Council estate boy that is me/I'm from a place called South Oxhey/Forget what I'm told, I get a bit bold/It's a massive world out here you see...I've got ambition/I hate repetition /This is my story and my mission/Calling all town rats and estate cats/Time to kick off and react...Just stand up and fight it/Shake your heads and reject it/Go take everything/No matter what it costs/Be more than just Whatford."
So the Usual Player's story is that our way of life sucks and just about everyone you know is going to let you down--but their mission is not to surrender. These are rebel songs to see you fight another day in the Age of Austerity...
It should be noted that there is nothing to confirm this on the official Specials website. While this doesn't come as a huge surprise (how many reunion tours can they do without moving forward and writing/recording new music?), it is probably a big disappointment to the many ska fans in the Americas who weren't able to make the few gigs that took place in 2010 at Coachella and in New York and LA. (I keep kicking myself for not being able to make their NYC show here in April 2010--I had a work event that night that I was running, so there was no way to finagle my way out of it...)
So if you're able to make any of The Specials' shows in Europe or the UK this fall, take it all in while you can...
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Update: Roddy also writes on his Facebook page that a Fun Boy Three reunion is up next (but we're not sure if this is true or in jest).
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Update #2: As of 9/13/11, the post has been removed from Roddy's Facebook page (no doubt he heard an earful from some of his band mates or the band's management). There is a discussion about it on The Specials Fan Site.
"About 95 percent of music downloads in 2010 were unlicensed and illegal, with no money flowing back to artists, songwriters or record producers, according to Alex Jacob, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry."
I have to admit to being completely bummed out after I came across that paragraph in The Times. How can bands and labels--particularly those on the underground scene--ever hope to survive (let alone thrive) if they can't expect to even cover their expenses? Why should they ever bother to go through the huge effort to put out recorded music if they're just going to be ripped off by the "fans"? (As many of you know, I'm old school and believe that people should actually purchase recorded music--and have written extensively about the evils of illegal file sharing here, here, and here.)
But then I came across the picture below today and it makes me think that everything will be alright! The music fanatics like Jason Lawless (and many others) will always find a way to keep things going!
This photo is from the pressing plant where the first Moondust Records release is being readied from the late and absolutely great Laurel Aitken: "Reggae 69" b/w "Big Fight in Hell Stadium." I'm a member of Reggae 69 Fan Club, which funded this project through Kickstarter--yes, a whole bunch of us ska and reggae fanatics got together and put up our money in order to make a whole series of 7" releases happen. So, I'll be receiving one of these sweet babies in the mail soon! (Get in touch with Jason to find out how you can join, too!)
Perhaps this is really the only feasible way forward for the independent side of the music industry--the new (and somewhat awkward and unorthodox) model for selling recorded music: the fans have to become investors in a project before it can be put into production and fully realized. It may be the only means for recorded music to re-acquire value and significance in the digital era. Collectively, we have to pay in advance, in terms of both cold hard cash and an unshakable trust that the band will make the most of our faith in them and create some amazing music. It's sort of a Darwinian way approach to making records and CDs--only the strong will survive to reproduce. But I suppose it's much more preferable than the slow slide into oblivion. (Really, the future is now: I've already helped to sponsor Portland, OR's new ska/rocksteady act The Sentiments in their effort to record and release two 7" singles...)
Is this the only way back from the brink for all of us?
Like The Ruts' "Staring at the Rude Boys" and Ted Leo and the Pharmacist's "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?", King Hammond's "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?"--the lead track off his excellent new album Showbiz--is yet another song about rudies that, ironically, isn't actually a ska song itself (in this case, it's New Wave-y rock). The King laments the disappearance of rude boys from what passes for the ska scene these days--but he understands that there may be extenuating circumstances: "Maybe life's just led them away/to mortgages and bills to pay/Now there's different clothes to score/and the suit don't fit no more." His call to action is, of course, "Bring back the rude boys!/Stay rude, stay rebel!"--the latter part of this refrain is a nod to No Sports' incredible track of the same name from the early 1990s. (For all of us keeping the faith, hopefully someday soon we'll all be singing a tune like this in response.) While there may never be a resurgence in the popularity of ska and rude boy fashion to rival the heady days of 2 Tone, King Hammond continues to pump out an ever-expanding catalogue of splendid ska and skinhead reggae tracks to keep the current crop of ska fans and middle-aged hold-outs happy for years to come. (Graying hold-outs might also appreciate the fact that the album's cover illustration is by Steve Friel, who is probably best known for his work for Unicorn Records.)
Since the entertainment business is all about captivating audiences with stories and songs about conflict (and its resolution), it's fitting that more than half of the songs on Showbiz relate to one of the strongest and thorniest human emotions--desire--and what it can drive us to do (all you armchair psychologists can now break out your Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud). The sweet, lilting early reggae of "Easy Lovin'" underpins a tale about wanting to win back a lady who gave him "easy lovin'/like a 1-2-3" (whether this means that he's missing how their love was uncomplicated or simply the good sex they once had is up to the mind of the listener). "Heart and Soul" bubbles along like reggae popcorn, but is much darker lyrically and may remind one of the tragic pop songs ("splatter platters") of the 1950s and 1960s (see Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel,"Roy Orbison's "Leah,"The Shangri-las' "I Can Never Go Home Anymore"). In this case, the singer peers down at his soul mate ("I love you baby/with my heart and soul") in her coffin (or grave) and sings, "Now that you're gone/it means the end for me."
The spectacular skinhead reggae found in "X-Rated" is "enhanced" by some pretty explicit--and dare I say stimulating--sounds and words (this one's definitely NSFW), but by the end you'll see that it's all in good fun (obviously this is another homage to the naughty rude reggae cuts from the late 60s, like Lloyd Charmers' "Birth Control,"Prince Buster's "Rough Rider," or Laurel Aitken's "The Rise and Fall of Laurel Aitken," amongst many, many others). It's all about wanting to do the dirty deed and maybe not quite getting there (spirit willing, flesh weak type of thing).
While there is a reference to something "seven inches long" on "Vinyl Junkie" (King Hammond really does relish his double-entendres), this one's all about the addiction to vinyl: "When I was a young boy, I used to play my songs/on something black and shiny, and seven inches long/The only needle that I used was going round and round/on the dansette record player with a hypnotizing sound...I'm a junkie!/A vinyl junkie/So gimme a fix today!" Even girls can't quite compare to music: he dumps his girlfriend after she writes her name on the label of a Roxy Music single (the defaced single in question is "Virginia Plain"). "Rockin' on Ridley Road" is a propulsive dirty reggae mash note to the local Orange Street of King Hammond's youth, the West Indian market where he went "to get my soul and reggay" and came into contact with diverse peoples, cultures, and foods from the Empire's former colonies (Sammy Buzz toasts, "As I was sayin'/Asian, African, and Jamaican come together in Ridley Road/Curried goat, swordfish, ackee, and yellow yam/You can get them in Ridley Road"). Without reading a sociology paper on the subject, you can easily discern from this song how the seeds of multiculturalism germinated in KH's generation of 2 Tone Brits.
The King's tribute to Prince Buster, "Voice of the People," is so nakedly honest and heartfelt, you'll almost want to turn away out of respect: "You really are the Voice of the People/It only took four bars and I was a fan/Yes, you really are the Voice of the People/The King of Ska and one hell of a man/Well I love you now/More than I did then/And it makes me proud/To say that you're my friend/So when the fat girl sings/When all is said and done/Well you should take a bow/Jamaica's #1/You've got that voice/And you've go that look/Your name is Prince/but you're a king in my book." Nice to know that big time musicians (KH has won a Grammy!) can sometimes be reduced to wide-eyed fanboys like the rest of us.
One of the more unusual and cool cuts on the album is the wound-up ska-goes-bhangra (check out those sitar riffs!) of "Tick Tock...You're Dead" (about the dangers of stress), which includes a couple of neat New Wave references: "Be like Frankie/Kick back and relax" and a spoken word bit reminiscent of the one in Ebn Ozn's "AEIOU and Sometimes Y" (You know, "There are 178 parent languages on our planet, with over 1,000 dialects. It's amazing we communicate at all. Language and dialects with this one thing in common: AEIOU sometimes Y.")
"ASP (Reggae Movement #3)" is a superb old school ska instrumental, while "Mr. DJ" gives voice to thoughts that many of us have probably had when attending a dance, wedding, or party: "Hey, Mr. DJ/Play some reggae...I wanna hear some Desmond Dekker/Laurel Aitken, or Scratch the Upsetter!" The final track on Showbiz is "Rudie's in Jail for Christmas," a fine addition to the growing canon of modern ska Xmas tunes about a petty criminal busted for essentially trying to jump the turnstile in the London Underground (his Oyster card betrayed him). He can't make bail, so it's Christmas in the pokey. The chiming bells keep it cheerful and holiday-like, even if the subject matter is a bit bleak. But, then again, the highs of the holidays can also trigger the blues. I'll definitely be breaking out this one in the weeks before December 25.
Duff Guide to Ska Grade: A
+ + + +
(The videos posted below were created by the incredible Paul Willo, who also designed the back cover and CD face of KH's Showbiz album.)
What They're Saying About My Book "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone"
“An essential read…Stephen's eye for detail is incredible and his love for 2 Tone oozes from each page.” — Kevin Flowerdew, Do the Dog Skazine
“Written with a personal touch and with great passion about the bands and releases while giving a lot of emphasis to the lyrics, Stephen’s book is a great guiding hand to navigating your way to some great new music.” — Peter Walsh, 2-Tone.info
“It's some of the finest Madness analysis I've ever read.” —Donald Trull, Stateside Madness
“Steve's own story would make a great book, but instead he's written The Duff Guide to 2 Tone, a 250+ page collection of 2 Tone-related pieces from his blog. There are reviews of original pieces, but the book's real purpose is to show how the 2 Tone sound and—more importantly its ideals—carry on today...Get this book right away!" — Charles Benoit, Reggae Steady Ska
"...Shafer has definitely not forgotten how socially conscious issues were at the root of Ska even from the beginning. He makes certain to thread the political issues that motivated the development of Ska throughout his narrative; painting a picture that took both the oppressive political environments and the often ecstatic musical content into account. And in that, he nails down for me what the enduring pull of Ska was to its many fans. Was there ever a more upbeat dance music that combined its boundless energy with a push for progressive social values and calling truth to power?" —Post-Punk Monk
"...[The Duff Guide to 2 Tone is a] chatty, informative and knowledgeable work, one that you can either sit down and read or use as a reference source..." —Nik Skeat, Scootering Magazine
"During the reading of the book it is dangerous to have a screen open next to you with Discogs. I have found lots of ‘new music’ via the stories in The Duff Guide to 2 Tone which I must have." -- Peter Vrakking, Blue Beat & Ska
In the mail today, I received the first copy of my new paperback book The Duff Guide to 2 Tone --and am thrilled to announce that it is now...
About Your Duff Guide
Steve Shafer/The Duff Guide to Ska For most of the 1990s, I was the promotions, marketing, production guy for Moon Records (RIP). It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Seriously, I miss it badly. During 1999/2000, I ran 7 Wonders of the World Music, the first digital download-only ska label that was too ahead of the curve for its own good (RIP).
I filmed and edited this Toasters video for $2,500, which made its debut on MTV's 120 Minutes. I also put together these compilations for Moon: the first three Skarmageddons; Ska United: A Global Ska Sampler; Skank Down Under; This Are Moon Ska I, II, and III; and Moonshot!
Here's an old interview with Adam Monkey from Read Magazine that covers my days at Moon and 7 Wonders. I also did a somewhat more recent interview with Read Junk.
I've been interviewed about ska music and Moon Records for The New York Times, Heather Augustyn's "Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation," Aaron Carnes' "In Defense of Ska," Kenneth Partridge's "Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing," and Marc Wasserman's "Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History" (I also wrote the introductory chapter "1985: The Year American Ska Broke" for Wasserman's book).
And I'm the author of "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone," which can be ordered from Amazon--and is available in the US from Jump Up Records, and in Europe from the 2 Tone Village Shop (Coventry, UK), Champion Sound Records (Hull, UK), Aggroshop (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and Copasetic Mailorder (Hamburg, Germany). Plus, my book was on sale in the museum shop for the "2 Tone: Lives & Legacies" exhibition (May 28 - September 12, 2021), curated by Simon Reynolds, Cory Barrett, Pete Chambers, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike and Daniel Rachel, at the Herbert Art Gallery Museum in Coventry, UK.
I'm now working on my next book, "Calling All the Rude Boys: The Duff Guide to The Toasters, 1981-1992," to be published in 2023.
If you have a ska or reggae release that you'd like me to consider reviewing, please send an e-mail to Steve at duffguidetoska@gmail.com. You should know that I am old school and prefer music in tangible formats (plus I might use your music when I DJ ska events). I'd also appreciate any news or tips you may have about bands.
All reviews and interviews posted on The Duff Guide to Ska are copyrighted and are the sole property of Steve Shafer. Please contact me for permission to reproduce anything on this blog.
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Check out The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel for footage of ska bands in action in clubs around NYC, as well as unusual and rare ska videos from the 90s! Bands featured include The Toasters, The Bluebeats, The Forthrights, Across the Aisle, The Caroloregians, The Moon Invaders, The Rudie Crew, Tip the Van, Hey Stranger, Beat Brigade, Bigger Thomas, King Chango, The Scofflaws, UB40, The Hard Times, Jah Love and the Valentinians, The Shifters, Rudies Don't Care, Big Audio Dynamite, Stranger Cole and Patsy with Crazy Baldhead, Queen P of Ocean 11, King Hammond, The Snails, King Django, Doomsday! The Ultimate Tribute to Mephiskapheles Consisting of Former Members of Mephiskapheles, Destroy Babylon, The Frightnrs, The Pandemics, Los Skarroneros, The Bullbuckers, The Scofflaws, The Reggay Lords, The Copacetics, Rude Boy George, Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, The Specials, Roddy Radiation and Lynval Golding, The Ladrones, Chris Murray, Radio Riddler, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro, and Mickey Virtue, Barbicide, The Twilights, Bim Skala Bim featuring John Bunkley (Gangster Fun), The Pomps, and more!
Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 8:00 pm
