In the "I still learn something new every day" category comes the great new trad-leaning ska single from Danny Rebel & The KGB that's a preview of their new album (!) Toss It Up, which is being released on Stomp Records on May 28th, 2021. It features five new songs and five corresponding dubs by Victor Rice (you can pre-order the digital album now; is it too much to hope that this will be issued on wax?). Employing a term for female genitalia that I've never encountered before, "Whispering Eye" is unapologetic in its direct and unadorned expression of lust ("We don’t need this love (I’ll save you the pain)...You don’t have to call (just call out my name)...All I really want is your whispering eye"). As one wry FB commenter replied to Danny about his new song: "rent a room!" (Danny Rebel & The KGB's most recent album was 2017's incredible Lovehaus (read my review of it here), which still needs to be released on vinyl, if there's any justice left in this world.)
Led by Swiss-Italian trombonist Mattbrass and producer Jackayouth, Swiss traditional ska band Winds of Matterhorn's superb new self-titled debut EP (12" vinyl/digital, Fruits Records, 2021) sounds like what one imagines the follow-up to Rico's incredible Jama Rico (with Jerry Dammers and Dick Cuthell again at the helm) would have been had all the stars aligned back in the '80s. This EP has the same wonderful vibe and sound (who knew the Swiss Alps were like the hills of Wareika?). Winds of Matterhorn's excellent original instrumentals are named after the four elements ("Earth," "Air," "Fire," and "Water") and lend this EP a theme that gives one's imagination a bit of direction when listening to these marvelous tracks. And while you're picking up Winds of Matterhorn's new EP, make sure to grab a copy of 2 Tone's vinyl reissue ofJama Rico (out this June), if you don't already have it!
As part of 2 Tone/Chrysalis's 40th Anniversary program, Rico's positively stellar Jama Rico LP is finally being reissued on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl on June 25, 2021 (pre-orders can be made through Dusty Groove in the USA or Juno Records in the UK, and elsewhere). This is the first time this relatively hard-to-find record has been reissued on vinyl since the album was originally released in 1982 (it was recently made available on CD via the Two Tone: The Albums CD box set, which I reviewed here). Rico's That Man is Forward is also being reissued by 2 Tone on the same day, though this great album has been easier to find, since Reggae Retro reissued it on CD and LP in 1998.
"But on this day, the gods of vinyl were good to me. I snagged one of the rarest 2 Tone releases (at least, on this side of the pond)—a near mint copy of Rico Rodriguez's Jama Rico (1982), which is filled with phenomenally good vintage ska and reggae instrumental cuts. 2 Tone's parent label Chrysalis never opted to release this album in the US, and I wonder if any specialty shops here even bothered to import copies of it; in all my many years of digging through the crates, this is the first time I've ever seen it. There is also very little written about it, either online or in the reference books on ska and reggae in my bookshelves; even George Marshall's The Two Tone Story gives it short shrift. 2 Tone ska's flame-out in the UK, no doubt, had a lot to do with the album's scarcity and the dearth of info about it, but Rico and this brilliant album deserved much better.
Recorded both at Joe Gibbs Studio in Kingston, JA and in London, with various tracks produced by Dick Cuthell and Jerry Dammers, Jama Rico featured some of the finest Jamaican and British musicians around, including Tommy McCook (tenor sax), Felix "Deadly Headley" Bennett (alto sax), Ansell Collins (organ), Winston Wright (piano, guitar), Earl "Chinna" Smith (guitar), Jah Jerry (guitar), Sly Dunbar (drums), Robbie Shakespeare (bass), and other top performers—plus several members of The Special AKA: Jerry Dammers (organ, piano), John Bradbury (drums), Sir Horace Gentleman (bass), and Dick Cuthell (cornet, flugel horns, funda drums).
Ska fans who love Rico and The Special AKA's "Jungle Music" will immediately take to the stunningly evocative ska and reggae of "We Want Peace," "Jam Rock," "Love and Justice," "Some Day," "Do the Reload" (which is a cover of Rico's dear friend and mentor Don Drummond' awesome "Green Island"), and "Easter Island" (written by Japanese saxophonist Sado Wattanobe)—all of which follow the expected song structures for this genre of music. Those open to more musical paths less traveled will enjoy the jazzier, looser experimental takes on Jamaican music on "Destroy Them," "Distant Drums" (with Rico on vibraphone and funda drums!), and "Java."
According to Paul "Willo" Williams in his fantastic biography of The Specials (and 2 Tone Records) You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion, Rico's "Jungle Music" single and the Jama Rico album failed to gain any traction and climb the charts due to the rise of the New Romantics in the UK (Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, etc.). It was all a matter of unfortunate pop-culture timing (one can't blame Rico's material or the performances, as they're brilliant). The UK record-buying public's massive infatuation with ska music was over by 1982."
10" vinyl record with Walt Jabsco on the paper label and cardboard label sleeve 2020
(Review by Steve Shafer)
After years of re-issues upon re-issues--and only one 45 with previously unreleased mixes ("Sock It To 'Em J.B. (Dub)" b/w "Rat Race (Dub)"; read my review here)--2 Tone/Chrysalis have finally unearthed some truly remarkable Specials tracks from the vaults that have never before seen the light of day, giving Specials' fans a surprisingly satisfying treat. Issued for Record Store Day 2020 (Drop #3), The Specials' "Dub Mixes Exclusive" 10" EP--featuring "Gangsters ('Clangsters' Dub)" b/w "Too Much Too Young (Piano Instrumental)" and "Why (Dub)"--is a thing of beauty (kudos to all who were involved in putting this together; every detail is right!). All of these alternate versions were recorded and mixed contemporaneously to their originals (1979 and 1981, respectively), which, as my colleagues at 2-Tone.info already have pointed out, is proof positive that the band was interested in pushing the boundaries of their revved-up, trademark ska sound from the very start.
Generally, when one mentions The Specials, you think of something like the fierce and seething "Nite Klub" not dub. Yet, their debut single yielded a fully realized dub mix. Perhaps it wasn't what the average 2 Tone fan wanted/expected in '79 or '80--their live set at the time, captured on the brilliant Live at the Moonlight Club was explosive--but in the ensuing years and decades our musical palates have certainly expanded. "Gangsters ('Clangsters' Dub)" begins with the familiar screeching tires borrowed from Prince Buster, but then everything veers off the expected route from there. A rapid, unrelenting percussive element--a wood block sound likely generated by a drum machine--runs that through the entire track, creating almost unbearable tension, and foreshadows Dammers' incorporation of muzak and more synthesized beats on parts of More Specials. The song's guitar skank drops in and out, and eerie, theremin-like B-movie sci-fi outer space sounds hover at various pitches over the rhythm track (2-Tone.info helpfully notes that 'Clangsters' is a reference to a UK kids TV show The Clangers who communicated via slide whistle sounds). Even in its deconstructed form, "Gangsters" retains its menace.
"Too Much Too Young's" debt to Lloyd Charmers' "Birth Control" is all the more pronounced in this instrumental version's piano line (and Dammers' playful improvisation on the melody is fantastic), plus the subtle touches of organ help remind one of, and honor, the song's skinhead reggae roots. It's absolutely superb.
"Why (Dub)" takes us far from the stripped down, horror show reggae of the original ("Why did you try to kill me?," wrote Lynval Golding after being viciously beaten and stabbed in a racist attack), prominently featuring Rico's plaintive trombone riff (with Dick Cuthell's cornet in there, too), along with Horace Panter's nimble bass work and John Bradbury's super precise percussion. It's a wonderfully inventive version that transforms the song into something strikingly new.
This EP is still available at very reasonable prices and should be snapped right up by Specials' fans, as these mixes are an essential addition to the band's core discography, and provide a fascinating glimpse into their creative process and willingness to experiment. Dare one ask if there's more? And, for Pete's sake, why weren't these mixes released before now?
Writers Eyes is the stellar second studio album from Subject A and one of the most wonderfully and fearlessly unique records that I've heard in some time (Subject A is a collection of terrifically gifted musicians assembled by producers/songwriters/musicians Dean Sartain and Erin Bardwell; their debut was 2016's Sleepwalkers). The sometimes genre-defying songs combine elements of ska, reggae, dub, jazz, no wave, and soul, and often include orchestral-like string backing. The fantastic resulting album is highly evocative, full of atmospheric soundscapes and cinematic visions that exists somewhere in the realm of The Specials' More Specials, The Special AKA's In the Studio,Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor's No Protection,Megative's debut,and Rhoda Dakar's Lotek Four releases.
The great title ska track features The Selecter's Neol Davies and his signature and instantly recognizable guitar work, and it's about how books (plus human beings' incredible capacity to imagine and empathize) can manifest current/past and oftentimes ugly truths, change our minds, and transport us to times and places and people accessible only through the lens of the authors and their written word. The other cuts immediately accessible to ska fans (think singers from The Go-Go's or Bananarama backed by The Specials, plus Rico and Dick Cuthell) include "Nite Life" (where the non-work hours are now spent in conspicuous consumption at the mall--"Go find that store/Go buy some more"--instead of the pursuit of a good time, nite klubbing at the Locarno) and the rambling "Road Trip" taken to break routines and habits.
On the reggae tip, "Hide Your Face" is an insistent yet wounded-sounding track, where the singer's unwilling to accept the ghosting from her partner ("You really cannot hide/All my dreams are gone/I'll find you/I'll find you/We were meant to be together"). There's also the two-versions of the same song that emphasize the different perspectives of the song's lyrics--the jazzier and remorseful "It's True" is about a relationship that's over ("First time I laid eyes on you/Thought you were the only one") and the rootsier "Rising Tide," which underscores the cyclical nature of everything in creation ("Rising tide falls into seasons/But it still remains the same"). Beginnings are always eventually followed by endings.
The magnificent, eco-minded "Vega's Strings" features a reggae bass line and percussion, jazz trumpet, slightly off piano line, and synth-like violins to create a track full of tension and uneasy beauty--appropriate for a song decrying how humans are filling the water and land with never-decomposing plastic waste on a massive scale, with the reminder that "we're not the only creatures on the land." As well, the wondrous, almost ethereal "The Earth Still Turns While You Sleep" is the sound of the universe going about its business as it always does; we're not its master by any means, but should always take a moment to appreciate its daily splendor (see album closer "Penhill Sunrise"). Writers Eyes is one of the more sophisticated, daring and rewarding ska/reggae albums you're likely to encounter. Don't miss it!
In an interview I just posted with Smiley and the Underclass, I asked band members Smiley and James about the power of music and how it can be used (for better or worse) to change societal individual attitudes and behaviors. All of this immediately made me think of a book that I've just started reading: Dave Randall's "Sound System: The Political Power of Music." Two ska-related passages cropped up within the first twenty pages of "Sound System" that are worth noting here:
"Politics may well have remained largely off my radar, were it not for one August night spent in a field in Northamptonshire. Some mates had invited me to a music festival called Greenbelt, run by left-wing Christians. In a packed marquee between bands, the DJ dropped a tune by The Special AKA: 'Free Nelson Mandela.' I had no idea who Nelson Mandela was, but I knew by the end of the first chorus I wanted him to be free. In that moment, surrounded by thousands of festival goers hollering the hook, I learned--instinctively felt--that the future is unwritten and ordinary people like me could have a say. Music, I realized, is our weapon."
Contrast this with...
"Seemingly innocuous pop songs can also accrue an aura of terror in times of turbulent upheaval. When Uganda's former President Idi Amin was tightening his grip on power, the state radio station played 'My Boy Lollipop' all day long, interspersing its sugary refrains with military men's threats and warnings of curfews. Writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, who experienced the coup and its brutal aftermath, told me that to this day she is unable to listen to that song."
Harry Pye at The Rebel Magazine has a wonderful tribute to Rico that includes remembrances of Rico performing with Jerry Dammers and his Spatial AKA Orchestra in 2010, as well as a gig Rico did at Gaz's Rockin' Blues in 2003 (and before Rico's set, the DJ played a recording of "First Victims of War," a new track by Jerry Dammers, Rico, Dick Cuthell, Horace Panter, and Lynval Golding that was intended to pick up where "Ghost Town" left off and lead to a full-on Specials reunion, with new material being written and performed; frustratingly, we all know how that didn't work out...).
In addition, Pye reminded me of something I had forgotten--that Ian Dury name-checked Rico on his 1979 hit, "Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3":
"Take your mum to Paris, lighting up the chalice
Wee Willy Harris
Bantu Stephen Biko, listening to Rico
Harpo, Groucho, Chico"
(Rico later appeared as a guest musician on Dury's 1984 album, 4,000 Week's Holiday.)
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NME re-printed Jerry Dammers' phenomenal tribute to Rico, which he originally released via his Facebook page. Read it here, if you haven't already.
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The Telegraph and The Guardian have published fairly in-depth obituaries for Rico, though The Telegraph states that Don Drummond was a saxophonist! The Guardian obit was written by reggae expert David Katz.
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The always amazing John V. at Hoi Polloi! Skazine sent me this incredible interview by Stephanie Claman with Rico from the January 17, 1981 issue of Black Echoes (thank you, John!). It was done just prior to the release of That Man is Forward (2 Tone) and amongst many interesting things about Rico's career that are revealed is the fact that he left Jamaica for the UK in 1961 because he and Skatalites trumpet player Johnny Moore had started demanding more money for their recording session work (which was slave wages meager to begin with) and ended up being blackballed by Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid.
My favorite quote from Rico is when explained why he didn't like playing standards for the tourists in the "uptown" spots in JA--he found it boring, particularly when compared to the vital music scene in Kingston:
"So I've always preferred to be in Kingston and hungry, than in Montego Bay and my belly full..."
Ska/reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez, best known for his work as a member of The Specials and The Special AKA, passed away on September 4, 2015 in England at age 80. Trojan Records has posted an excellent overview of his career, which can--and should be--read here.
Rico's story is the story of ska and reggae--from the R and B-infused early ska singles of the late 50s onward. Name an essential recording, say Theophilus Beckford's "Easy Snapping," Dandy Livingston's "Rudy, A Message To You" (and a certain 2 Tone band's 1979 cover of it), The Specials' "Ghost Town," or your favorite ska or reggae artists--and Rico has played on it or for them. His long list of collaborations with musicians and producers includes Laurel Aitken, Roland Alphonso, The Blues Busters, Clue J and His Blues Blasters, Don Drummond, Clancy Eccles, Vincent Chin, Prince Buster, Coxsone Dodd, Lloyd Daley, Bunny Lee, Graeme Goodall, Sonny Roberts, Derrick Morgan, Duke Reid, Justin Hinds, The Folkes Brothers, Count Ossie, Max Romeo, Joe Mansano, Toots and the Maytals, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sly and Robbie, The Selecter (on "Carry Go Bring Come"), Dennis Bovell, Cedric Myton and The Congos, Mikey Dread, Bad Manners, Mad Professor, Gaz Mayall's Trojans, Jump With Joey, Pama International, and many more. (Check out this Rico discography, which--lengthy as it is--probably has significant gaps in it!)
Rico was also in great demand as a session man for many non-ska/reggae artists, including Georgie Fame, Kirsty MacColl, Super Furry Animals, Ray Davies, Jools Holland, Ian Dury, Paul Young, The Members ("Offshore Banking Business"), Joan Armatrading, Ocean Colour Scene, and others.
And his solo releases for 2 Tone (produced by Dick Cuthell and/or Jerry Dammers)--the albums That Man is Forward and Jama (read my appreciation of this record here), and singles "Jungle Music" and "Sea Cruise"--are all stellar (and are currently available on iTunes--though it would be great if whoever owns Chrysalis'/2 Tone's catalogue would issue these on CD!). Another phenomenal Rico release that can fairly easily be found is Wareika Dub (Ernie B's Reggae has the Island reissue in stock), which is the dub version of his 1977 Man from Wareika album.
Two of my many favorite Rico performances are on Prince Buster's (credited as Yusuf Ali and the Revolutionaries) "Uganda"--which is a version of Don Drummond's "Green Island"--and Laurel Aitken's "Daniel Saw the Stone." Of course, this is brilliantly appropriate, as Don Drummond was Rico's mentor at the Alpha Boys School in JA and Rico frequently played on fellow Cuban-Jamaican Laurel Aitken's singles. One can only hope that the great and wonderful Rico Rodriguez is at peace, making incredibly joyful music with Drummond and Aitken in the great beyond.
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My sincere condolences go out to Rico Rodriguez's family, friends, and fellow musicians.
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Update (9/5/15): Make sure to read this amazing tribute to Rico by Jerry Dammers here.
It appears that Rhino's and Parlophone's campaign to reissue all of The Specials' albums on heavyweight, 180 gram vinyl will soon be complete with the upcoming release of The Special AKA's remastered In the Studio album on October 27, 2014 in the UK and on November 17, 2014 in the USA. While used copies of this original LP are fairly easy to find, this will be the first time this record will be back in print since 1984.
According to Paul Williams' "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion," The Special AKA's In the Studio took two, very difficult years (during which Jerry Dammers nearly lost his sanity and nearly took John Bradbury, Rhoda Dakar, John Shipley, Gary McManus, Stan Campbell, Dick Cuthell, and Rico Rodriguez with him!) and almost half a million pounds to record, which swallowed up the budgets of the three additional albums that the band were contractually obligated to deliver afterwards. (The This Are Two Tone compilation was released in 1983 by Chrysalis in an attempt to recoup at least some of the money that was hemorrhaging in The Special AKA's never-ending recording sessions). Upon its release, In the Studio generated great reviews, but wasn't the hit Chrysalis or the band needed it to be (it only climbed to #51 on the UK charts)--though "Nelson Mandela" made it up to #9 on the UK singles chart and became a worldwide anti-apartheid anthem.
Back in 1984 when I was still in high school, I picked up In the Studio after hearing the incredible "Nelson Mandela" on WLIR, the awesome new wave/modern rock radio station on Long Island that broadcast to the New York City area. Even though it wasn't a ska album (by then I was used to my former 2 Tone heroes moving far beyond ska; Madness and The Beat had already led the way) and "Nelson Mandela" wasn't representative of anything else on the record, I completely loved it. In the Studio was a compelling, sophisticated, and meticulously crafted mix of no wave jazz, reggae, and soul that grew on you and didn't sound like anything else that was unleashed on the UK pop charts in 1984 (i.e., Wham, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, etc.). The album was claustrophobic (see "Night on the Tiles" and the jab at "Housebound" agoraphobic Terry Hall), full of righteous outrage (see "War Crimes," which was about Israel's invasion of Lebanon), brutally uncompromising in its principles (see "Racist Friend," which urged you to completely disassociate yourself from anyone, friend or family, who held racist views), and yielded what may be the catchiest protest song ever written and recorded, the euphoric hit "Nelson Mandela" (pleading for the release of the ANC leader who had been jailed by the apartheid South African government for decades)--the one moment of pure joy on record that often found the world to be a terribly and disappointingly ugly, petty, predatory, and unjust place (see "Alcohol,""What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend,""Bright Lights,""Lonely Crowd," and "Break Down the Door").
In the Studio wasn't the hit pop album that the Chrysalis execs pined for (while facing down all of that red ink on their spreadsheets) or the ska album that Specials fans were expecting following the brilliant Ghost Town EP (though their hopes would have long been dashed by the string of decidedly non-ska singles from this album that preceded In the Studio's release). The Special AKA--defiantly led by Jerry Dammers--stubbornly refused to give the people what they wanted, but delivered what they thought they needed to help them navigate increasingly desperate times. Thirty years on, In the Studio sounds as strikingly unique and innovative as it did in 1984--every song is stellar--and its lyrics still contain their sting and relevance. The music and its messages endure. I only wish that The Special AKA could have found a way forward. I suspect that there was much more musical brilliance to come.
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Here's a live performance of "Nelson Mandela" by The Special AKA (but without Stan Campbell, who had left the band by then) with Elvis Costello, Ranking Roger, and Dave Wakeling that was taped for The Tube in 1984.
And here's the fantastic (and hilarious) video for "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend"...
Last week during my lunch break, I made my weekly pilgrimage to a certain unnamed used record store about a 10-minute walk from my job and struck ska gold. Usually on these outings, I'm scouring the bins for New Wave and post-punk singles and albums that I didn't have the money to pick up--or didn't even know existed--back when I was in high school in the first half of the 1980s.
But on this day, the gods of vinyl were good to me. I snagged one of the rarest (at least, on this side of the pond) 2 Tone releases--a near mint copy of Rico Rodriguez'sJama Rico (1982), which is filled with mind-blowingly good vintage/authentic ska and reggae instrumental cuts. 2 Tone's parent label Chrysalis never opted to release this album in the US (and I wonder if any specialty shops here even bothered to import copies of it; in all my many years of digging through the crates, this is the first time I've ever seen it; and there is very little written about it, either on-line or in the reference books on ska and reggae in my bookshelves--even George Marshall's "The Two Tone Story" gives it short shrift). 2 Tone ska's flame-out in the UK, no doubt, had a lot to do with the album's scarcity and the dearth of info about it, but Rico and this brilliant album deserved much better.
Recorded both at Joe Gibbs Studio in Kingston, JA and in London, with various tracks produced by Dick Cuthell, and Jerry Dammers and Dick Cuthell, Jama Rico featured some of the finest Jamaican (and British) musicians around, including Tommy McCook (tenor sax), Felix "Deadly Headley" Bennett (alto sax), Ansell Collins (organ), Winston Wright (piano, guitar), Earl "Chinna" Smith (guitar), Jah Jerry (guitar), Sly Dunbar (drums), Robbie Shakespeare (bass), and other top performers--plus several members of The Special AKA: Jerry Dammers (organ, piano), John Bradbury (drums), Sir Horace Gentleman (bass), and Dick Cuthell (cornet, flugel horns, funda drums).
Ska fans who love Rico and The Special AKA's "Jungle Music," will immediately take to the stunningly evocative ska and reggae of "We Want Peace," "Jam Rock," "Love and Justice," "Some Day," "Do the Reload" (which is a cover of Rico's dear friend and mentor Don Drummond's awesome "Green Island"), and "Easter Island" (written by Japanese saxophonist Sado Wattanobe)--all of which follow the expected song structures for this genre of music. Those open to more musical paths less traveled will enjoy the more jazzy, looser, experimental takes on Jamaican music on "Destroy Them," "Distant Drums" (with Rico on vibraphone and funda drums!), and "Java."
According to Paul "Willo" Williams in his fantastic biography of The Specials (and 2 Tone Records) "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion," notes that Rico's "Jungle Music" single and the Jama Rico album failed to gain any traction and climb the charts due to the rise of the New Romantics in the UK (Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, etc.). It was all a matter of unfortunate pop-culture timing (one can't blame the material or performances, as they're brilliant); the UK record-buying public's massive infatuation with ska music was over by 1982.
While Chrysalis, to their great shame, has never released Jama Rico on CD (though "Easter Island" and "Destroy Them" are on The 2 Tone Story CD), I was shocked to discover that the album currently is available digitally through iTunes in the USA (how long has it been for sale there?)--as is what looks like the entire 2 Tone catalogue (even the late, non-ska releases on the label from The Higsons, Swinging Cats, JB's Allstars, The Friday Club, and The Apollinaires). Still, nothing beats having these warm, organic sounds captured on a vinyl LP in my very own collection. Whoever decided to part with Jama Rico (after taking such good care of it all these years) and sell it to my favorite used record store has my sincere and undying gratitude!
According to this extraordinary thread on the Specials Fan Site bulletin board, before a performance by Rico Rodriguez and his frequent musical partner Dick Cuthell at Gaz's Rockin' Blues last Friday (10/19/10), Jerry Dammers (who was in the crowd--see the photo on the board) had asked Gaz to play a new track that was a collaboration between JD, Rico, and Dick Cuthell (an "honorary" member of The Specials--check the credits on just about any Specials release and you'll find that he either played brass on it and/or helped produce it; he also worked with the Potato 5 and The Deltones amongst many others)! Apparently, the new tune was well-received by the crowd and was, according to the poster, "the most radio friendly thing Jerry's been involved with for a couple of decades."
Can't wait to hear it! And can I just mention how jealous I am of the ska fans in and about London who can attend gigs like this at Gaz's?
It's safe to say that even if The Specials had flamed out after their debut album, Jerry Dammers would have been canonized by the music industry and press for his extraordinary accomplishments with the band (both sound and vision) and the 2 Tone label. But after the enormous success of The Specials, which made it challenging to live up to everyone's stratospheric expectations for whatever the band did next and difficult for The Specials' music to evolve organically, Jerry's bull-headed determination to fulfill his artistic vision mostly frustrated his collaborators and sometimes baffled The Specials' fans--yet his results were (and still are) oftentimes brilliant.
After The Specials imploded during the recording of "Ghost Town" (and the release of the truly harrowing date-rape single "The Boiler," which Jerry acknowledged was meant to be only listened to only once), it took Jerry, Brad, Rhoda Dakar, Dick Cuthell, and a rotating cast of musicians under The Special A.K.A. banner three, difficult years for In the Studio to gestate to maturity--and it wasn't even a ska album! But it was extraordinarily unique (a challenging mix of jazz, reggae, and soul that grew on you and didn't sound like anything else that was unleashed on the pop charts in 1984), claustrophobic (especially the jab at "Housebound" Terry Hall), outraged (see "War Crimes"), uncompromising (see "Racist Friend"), and yielded what may be the catchiest protest song ever, the euphoric hit "Nelson Mandela" (the one moment of pure joy on an album that often found the world to be an ugly, petty, unjust place).
A couple of decades later, we jump light years ahead--courtesy of Sun Ra--from The Special A.K.A. to The Spatial AKA Orchestra, the free-form jazz dub group the Dammers now leads (after far too many years out of the limelight, apart from DJ-ing in clubs and working for various causes). Below, you'll find an interesting review of one of The Spatial AKA's recent gigs from The Independent, and underneath that, a few viddys of the band in action.
While I'm very much intrigued with what Jerry's got going on here with The Spatial AKA Orchestra, I'm sorely disappointed by what might have been had the rest of The Specials agreed to re-interpret their hits for the present day (instead of solely meticulously recreating the sounds of yesteryear, note for note) and take the band, its music, and ska to the next step in its evolution. Thirty years out, the ska faithful deserve better.
Here's the money quote from the article:
Part of the justification surrounding Dammers' ban from the Specials reunion includes the fans' belief that he has sold out on his punk credentials. True, in playing a 15-minute-long free-jazz version of the Batman theme, Dammers has entirely broken the golden rule of his generation. But the simple fact that he has dared to do so is considerably more punk rock than the irrelevant nostalgia-fest the rest of The Specials will be laying on this summer.
The Independent March 12, 2009 Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra, Barbican Theatre, London By Reviewed by John Matthew Hall
Economic uncertainty, racial tension, a looming Tory government; not much has changed since the heady summer of 1979, when The Specials (then known as The Special AKA) first bounded out of Coventry.
The band's debut single, "Gangsters" – 169 seconds of ska-punk vitriol aimed at a failing fat-cat establishment that, quite frankly, could have been written about Fred the Shred and his band of bankers – rocketed to number six in the charts, a perfect soundtrack to Britain's growing social unease. Perhaps that's why six former members of The Specials decided to re-form this summer – to cash in on the nation's contemporary discontent.
However, Jerry Dammers' invitation to the party was swiftly revoked after he voiced his intention to rework some of the old classics, meaning that on their 30th-anniversary reunion tour, The Specials will be without the man who wrote most of the songs and hand-picked each band member.
Still, perhaps it's for the best, because while the other members of The Specials have been supping pints at ska and scooter festivals since the bulk of the band's demise in 1981, Jerry Dammers has been experimenting with jazz and afrofuturism.
His Spatial AKA Orchestra (geddit?) were initially formed as a kind of tribute to the cosmic free-jazz pioneer Sun Ra, whose space-themed big-band music fills much of tonight's set.
Coming on stage dressed like Ancient Egyptian wizards, the 18 members that make up the orchestra look like something out of Bill Bailey's darkest nightmare. Among their ranks are Mercury Prize nominees Denys Baptiste and Zoe Rahman, on saxophone and piano respectively, BBC Jazz Award winner Finn Peters on flute, and 1960s free-jazz icon Larry Stabbins, again playing sax.
After a spoken-word introduction from the Trinidadian poet Anthony Joseph, the orchestra erupts into a wonderful, swirling wall of sound. Rather than simply recreate the music of Sun Ra on songs such as "It's after the End of the World", Dammers and his band completely reimagine them.
The wonderfully thick, wet bass lines invoke King Tubby's sound system far more than a smoky Chicago jazz dive while, from behind his giant bank of keyboards, Jerry Dammers unleashes contemporary drum & bass loops to conflict with the frantic horn and woodwind sections.
Tonight is a tribute not just to Sun Ra but also to his peers and influences. Martin Denny's exotic "Jungle Madness" gets a solid turning-out, while Alice Coltrane's dark and pounding "Battle at Armageddon" provides the night's most memorable moment, when Patrick Illingworth performs a truly breathtaking three-minute drum solo.
Part of the justification surrounding Dammers' ban from the Specials reunion includes the fans' belief that he has sold out on his punk credentials. True, in playing a 15-minute-long free-jazz version of the Batman theme, Dammers has entirely broken the golden rule of his generation. But the simple fact that he has dared to do so is considerably more punk rock than the irrelevant nostalgia-fest the rest of The Specials will be laying on this summer. Jerry Dammers as a cosmic free-jazz progressive? How times change.
Editor's note: Shots in the Dark spotlights third-wave ska releases that should have been massive hits on the scene but, due to bad timing, poor luck, or a fickle record-buying public, were lost in the fray.
The Band: The Potato 5, an extraordinary Skatalites-styled ska group from London that featured a rotating line-up of singers in its all too brief history (1983-1989), including Floyd Lloyd Seivright, Laurel "The Godfather of Ska" Aitken, and Spyder Johnson (who went on to drum for the Nutty Boys--an early '90s ska band formed by Madness' Lee Thompson and Chris Foreman).
The Sound:Floyd Lloyd and the Potato 5 Meet Laurel Aitken is brilliant, vintage-style ska (in the vein of the Skatalites, Derrick Morgan, Prince Buster, and, not surprisingly, Laurel Aitken). True Fact tries to modernize their sound in an attempt to catch the attention of those beyond the ska crowd, with mixed results.
The Releases:Floyd Lloyd and the Potato Five Meet Laurel Aitken, produced by Gaz Mayall of The Trojans (and originally released on Gaz's Rockin' Records), is a classic album that should be in every ska fan's collection--it's that essential. Released in 1987, long after 2-Tone imploded, but during a rebirth of the UK ska scene that spawned such contemporaries as The Deltones (formed by ex-Bodysnatchers Sarah Jane Owen and Penny Layton), The Loafers, The Trojans, Maroon Town, The Riffs, as well as the latest incarnation of Bad Manners (the only 2-Tone-era group that never really disbanded), this album established the Potato 5 as the undisputed leaders of the UK ska scene (and introduced Laurel Aitken to a whole new generation of ska fans--which re-ignited his career and led to a string of new albums, re-issued collections of his singles from the 60s and 70s, and live appearances that continued unabated until his death in 2005). Floyd Lloyd and the Potato Five Meet Laurel Aitken is stunning from start to finish.
Side A features a mix of tunes written by Floyd Lloyd (who also sings) and the Potato 5's guitarist Martin Aberdeen, including the anti-aparthied/pro-peace and justice rave-up "Tear Up"; the infectiously danceable instrumentals "Jessie Jackson" and "Spin on Your Head"; the melancholy, but cooly encouraging "Big City" ("The city is a big, big, place/Don't let it get to you/Don't let it change your point of view...You've got to keep yourself together/Keep on truckin'..."); and the awesome spaghetti western-inspired instrumental "Western Special" that would make Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, et al proud.
Laurel Aitken owns Side B, with a string of self-penned songs that instantly became some of his trademark Third Wave ska hits in the 1990s: "Sally Brown" (which Bad Manners subsequently covered on their Return of the Ugly album), "Mad About You," and "Sahara." "Sally Brown" in particular is incredibly catchy, with lyrics that will have you singing along everytime you hear it: "Make me tell you 'bout Sally Brown/Sally Brown is a girl in town/She don't mess around/Sally Brown is a slick chick/If you mess around with Sally/She hits you with a cookoomacka stick/Coo-coo-coo-coo-coo-koo-macka stick/She's gonna hit you with a cookoomacka stick!" Laurel is at the top of his game here (as he would be for the rest of his career); the songs are amazing and his performances (as well as the Potato 5's) are brilliantly honest and masterful. "Meet Laurel Aitken" and you'll see that his title as "The Godfather of Ska" is more than well deserved.
True Fact, produced by Specials, Madness, and Rico Rodriguez collaborator Dick Cuthell (and released on Rackit Records in 1988), is more problematic and something of a letdown. The songs--all still trad-leaning ska--are good (mostly the ones written by the Potato 5's Paul Hickson and Martin Aberdeen) to great (those composed by Laurel), but the disconcertingly robotic-sounding rhythm section (really the drums--and synthesized drums are sometimes used here to poor effect) really clashes with the organic sound of the horn section--marring many of the songs on this record. Having said that, sometimes the formula works well (mostly with Laurel's tracks, as his songwriting is vastly superior in several cases), as on tracks like the awesome Hitchcockian "Dial M for Murder" (I always thought the line "You picked me pocket/You know it was a rackit" was "You picked me pocket/You know it was erotic," but I guess that's just me being me), "Burning Fire" ("Burning flames of fire/To your musical desire/Ska Flames!"), "Got to Go," and "Heman vs Skeletor" (hey, it was still the '80s!). The Rocksteady Party repackaging of True Fact, which is widely available now (the True Fact LP I have is long out-of-print and my CD of this album was pressed in Japan) includes their great cover of "Do the Jerk" (with Spyder on vocals) and the "I swear the Skatalites wrote this" instrumental "Re-Burial" from their last 1989 single (both cuts bump up the overall quality of this record a couple of notches).
The Ugly Reality:While the Potato 5 were enormously popular on the UK and European ska scenes, they made only minor inroads in the US, particularly because the late '80s ska scene was small, regionalized, disorganized, and very much underground (and to top it off, no internet to connect us all yet, man!). After a brutal tour of the US in late 1989 (I think I saw a CBGB's ad in the Village Voice that had them on the bill, but by then I had already missed the gig!), the band called it quits. Our big loss...
The Grades:Meet Laurel Aitken:A+; True Fact:B; Rocksteady Party:B+
The Floyd Lloyd and the Potato 5 Meet Laurel Aitken CD is available from Grover Records in Germany (you can also sample tracks and buy it from iTunes), while True Fact has been repackaged as Rocksteady Party on Magnum Music and can be listened to and purchased from iTunes (and is available on CD as well).
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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Visit The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel!
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!
(Reviews by Steve Shafer)
