Confirmed US and UK Record Store Day 2017 Ska and Reggae Releases

This year's Record Store Day is right around the corner (4/22/17), so the powers that be have finally revealed the official list of releases that will see light of day and, in some cases, may work their way into your record collection (and your hearts?).

Below, please find the official list of RSD 2017 ska and reggae releases for the US and UK that may be of interest to Duff Guide to Ska readers.

Happy hunting next week!

US Releases

Creation Rebel: Starship Africa 12" (On-U Sounds)
Ken Boothe, Dillinger, Leroy Smart, Delroy Wilson: White Man in Hammersmith Palais 7" -- Features one hit from each artist named-checked in The Clash's song of the same title. (Greensleeves)
Mad Professor: Mad Professor Meets Jah9  LP (Greensleeves)
Peter Tosh: Legalize It LP -- Pressed on red, yellow, green striped vinyl with scratch and sniff inner sleeve. (Brookvale Records)
U-Roy: Dread In A Babylon LP (Get on Down)
Various Artists: House of Joy 15 x 7" box set (Studio One)
Various Artists: Recutting The Crap LP (Crooked Beat Records)
Various Artists: Studio One in Hi Fi 5 x 7" box set (Soul Jazz)

UK Releases

The Congos: Heart of the Congos LP -- This version features the original mix. (VP Records)
Creation Rebel: Starship Africa 12" (On-U Sounds)
Georgie Fame: R and B at the Ricky Tick 65 LP (1960s Records)
Joe Higgs: "Invitation to Jamaica" 7" (Pressure Sounds)
Hopeton Lewis/Vin Gordon and The Supersonics: "There She Goes" b/w "Reggae Trombone" 7" -- Both tracks are unreleased. (Trojan)
Ken Boothe, Dillinger, Leroy Smart, Delroy Wilson: "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" 7" --Features one hit from each artist named-checked in The Clash's song of the same title.
(Greensleeves)
Madness: "Drip Fed Fred" b/w "Johnny the Horse" 7" (Salvo Music)
Mungo's Hi Fi featuring Johnny Clarke: "Rain Keeps Falling" 7" (Scotch Bonnet)
Revolutionaries: Green Bay Dub LP (Burning Sound)
Various Artists: House of Joy 15 x 7" box set (Studio One)
Various Artists: Tighten Up, Volume 2 Picture disc LP (Trojan Records)
Yabby You: Songs of Love and Unity 5 x 7" box set (Pressure Sounds)

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Rico "Man From Wareika/Wareika Dub"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Rico Man From Wareika/Wareika Dub (Double CD, Caroline International/Island Records, 2016): Even though he had lived in the UK since 1961 and had played on numerous records as a very respected and in demand session trombone man for Laurel Aitken, Dandy Livingstone (performing on "Rudy A Message to You"), Joe Mansano, Georgie Fame, and many others (for labels such as Blue Beat, Planetone, Ska Beat, Collins Downbeat), as well as releasing several albums of his own on Pama and Trojan, Rico Rodriguez (check out our bio of him here) wasn't well-known much beyond the Jamaican immigrant community and the devoted subculture of mods and skinheads until Island signed him in 1976. By that time, Chris Blackwell had begun to experience enormous success in marketing reggae to a rock audience--specifically with Bob Marley and the Wailers--and intended to repeat/build upon it with newly signed artists like Toots and Maytals, Burning Spear, and Rico Rodriguez.

Rico recorded Man From Wareika (its title track a tribute to Rico's friend and Alpha School mentor Don Drummond who first brought Rico to the Rastas up on Wareika Hill; this song is a version of Drummond's "Green Island") with top reggae musicians (Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Bobby Ellis, Eddie Thorton, Dick Cuthell, Ansel Collins, Karl Pitterson--who also produced the majority tracks here--and many more) during sessions in England at Island's Hammersmith Studios and Jamaica at Randy's and Joe Gibb's studios. A few months prior to Man From Wareika's release in 1976, Rico toured the UK with Bob Marley and the Wailers, which helped generate advance interest in his album (and in 1977, Rico opened for Marley on the European tour in support of Exodus). Man From Wareika received positive to stellar reviews and sold well-enough that Island released an extremely sought after handmade-looking white label dub version through its Ghetto Rockers imprint and a series of Island 12" singles in 1977 and 1979--"Africa," "Ska Wars," "Dial Africa," "Take 5," and "Children of Sanchez." Having said that, Rico's heavily jazz-influenced instrumental reggae was a bit out of step with the contemporary roots reggae of the mid-70s, which limited Man From Wareika's appeal to some degree (though Jerry Dammers took note, which led to Rico essentially joining The Specials a few years later and achieving even greater popularity and acclaim). But listening to it today, one recognizes that this a phenomenal album--a masterpiece of Jamaican jazz--though nowhere as near well-known and celebrated as it should be.

This definitive 40th anniversary release of Man From Wareika marks the first time that Wareika Dub has been available on compact disc outside of Japan (where it was issued in 2004) and this double CD features 15 bonus tracks--comprised of cuts from many of the Island 12" singles, a few tracks from the Man from Wareika sessions that were first released on Roots to the Bone in 1995, and five terrific unreleased songs (vocal versions of "Africa" and "(Free) Ganja" with Ijahman Levi; a cover of Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder"; and Rico's "Shabeen" and "Night of the Bongo Man," which features Count Ossie). Fans of Rico will need this in their collection--but anyone who loves reggae and Jamaican music should really give it a shot, since it's that crucial.

One hopes that this re-issue will lead to expanded releases of Rico's two albums for 2 Tone: That Man is Forward (1981) and Jama Rico (1982). The later has never been released on CD, which is shocking, as its an extraordinarily good album (it may be Man From Wareika's equal or better) and very hard to find on LP these days.

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Rico, Rhoda Dakar, Prince Buster, and Georgie Fame in the November 2015 MOJO!

Given that a good deal of its music coverage is historic in nature and aimed at the middle-aged music fan (I'm guilty as charged--I'm smack-dab in their demographic!), MOJO is always pretty good about including news, features, and reviews relating to 2 Tone-era bands (and, to a lesser degree, the Jamaican originators). Their latest edition is a good case in point.

November's issue contains an excellent obituary for/tribute to Rico Rodriguez (who died on September 4, 2015) by reggae expert David Katz. Rico and Prince Buster also figure into a feature on 60s mod hero Georgie Fame, who performed a heady mix of rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, ska, and pop in London's  jazz clubs--and, of particular note to ska fans, in 1963, Fame played his Hammond organ on Prince Buster's I Feel the Spirit LP, the first ska album released outside of Jamaica. (I never knew much about Fame--inexplicably, he never broke big in the USA--but just ordered this incredible compilation of his 60s work and am looking forward to getting to know his recordings much better...)

The Bodysnatchers' Rhoda Dakar is spotlighted in MOJO's regular "Hello Goodbye" feature, in which musicians tell their story of how they came to join a band and then how they left it (willingly or not!). Ms. Dakar is promoting the Phoenix City/Cherry Red Records release of her stellar Rhoda Dakar Sings The Bodysnatchers album (The Duff Guide to Ska review of the Pledge Music version of this release can be read here; the only difference in these releases is that the Phoenix City/Cherry Red edition contains lots of archival photos and essential, new, lengthy liner notes by Rhoda herself). Ms. Dakar has also been performing live this fall--read a review of her excellent Halloween show at Camden's Jazz Cafe in Louder Than War (The Specials' Lynval Golding played on some songs!). All fans of 2 Tone should have her album. And if you're in the UK, make sure to get to one of her gigs!