Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Prince Fatty Presenting Monkey Jhayam "The Rolê of Monkey Man"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Prince Fatty Presenting Monkey Jhayam The Rolê of Monkey Man (digital/LP, Delicious Vinyl Island, 2018): I knew next to nothing about this LP when I mail ordered it after finding out that limited copies were available through Prince Fatty's Bandcamp page. But it didn't matter--his recent, left field collaborations with Nostalgia 77 and Dele Sosimi and The Last Poets, in addition to just about every other release in his catalogue, have been consistently excellent, so why would this collaboration with Monkey Jhayam--one of Brazil's top reggae artists, who sings/toasts in Portuguese and has a terrific, laid-back delivery--be any different? As The Rolê of Monkey Man is slated to be the first of several Fatty/Jhayam albums for Delicious Vinyl, this record is consciously pitched to introduce him to an audience beyond Brazil's borders (and succeeds). So, it follows that Fatty employs almost a dozen classic/evergreen riddims and choice covers for Jhayam to toast over/augment, and utilizes a host of ace guest artists (Horseman, Earl 16, and Tippa Irie), many of whom are well known to the PF crowd/have appeared on his productions (and are a good contrast to Monkey Jhayam's chill style). The album kicks off with "Rolê" ("Scroll"), which versions Jackie Mittoo and the Soul Vendors' "Hot Milk" riddim (also used decades ago for two of my all-time favorite tracks: Yellowman and Fathead's "I Can't Stand It" and Carlton Livingston's "100 Weight of Collie Weed"). Other riddims/covers heard here include "Mãe da Lua" ("Mother of the Moon")/"Everybody Love the Sunshine" (with Omar Lye-Fook and Fatlip--of The Pharcyde), which is another great take on this 1976 Roy Ayers jazz-funk-soul gem that Fatty, Omar, and Fatlip released as a single for last year's Record Store Day; John Holt's "Police in Helicopter"; Dub Specialist's "Dub Creation"/Dennis Brown's "Created by the Father" on "Eles Não Sabem" ("They Don't Know"); Smoke City's 1997 trip-hop hit  "Underwater Love" (featuring a fantastic Nina Miranda--she co-wrote and sang on the original track--who reminds one very much of Hollie Cook); Gwen McCrae's 1974 funk-soul b-side "90% of Me is You" (with a completely phenomenal Shniece McMenamin); an incredible funky reggae take on James Brown's "Soul Power" for "Soul Powah" (also with McMenamin); as well as a few other riddims I know are in there, but can't quite identify without investing major time figuring them out. In sum, another winning Prince Fatty production!

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Duff Review: Pama International "Love and Austerity"

Heavyweight LP, CD, digital download (the album is also being released as a series of four singles via Record Kicks)
Happy People Records
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

I've been listening to Pama International's ninth album for weeks now, ruminating about whether or not this is a political concept record of sorts (read on to find out!). However, during that time, what's never been in question is the sheer excellence of all of the ska-reggae-soul songs contained on Pama International's Love and Austerity. The LP is anchored by two incredible covers that kick off each side: Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" and John Holt's "Man Next Door." The former could be read as a metaphor for climate change, while the latter might be interpreted as being about societal breakdown ("I've got to get away from here/This is not a place for me to stay/I've got to take my family/And find a quiet place"). Even the one catchy instrumental on the album is named "Gasoline" (the literal fuel of our planet's destruction and a prime example of humankind's extreme folly). To this mix, add their original "Austerity Skank," which tries to shake off the gray of the punishing Cameron--and now Theresa May/Brexit--years through PMA: "Hard times have come/Now, hard times be gone/No more illusions/System delusions/Our hard times are done...I'm stepping out to a better place/Tired of all of the lies getting in the way/I just want to be free/With no austerity..."

Even most of the lush love songs on this album (with the exception of "Skies Are Blue"--for now!) are filled with friction, dysfunction, and entropy. Life is passing by a man sleepwalking through his relationship in "Wake Up" ("We spend hours/Worrying about the business/Just to go and miss the sunset...Wake up, my darling/For you are the reason why/I celebrate life every time you smile"). Another couple is on the verge of breaking up in "I Cried Until I Stopped"--she's heartbroken over what must happen (but even her tears have limits)--though by the end of the song she defiantly sings that she'll "never stop loving you." The last track on the LP is a soulful cover of John Loudermilk's 1962 tune "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," which on its face is hopeful about a couple's future together, but can't quite push away the reality that not everything lasts ("Kiss me each morning for a million years/Hold me each evening by your side/Tell me you'll love me for a million years/Then if it don't work out/Then if it don't work out/Then you can tell me goodbye").

On Love and Austerity, Pama International's lyrics may be downbeat, but the exquisite music and wonderful performances pack a staggering emotional wollop. This is the music to help get you through the rough days that most likely lay ahead...

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Hollie Cook's "Superstar," Pama International's "Man Next Door" b/w "Austerity Skank," and Neville Staple's "Return of Judge Roughneck"

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

Hollie Cook "Superstar" b/w "Superdub" (free Record Store Day 7"/digital download, Merge Records, 2017): The physical release of this single was a last minute addition to the 2017 Record Store Day line-up and was said to given out for free at select indie shops in celebration of Cook's joining the Merge Records line-up in the USA (did anyone receive one?). The choice of cover here--The Carpenters' AM pop staple "Superstar"--is definitely inspired, continues to fulfill Cook's mission to create "tropical pop," and is well matched to her wonderfully pure voice. And while this is no slight to producer/drummer Ben Mckone (who does a very fine job here), I have to admit to kind of missing the Prince Fatty touch. No word on the new album yet, but it bodes well, based on this teaser...

Pama International "Man Next Door" b/w "Austerity Skank" (clear vinyl 7" single/digital download, Record Kicks, 2017): Following their fantastic cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" comes Pama International's second single off their forthcoming Love and Austerity album (to be released any time now via Record Kicks and featuring the amazing co-lead vocals of Jewels Vass and Anna Uhuru). John Holt's rocksteady urban living lament (most memorably versioned/deconstructed by The Slits) is beautifully rendered here. Even better is Pama International's original tune "Austerity Skank," which tries to shake off the gray of the punishing Cameron (now May/Brexit) years through PMA: "Hard times have come/Now, hard times be gone/No more illusions/System delusions/Our hard times are done...I'm stepping out to a better place/Tired of all of the lies getting in the way/I just want to be free/With no austerity..."

Neville Staple Return of Judge Roughneck (CD/2 x LP, Cleopatra Records, 2017): When I first put on Neville Staple's new record (after first seeing it on Chuck Wren's FB feed) and heard the opening notes of "Gangsters"/"Al Capone" in "Return of Judge Roughneck" (referencing his "Stupid Marriage" persona, natch), I braced myself for an album trading heavily on 2 Tone/Specials nostalgia (even note the use of The Specials' font on the back cover). After having listened to the LP several times through now, my initial impressions haven't been dispelled, but it's all done so winningly and well that any cynicism melts away at the sheer joy of it all. About half the tracks are safe but good covers (Stranger Cole's "Bangarang," Peter Tosh's "Maga Dog," The Melodians' "Sweet Sensation," and Sigman and Magidson's via Prince Buster/The Specials "Enjoy Yourself," among them)--though, the "Ghost Town"-like version of his own Fun Boy Three's "The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum," an apt tune for the times if there ever was one, and gleeful rendition of Jimmy Soul's "If You Want to Be Happy" are truly ace; but think of them as warming you up for the really good stuff. Just about all of the new tracks--the Toasters-like modern ska of "Down My Street," the rocksteady rude boy anthem "Crime Don't Pay," the Madness-y sing-along music hall ska of "Gang Fever" ("Every time you read The Mirror or Star/Kids shot dead, rumours of war/It's a fever"), and "Politician Man"--are really good in their own right (more of these, please!). Oh, and there's a full album of inventive dubs included on the second LP or extended CD ("Crime Dub," Roadblock," "Dub Fever," "Bang Bang," "Dub Crazy," and "Legal Dub" in particular are fantastic!). This one is very much worth picking up.

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John Holt, RIP

The great reggae singer John Holt, who first rose to fame with The Paragons, passed away in London on October 19, 2014 at age 67. The cause of death has not yet been released. Read Holt's obituary in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and the BBC News.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

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Like many people, I first heard Holt's music via Blondie's cover of "The Tide Is High" (which was featured on their Autoamerican album, released in 1980--and was a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over 1 million copies in the USA). After I discovered ska via 2 Tone in the early 80s and began to learn more about the Jamaican originators, I discovered The Paragons and came across some of Holt's solo work on various rocksteady and reggae compilations (I think the first solo Holt song I heard was his amazing cover of the somewhat cheesy "Mr. Bojangles" on the bizarrely sequenced The Trojan Story!). But my two favorite Holt songs--which are possibly some of the greatest rocksteady/reggae cuts ever written and recorded--are "Ali Baba" (from 1969 and produced by Duke Reid) and "Strange Things" (from 1971 and produced by Phil Pratt), both of which sound completely otherworldly--and are out of this world. The man and his wonderfully smooth, rich, and expressive tenor voice will be sorely missed.

Duff Review: Le Grand Miercoles "Ghost Cowboys" LP

Liquidator Music/Golden Singles Records
2014
LP (which includes a CD of "Ghost Cowboys" and "This is Surf-Steady")
Available in the USA through Jump Up Records

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Named after a 1978 cult film by John Milius about a group of California surfers (played by Jan-Michael Vincent, William "Greatest American Hero" Katt, and Gary Busey) in the 1960s as they grapple with the onset of adulthood and the Vietnam War, Le Grand Miercoles ("Big Wednesday") are a Spanish ska supergroup (based in Valencia)-- comprised of members of the Malarians, Dr. Jau, Pataconas, The Offbeaters, and the Golden Singles band, amongst other groups--whose sound, they call it "surf-steady," is a wickedly good mix of Dick Dale-type twangy, Middle Eastern/Eastern European-inspired surf rock (see The Ventures, Link Wray, The Surfaris, The Chantays, and Duane Eddy), late 60s spaghetti Western reggae (see The Upsetters, Bad Manners' Return of the Ugly, and the awesome and essential Trojan compilation For a Few Dollars More: 28 Shots of Western Inspired Reggae), and vintage rocksteady and dub.

Ghost Cowboys is a brilliant instrumental album that features both choice covers and excellent original tracks, which, when given Le Grand Miercoles' surf-steady treatment, blend seamlessly together. The record kicks off with an awesomely dramatic and revved-up version of one of the great rocksteady classics, The Paragons' "Man Next Door" (written by John Holt about an extremely noisy and annoying neighbor), which is retitled here as "I've Got to Surf Away" (which is one way to get away and find some peace...). This is followed by several terrifically evocative songs by various members of Le Grand Miercoles: "Western Standard Time," the mournful "Fukushima" (remember the catastrophic nuclear reactor meltdown there?), and the magnificently cinematic "Cowboy Fantasma." Side one of the album concludes with a dubby version of The Clash's searing "Straight to Hell," which (particularly without the lyrics about American soldiers in Vietnam abandoning their Amerasian children and their mothers when their tour of duty was up--and how the US, for a time, turned its back on these--their sons' own--children) is transformed into a defiantly jaunty, even joyful, track here (this cover was also included on the fantastic 2013 ska/reggae tribute to The Clash from Golden Singles Records, The Clash Goes Jamaican). The spoken word bit towards the end of the song reminds everyone that they can "change anything they want to and that means everything in the world"--and that "people are out there doing bad things to each other, it's as if they've been dehumanized; it's terrible, we have to take the humanity back to the center of the ring and work with that for a time...without people, we're nothing."

Side two kicks off with a superbly edgy and muscular cover of Mel Torme's "Comin' Home Baby" (written by Ben Tucker and first recorded by the Dave Bailey Quintet in 1961; The Skatalites later covered and renamed it as "Christine Keeler"). Torme's version is pretty-bad ass (check it out!), but Le Grand Miercoles' is even more so! "Cecilia Ann" was written by Steve Hoffman and Charles Horton and recorded by Dave Myer and the Surftones in 1964 and much later covered by The Pixies on their Bossanova album. Le Grand Miercoles' take on it starts out with a quick and subtle quote of Henry Mancini's (via Duane Eddy) "Theme from Peter Gunn" and then slides into a sweet one-drop skank, with the lush guitar line washing over it. "Alligator Ye-Ye" is a frisky dance number that you might expect to hear in a campy 1960s beach party or sex farce film (ye-ye was a 1960s French/European style of innocent, yet knowing/sexy, pop). "Caravan Party" has great loping groove (and organ solo)--you can imagine all of the covered wagons making their way across the unforgiving landscape. If you were already familiar with Le Grand Miercoles' surf-steady style, then Chris Isaak's wounded and haunted 1989 hit "Wicked Game" (which became a hit via David Lynch's 1990 "Wild at Heart" film soundtrack) is right in their wheelhouse. The album finishes with "The Rumor," which has a beautiful melody, but also suggests the danger and deceit lurking beneath.

As one might surmise, Ghost Cowboys is essentially the imagined soundtrack for the defiant, but lonely and tightly-wound rebels who are compelled to follow their particular life's path, whether it be on surf board searching for the perfect wave (and girl!) or horseback evading the bad guys/the law through a bleak and hostile environment. And it makes for fantastic listening, even if you're destined for a more conventional existence. While Le Grand Miercoles' killer surf-steady style may not be for diehard ska purists (though they should expand their musical horizons), Ghost Cowboys is a stellar, smoking hot album (with outstanding cover artwork!) that should not be missed. It's certainly one of the best ska albums of 2014.

NYC Summer 2014 Ska Calendar #11

Rico-That Man is Forward!

Saturday, June 28, 2014 @ 8:00 pm

Lacey Allure's "Rock N Roll Girlie Show" with Beat Brigade, The Purslaines, The Pests, and The Cuts

Bar Matchless
557 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

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Sunday, June 29, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Sly and Robbie with The Taxi Gang and Bitty McLean

B.B. Kings Blues Club and Grill
237 West 42nd Street
Manhattan, NY
$20 in advance/$25 day of the show
All ages

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Sunday, June 29, 2014 @ 12:00 pm

Groovin' in the Park w/Beres Hammond, Chronixx, Air Supply, Marcia Griffiths and John Holt, Bob Andy, and Judy Mowatt and many more!

Roy Wilkins Park
Merrick and Baisley Boulevard
Queens, NY
$59.99 (kids under 12 are free)

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Sleepy Wonder (Thievery Corp), Geometric Echoes, Dub is a Weapon

Drom
85 Avenue A
Manhattan, NY
21+

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Saturday, July 12, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rude Boy George (playing from 7:00-7:30 pm)

Maplewoodstock
Memorial Park
Maplewood, NJ
Free
All ages

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Friday, July 28, 2014

The Frightnrs, Ticklah, Natasha Diggs, 100dBs

The Gemini Scorpio Loft
200 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Tribal Seeds, New Kingston, The Expanders

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show

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Saturday, August 23, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Slackers

Departs from Circle Line Pier 83
West 42nd Street and the West Side Highway
Manhattan
$30/21+

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Friday, August 29, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

Mrs. Skannotto

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show

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Duff Review: The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra: "The Benevolence of Sister Mary Ignatius"

Axe Attack Records
2013
CD/LP

(Review by Steve Shafer)

If you're a middle-aged ska fan like myself, you'll fondly remember Madness sax man Lee Thompson's early 90s ska-pop side project, Crunch!, launched with Madness guitarist Chris Foreman (check out some of their old videos here and there). Two decades later (with an amazingly resurgent Madness still releasing stellar albums like The Liberty of Norton Folgate and Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da, Da--click through the links to read my reviews of them), Thompson has embarked on another side trip--The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra--with some of his old Crunch! bandmates (though Madness bassist Mark Bedford is along for the ride instead of Foreman) and several Madness collaborators (like Terry Edwards).

What is most surprising--even jarring--is that this time out, the fantastic sounds Thompson and company lay down couldn't be more different. Instead of the heavily produced, synthesized ska-pop of Crunch!, the warmly organic The Benevolence of Sister Mary Ignatius is vintage Jamaican ska to its core, as it should be (with support from Prince Fatty's 70s-era production). The title of the album refers to the Roman Catholic nun who was head of the Alpha School for Boys in Jamaica; during that period, its music program fostered some of the most celebrated Jamaican musicians known to humankind, including Tommy McCook, Johnny "Dizzy" Moore, Lester Sterling, Don Drummond, Dizzy Reece, Cedric Brooks, Theophilus Beckford, Rico Rodriguez, Desmond Dekker, Yellowman, Vin Gordon, Joe Harriott, Headley Bennett, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, and Leroy Smart. Since this group includes four of the founding members of The Skatalites (and many of their musical friends), it only follows that this record is essentially a tribute to the sound and vision of that extraordinary band and its heyday.

The Benevolence of Sister Mary Ignatius contains a mix of smartly arranged instrumental covers (Baba Brooks' "Guns Fever"; The Skatalites' "Eastern Standard Time"; Byron Lee and the Dragonaires' cover of "Soul Serenade"--I particularly liked the Dave Brubeck-like take on Lalo Schifrin's "Mission Impossible" and the Madness-y cover of Lynn Taitt's essential "Napoleon Solo") and sweet vocal tunes (Stranger Cole's and Lester Sterling's "Bangarang"; Desmond Dekker's "Fu Manchu" with a fantastic Bitty McLean singing; James Brown's and Fred Wesley's "Hot Pants"; Fat's Domino's "Hello Josephine"; The Blues Busters' "Soon You'll Be Gone"; I'm always a sucker for one of the greatest reggay tracks of all time, John Holt's "Ali Baba"--Winston Francis and Alcapone have recently covered this tune with Prince Fatty, too; and while Paul Davidson's reggae version of The Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider" was a huge hit in the UK in 1976, I've been turned onto this tune since Bad Manners' 1992 reading of it on Fat Sound). Needless to say, all of the performances here are top-notch and throughly enjoyable.

Many of these songs--particularly the early reggae cuts released during '67-'71--were the ones that Thompson grew up on (and influenced the whole 2 Tone generation) and Thompson's and the Orchestra's affection and respect for them and their originators rings through loud and clear. My only minor quibble with this album is that it's too reverential to its source material (a more daring approach to the arrangements might have yielded more thrills), but I suspect that the majority of traditional ska fans will be mighty pleased with The Benevolence of Sister Mary Ignatius as is--and the talent on display here sure gives them every right to be.

Duff Guide to Ska Interview with Mike Drance of The Bluebeats

Since the mid-80s, Mike Drance has been a vital force on the New York City and Long Island ska scenes as a former singer, songwriter ("Rudy's Back," "Paul Getty," "Ali-Ska-Ba," "Goin' Back to Kingston"), and baritone saxophonist for The Scofflaws and founding member, singer, and songwriter for his current rocksteady band, The Bluebeats.

After catching up at a recent Bluebeats show, Mike was kind enough to agree to consent to an interview with The Duff Guide to Ska via e-mail...

The Duff Guide to Ska: When/how were you introduced to ska music--and what was the first ska (or rocksteady) album/single that you picked up?

Mike Drance: In 1980, when The Specials' and The Selecter's first records came out, I used to frequent a local record store in Huntington Village. At the time, I was into punk and new wave music and I remember seeing the lifesize cut out of the rude boy from the Selecter album cover in the store and thinking to myself, that is so fuckin' cool! I hadn't even heard the record yet. Soon thereafter, one of the guys at the bar/restaurant/disco I worked at at the time was playing The Specials' first record while we were setting up for the dinner crowd and I thought to myself, this is so fuckin' cool! Then I spoke to the DJ about the record and he showed me the cover and the connection was made. I was changed for life. I went out and bought The Specials and Selecter records almost simultaneously, then Madness followed, Bad Manners, etc. I cut my hair and was a Rudeboy from then on. A couple years after that, I was turned onto the original ska from the 60s by my friend Mike from The Nihilistics, a local hardcore band. We used to go to some of the local new wave clubs and go to shows together and he turned me onto the Intensified compilation and again I was hooked.

DGTS: When you were thinking about forming The Bluebeats back in the mid-90s, what attracted you to the rocksteady genre (as opposed to continuing with a vintage ska sound)?

MD: Well, as you know, I was in the New Bohemians in the early 80s, which was a garage/soul/funk/junk band at the time and when I joined, I began introducing more and more of the 60s ska stuff into the band's repertoire. We eventually became a full-fledged ska band and became The Scofflaws. I was with them for almost 10 years, so I had my fill of the vintage ska sound and was ready to do something different. At first I didn't find the rock steady as exciting as the ska, but the more I listened, the more I began to appreciate the wonderful melodies, vocals and pure soul of the music. To me, nothing is more soulful than rock steady and the early reggae tunes.

DGTS: What do The Bluebeats have on deck for the next year or so--any new recordings, big gigs, etc. (plug away!)?

MD: At this time, it's really hard for us to get together on a regular basis, with members starting families and all, so working on new material is hard to do. I've got quite a few tunes ready to go and a bunch more that need some work with the band, but it looks like it's gonna be a while before we get another record out.

DGTS: Are any of the members of the band full-time musicians, or is everyone balancing family/work along with The Bluebeats?

MD: No full timers.

DGTS: As with many bands, The Bluebeats have gone through some personnel changes over the years--is being its musical director one of your roles (i.e.: is there a lot of collaboration with the other members of the band with writing new material and the choice of covers--or do you make all of these decisions)?

MD: It's more of a collaboration at this point. We share ideas and material and work on arrangements together.

DGTS: What have been your best and worst experiences performing in The Bluebeats?

MD: Best...The Brooklyn Rock Steady Festival back in 1995, I think? Steeplechase Park at Coney Island. That was a dream come true. Playing with the likes of Ken Boothe, Phyllis Dillon, Hopeton Lewis, Big Youth, John Holt, and others I can't remember. It was amazing! We blew a lot of minds that day. Being the only white group on the bill and pretty much the only white folk at the festival, people were looking at us setting up on stage and you can imagine what they might have been thinking. But from the first chord on, we immediately won them over, big time! It was great. Also the European tour with Laurel Aitken and Dave Barker was awesome. Europeans totally understood what we were about and I was very touched by their appreciation of our music.

Worst...Hmmm Nothing terrible. Everyone has bad gigs from time to time, but nothing that I can think of that I would say was really that bad.

DGTS: What are your thoughts about music file sharing? Have you found a lot of The Bluebeats' recordings available on-line for free downloading?

MD: I love the idea of file sharing. Honestly, I haven't looked to see what is available from The Bluebeats music for free. I don't care if it's all available. I want people to share music with each other and I hope people are sharing our music with each other.

DGTS: Which up-and-coming bands on the current ska scene should we keep an eye/ear out for?

MD: Our friend John Pinto had a band Cold Spot 8 that played the last NYC Knitting Factory gig that blew me away. Unfortunately, they are not a regular performing band. I've heard some tunes from a new incarnation called The Equilibirans that sound pretty hot, so I'm keeping an eye/ear out for them.

DGTS: What are your top five Desert Island ska/reggae albums or singles?

MD: Do you mean Treasure Island? Anyhow, I don't catalog records by label so I couldn't tell you and I hate faves lists anyway.

DGTS: Do you ever forsee the possiblity of a debut album-era Scofflaws reunion (it was a smokin' line-up you all had back then!)?

MD: It's been talked about from time to time. I don't see it happening anytime soon, but I'd be willing to have a go at it. I'd have to pick up the horn again and get my chops back anyhow.

DGTS: Thanks for doing this, Mike!

MD: Thank you, brother! Hope to see you at another show soon. Peace.