Prince Buster's Birthday/Duff Review: The Dualers "Prince Buster Shakedown"

Phoenix City Records/Cherry Red Records
CD
2012

(Review by Steve Shafer)

With Prince Buster's 74th birthday coming up in just a few days (May 28th, 1938), I thought an appropriate way to honor him and his music was to review of The Dualers' new big guns salute to The Prince, Prince Buster Shakedown.

While Prince Buster's back catalogue is incredibly deep and rich (see King of Ska, Rock A Shacka  Volume 2, Voice of the People, Rock A Shaka Volume 5, Dance Cleopatra Dance or his reissued LPs or compilations from the 60s to scrape the surface), the songs that are most familiar (and beloved) to ska fans are those popularized by the 2 Tone bands and off the Buster LPs that were relatively easy to unearth in the pre-internet age (like Fabulous Greatest Hits). Apart from the very familiar "Enjoy Yourself" (whenever I hear it, I expect to hear, "Hello, I'm Terry and I'm going to enjoy myself first..."), the tracks selected by The Dualers are still amongst Prince Buster's more popular ones (with the exception of "Chinaman Ska" and the mento cut "Firestick"--a.k.a. "Old Lady Oh"), but manage to avoid the ones typically covered by devotees in bands around the world.

The Dualers' arrangements tend to remain faithful to Buster's originals, but with smart and subtle differences (like the touches of piano and extra percussion in the opening to "Take it Easy," or the jazzy, muted trumpet in the intro to "Nothing Takes the Place of You"). And while all of the covers here are really uniformly great, the tracks that stand out are the ones that contain those little unique variations that allow the band to claim the tracks as their own (or at least borrowed for a bit). I find their treatment of "Orange Street"--one of my favorite Prince Buster penned-songs ever--particularly stellar, and other listeners are sure to have similar experiences with other cuts here.

Dualers singer Tyber Cranstoun grew up with Prince Buster as the soundtrack to his childhood (his dad helped introduce ska to London with his Savoy Sound System) and his knowledge of, affection for, and comfort with the material shines through. This, coupled with The Dualers' expert and heartfelt performances, makes for one winning record.

Interview with Masaya Hayashi of Drum and Bass Records and Rock A Shacka!

There is a fantastic interview with Masaya Hayashi, the founder and owner of Japan's Drum & Bass Records (quite possibly the premier source for vintage Jamaican vinyl in the world) and the Rock A Shacka re-issue label, on PartyXtraz.com (a Jamaican entertainment scene blog). This is a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of this store and label--and/or wants some insight into the Japanese ska and reggae scene.

In 2003, I was lucky to pick up an import copy of Prince of Peace, the live CD featuring Prince Buster and The Determinations, as well as several other subsequent Rock A Shacka compilations of rare Prince Buster singles and productions (Voice of the People and Dance Cleopatra)--but these are hard to come by now.

Several recent Rock A Shacka releases (such as Orange Street Special, Fabulous Songs of Miss Sonia E. Pottinger Volume 2 and Alton Ellis Soul Train is Coming) have been available through Amazon and Dusty Groove America in the US, and Copasetic Mailorder in Germany. I haven't heard it yet, but Rock A Shacka just released Rock A Shacka Volume 19: You'll Never Know: Caribou Ska Selection, that contains some rare early ska from Laurel Aitken, Don Drummond, Rico, The Mighty Vikings, Lord Tanamo, and more.