Duff Review: Carroll Thompson "Feel the Magic" b/w "Feel the Magic Instrumental"

Happy People Records
7" vinyl single/digital
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Back in 1985, I picked up a copy of the Reggae Greats: Strictly for Lovers compilation, since so many other releases in the Reggae Greats series had been so good. But this collection--which, unbelievably, doesn't include any female Lovers rock artists--didn't move me. As a callow 18 year-old, I just wasn't ready for this style of reggae, which I probably thought was too soft (all apologies to Dennis Bovell!). Carroll Thompson's phenomenal new single "Feel the Magic," released in advance of her forthcoming record Where Did Our Lovers Go?, has shown me the error of my ways, and then some! For whatever reason--advanced age, accumulated life experience, listening to a lot of Hollie Cook and Schnice Mcmenamin--I get it now, and am wondering what else I've missed out on for all these years. Even though it's been many years since she first broke out as a superstar on the UK Lovers rock scene with her singles "I'm So Sorry" (1980) and "Simply in Love" (1981), and then her wildly successful indie debut album Hopelessly in Love (1981), which sold over 1 million copies worldwide, Thompson has been consistently releasing albums and singles in the years since--and her voice is still in incredible shape, with a gorgeous purity to its tone. On "Feel the Magic," after she sings, "Even after so long/It's still strong/Every time you kiss my lips/I still feel the magic," you'll be ready to follow her to the ends of the Earth. 

Duff Guide to Ska Bullet Points: Prince Fatty and Shniece McMenamin, Joe Yorke and The Eastonian Singers

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

• Inspired by a request from a TV/film/game music licenser for a reggae take on a '60 Free Love-era tune (that he didn't have at the time), Prince Fatty took up the idea and decided to cover Grace Slick's classic 1967 psychedelic rock cut recorded with Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit"--but renamed as "Black Rabbit" (7" vinyl picture sleeve single/digital, Evergreen Recordings, 2020). With lyrics drawn from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and music influenced by Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain and Ravel's Bolero, "White Rabbit" was about "following your curiosity" and expanding one's mind through hallucinogenic drugs--as well as calling out the hypocrisy of parents who willingly read their children stories filled with pretty explicit drug use (like Carroll's), but then condemned their kids' drug experimentation as they approached adulthood. (The opening lyric, "One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small," makes me think of the red pill/blue pill sequence in The Matrix.) The minor-key grandiosity of the original lends itself quite well to Prince Fatty's spaghetti Western reggae-like setting, and Shniece McMenamin's superb, commanding vocals are the perfect guide for a vividly surreal trip like this. I'm not much of a fan of the original--which takes itself far too seriously, actually--but Prince Fatty's version goes down quite well. 

• On Joe Yorke and The Eastonian Singers' sensational roots reggae single "Judgement Tree" (7" vinyl single/digital, Happy People Records, 2020), a Revelation Time of sorts has come and punishment has been meted out. Employing the Biblical symbolism of fruit bearing trees as representations of good and evil (see Matthew 7:16-20: Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."), this track paints a hell on earth that might be dispelled if the righteous singer can vanquish the emblem of evil that has defiled the land (and unfairly condemned him): "When I arise/The black sun shines/No birds sing for me...After all the wrong you've done/Doomsday's here before tomorrow comes/And the branches rot beneath your feet/You run to the rock and it will be melted/You run to the sea, it will be boiling/The tree is so big and broad/Though this axe, it may be small/Well, I'll still cut you down/You will fall...Judgement's cast its shadow over me." Yorke's fantastic falsetto is appropriately otherworldly (and reminiscent of The Congos, Junior Murvin, etc.), and Eeyun Perkins' (Waggle Dance Records) production and dub ("Drayman's Special") are wonderfully executed. "Judgement Tree's" lyrics are haunting and grim--and a positive outcome may not be fated--but the riddim's mighty seductive, indeed. (This cut and Yorke's other Happy People single "Tonight" come from The Co-operator's 2019 album Rhythms from the Kitchen Sink.)

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Duff Review: Prince Fatty and Shniece Mcmenamin "Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)"

Evergreen Recordings
Digital single
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

"Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)" is Prince Fatty and Shniece Mcmenamin latest effort in their ongoing collaborative project of creating reggae versions of their favorite soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s (see my review of their recent Disco Deception EP). This extraordinary, ecstatic 1980 funk-jazz-soul track was originally written and recorded by jazz trumpeter Tom Browne and singer Toni Smith as a tribute to Browne's hometown of Jamaica, Queens (and was #1 for a month on Billboard's R&B chart and made the top 10 UK singles chart). While "Funkin' for Jamaica" has been sampled and covered by many hip-hop and soul artists, Prince Fatty and Shniece Mcmenamin's recording is believed to be the first reggae version (and with a song title like this, it certainly calls out for one). Both renditions open with a high, sustained trumpet note, but the Friday night, good times funk and magnificent jazz improvisations at the edges of the original are traded in for a more sedate, late night, "Quiet Storm" riddim track--though Shniece's showcased vocals give Smith's impressive (Chaka Khan-ish) take a run for their money.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Prince Fatty featuring Shniece Mcmenamin and Horseman "The Model" b/w "The Model Dub"

Evergreen Recordings
7" vinyl picture sleeve single/digital
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Originally slated for release this past April for Record Store Day 2020 (that is until the coronavirus pandemic hit), Prince Fatty's terrific cover of Kraftwerk's "Das Model" featuring Shniece Mcmenamin and Horseman will now be issued on July 3, 2020. This track, of course, was first released on Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine in 1978, but went stratospheric when re-released in 1981 as the B side to the "Computer Love" single during the height of synth-pop in the UK. (The song has been both criticized for objectifying women and interpreted as a commentary on the commodification of desire, as well as the male gaze and scopophilia.) The wonderful simplicity of "The Model" has lent itself to being easily recast in many genres (name a style of music and there's been a cover version of it done) and its immediate catchiness makes "The Model" an ideal and enduring pop song. In Prince Fatty's boss reggae version, the synths remain artificially chilly and the riddim is rigidly martial, but Shniece's vocals are mighty alluring and Horseman's toasted commentary provides humanizing depth ("She's a modeling queen/'Cause she nice up the scene"). While it was recorded well before Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider's death this past April, this single serves as a fantastic tribute to this incredible musician who was an essential part of one of the most influential bands of all time.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Prince Fatty featuring Shniece Mcmenamin "Disco Deception" EP

Evergreen Recordings
Vinyl/digital
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

As of late, Prince Fatty has been mining his and his collaborators' shared love of soul music (for instance, see the awesome covers of The Temptations' "Get Ready" and William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful for What You've Got"). Of course, since black American musical forms like rhythm and blues, soul, gospel, and early rock 'n' roll significantly influenced the Jamaican musicians who created ska and its descendants (and there were a host of soulful rocksteady and reggae singers, like Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson, Phyllis Dillon, Susan Cadogan, Marcia Griffiths, Jimmy Cliff, Toots Hibbert, and many more), it makes sense that many soul songs are ripe for being repurposed as reggae cuts (and there are numerous examples of such from the '60s onward). Rocksteady and reggae's slower tempos open up the space for soul singers to do their thing over tight, propulsive Jamaican grooves custom-made to pack dance floors--and the tracks on Disco Deception will do just that. For his latest release, Prince Fatty and singer Shniece Mcmenamin (of The Drizabone Soul Family, who's also worked with Chaka Kahn, Chic and Nile Rodgers, Sister Sledge, Aswad, Mungo's Hi-Fi, and The Last Poets) select some incredible tracks to cover: Lyn Collins' 1974 hit "Take Me Just as I Am," Gwen McCrae's 1974 single "90% of Me Is You," LaVern Baker's "Love Me Right" from 1957, "Fever"--first recorded by Little Willie John in 1953 who had a #1 hit with it, and Tina Turner's "You Got What You Wanted" from 1968. As always, all of the performances captured on Disco Deception are top-notch; Shniece's singing is never short of spectacular (and she makes it seem so effortless); and Fatty's production is impeccable. "Take Me Just as I Am" (with the great Horseman toasting), "90% of Me Is You," and "Love Me Right" are particularly wonderful and effective, though their stellar version of "You Got What You Wanted" ("...now you don't want what you got") has moments that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. It's hard to match Turner's heart-wrenching performance (and, given her abusive relationship with Ike Turner at the time, horrifically true to life), but Shniece comes tantalizingly close.

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