Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Prince Buster "Roll on Charles Street"

Rock A Shaka
CD/2xLP
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Just the other day, I pulled out all of the Prince Buster albums and comps that I have on vinyl and found that it's a decent and sizable collection (fifteen LPs in total, most of them represses)--yet it's merely a fraction of his output from over the years, much of which has never been reissued (Blue Beat Records released over 600 Buster productions in the UK during the 1960s!). While I jump at the opportunity to obtain any new collection of his work--like Rock A Shacka's fantastic new Roll on Charles Street compilation or the recent and extraordinary Africa - Islam - Revolution compendium--Prince Buster is more than deserving of a comprehensive box set (or series of box sets!) documenting his extensive and often groundbreaking work as performer and producer. One hopes that whatever legal and/or financial barriers that are preventing this from happening are overcome someday, so the world will have a much fuller understanding of his career and vital contributions to Jamaican music, and can finally hear all of his music that has been out-of-print for decades. Bring back The Prince!

Roll on Charles Street features Buster productions and performances from 1961 through 1966, a good number of which are previously unreleased tracks or unreleased alternate takes, and the music ranges from swing jazz (check out the unreleased "Pink Night" with solos by Baba Brooks, Roland Alphonso, and Lester Sterling; or the unreleased version of Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" with solos by Alphonso, Sterling, and Don Drummond), to Jamaican rhythm and blues (see the unreleased "I'm Sorry" or Buster's cover of Huey Smith's "High Blood Pressure"), to full on ska with some or all of The Skatalites performing in the backing band (and it should be noted that all of these recordings are sourced directly from the master tapes and the liner notes and and track-by-track commentary are provided by reggae expert/historian Steve Barrow).

Ska fans have much to devour here, including Roland Alphonso's moody "Roll on Charles Street" (previously unreleased); the lovely Derrick Morgan and Patsy (Millicent Todd) duet "Raindrops are Falling" (unreleased); the original and hard to find--and apparently Buster-penned--"Stop that Train" by The Spanish Town Skabeats (AKA The Spanishtonians); the Buster All Stars' jaunty "Charles Street Cowboy" (unreleased) and an alternate take of their powerful "Prince of Peace" instrumental; and two ace Don Drummond performances with The Skatalites, "Sudden Attack" and "Vietnam" (both tracks surprisingly bright and upbeat, given their titles).

Obviously, Roll on Charles Street is an essential release for Prince Buster fans to pick up, but really anyone interested in '60s Jamaican ska should have this in their collection.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: The Prizefighters!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

There sure are some mighty sweet vintage rocksteady and ska sounds on The Prizefighters' superb new album Firewalk (CD/digital/cassette/LP, Prizefighter Sound System/Jump Up Records, 2019), which are clearly influenced by rocksteady greats like Alton Ellis, The Gaylads, The Heptones, Slim Smith, Delroy Wilson, etc. and The Skatalites (though they're a bit more organically raw, like Japan's Ska Flames--see The Prizefighters' boss instrumentals "The Accolade," "Bebop Rocksteady"--an incredible cover of one of Yoko Kanno's soundtrack compositions for the Japanese animated sci-fi TV series "Cowboy Bebop"--"Kashmir Rock" or "Mars Rover," amongst others). But all of this bright music doesn't really mask The Prizefighters' white hot outrage at the increasingly dismal state of affairs in America (they hail from the heartland: Minneapolis, MN). "Temper Running Hot" comments on the police's disgracefully hostile and violent (at times deadly) treatment of black Americans--sung in manner close to a stage whisper, but seething at the injustice of it all: "They only want to chat/with the hammer back/Violence in the street/and the country road/Each breath could be your last/as the sirens flash." "Along for the Ride" calls out people who casually associate with those in racist or fascist groups, but may not be really committed to their twisted cause, with this warning: "Are you on board, or just along for the ride?/Life's too short to choose the wrong side...Oh, you keep such bad company/Either way, you'll have to pay for their crimes."

Then there's The Prizefighters' stellar anti-racist track "Stop Them," which was written in direct response to the white nationalism/supremacy unleashed and supported by the overtly racist policies and messaging of Trump and his wretched administration--and, as the band puts it, is "less a protest song and more a call to action" for all good people to unite and collectively counter this bigotry and hatred of everyone not white, Christian, right-wing, and male. "Stop Them" is the ideal fusion of relevant socio-political message with move-your-body music (and very much in the tradition of 2 Tone). This cut is super-sing along-catchy and rightfully uncompromising in its anti-racist/fascist stance, much like The Special AKA's "Racist Friend" or Linton Kwesi Johnson's "Fite Dem Back." Check out these lyrics (which ding both Trump and his daddy's beloved Klan):

Now the fascists are back in town
Marching through our streets
Now their jester wears the crown
They keep popping up like weeds
We've gotta put them back in the ground
And hang out their sheets
They will never never never stop
Until we stop-a stop-a stop-a stop-a stop them

On a more uplifting note, album opener "Just Let the Music Play" encourages unity--both racial and economic (as in trade unions)--and doing what you can to enjoy life, stay inspired, and survive in an unforgivingly dog-eat-dog, Ayn Rand-ian capitalist society ("We'll stand united, there's nothing we can't do/We'll keep on fighting and aways will stay true"). While the album closes with "Firewalk," whose lyrics--"When the ground gets too hot/You must do the firewalk--suggests that these dark days are a trial by fire of sorts, a test of one's faith, fortitude, and courage. How we behave towards our fellow human beings and the tough choices we make under duress will reveal our true moral character, forge bonds between people of good will, and shape how one's life will be evaluated come judgment day.

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Duff Review: Sharon Jones and Ticklah: "How Long Do I Have to Wait for You?" b/w "How Long Do I Have to Dub for You?"

Daptone Records
7" Single
2008

Soul music's powerful influence on ska, rocksteady, and reggae is readily manifest on numerous recordings throughout this genre's history, from the sixties (with artists like Laurel Aitken, Jimmy Cliff, Alton Ellis, Marcia Griffiths, Phyllis Dillon, Slim Smith, and Joe Higgs, to name a few) up to the present day (Babylove & the van Dangos, Green Room Rockers, The Bullets, and The Bluebeats, amongst many more). Yet rarely is there such a direct and potent intersection between practitioners of each style as there is in the versioning of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' funkified soul tune "How Long Do I Have to Wait For You?" (from their 2005 Naturally album) by ace dub/reggae keyboardist and producer Ticklah.

Ticklah (AKA Victor Axelrod, who is a member of Antibalas, the Easy Star All-Stars, and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings) has taken Sharon Jones' luscious, pleading vocals from the original soul version of this track (a stunner in itself) and then re-recorded all of the instrumental tracks on his own in an early reggae manner--and the results are extraordinary. The song seems timeless, as most classic tunes do. It could have been recorded in the late 60s in Kingston or yesterday in the UK. The flip side features Ticklah's excellent keyboard-heavy dub of this cut. While this isn't a new release (I just happened to come across it at Ernie B's Reggae and ordered it--though it was released in 2008), it is a real treasure that shouldn't be missed by fans of soulful rocksteady and early reggae.