Duff Guide to Ska Bullet Points: Do the Dog Skazine, The Juks, and The Night Owls!

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

• The August 2020 issue of Kevin Flowerdew's Do the Dog Skazine has graced my mailbox with the late and very much missed Millie Small on the cover (side note: there's a great entry for Small in Heather Augustyn's new book Women in Jamaican Music that fleshes out her life and career well beyond "My Boy Lollipop"). As always, Flowerdew's Do the Dog puts my blog to shame, in terms of how comprehensively he covers the worldwide ska scene (though I'm happy to note that there's a fair amount of overlap in this issue with what I've reviewed lately--but we, of course, each offer our own takes on things--including releases from Danny Rebel and the KGB, Megative, The Players Band, Victor Rice, Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra, Rude Boy George, The Officinalis, Steady Social Club, Erin Bardwell, Smiley and The Underclass, Rhoda Dakar and The Dub Pistols, The Skapones, Detroit Riddim Crew, Rudebeard, and The Equators). Kevin also has just released The Ska Librarian's 2 Tone Time Machine, which consists of four zines covering the pre-Rude skazine years between 1979 and 1988. Details for subscribing to the essential, print-only Do the Dog and purchasing The Ska Librarian's 2 Tone Time Machine are available at dothedogmusic.tumblr.com.

• I missed the release of The Juk's spectacular debut album Way Back (Vinyl LP/digital, J-Beat Record, 2020) earlier this spring (I was sick with what I think was the coronavirus, and NYC was entering its really unnerving lockdown phase, as we all tried our utmost to help stop the spread of this plague and slow down the awful number of deaths--it was a bleak time). This band, which features several powerhouse UK ska musicians including Lenny Bignell on guitar (Pama International, Phoenix City All-Stars, Rhoda Dakar, The Sidewalk Doctors), Louis Vause on keys (Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra, Rhoda Dakar), and Paul Tadman on bass (The Riffs, The Nutty Boys, Rhoda Dakar), creates gorgeously sophisticated, jazzy-rocksteady guitar-focused instrumentals like Lynn Taitt and Ernest Ranglin used to make 'em. The title track, "Gerry Baldly, "Blood Orange," and the fantastically titled "When I Woke...(I Was Still in South London)" are stratospheric highlights. I only wish that this album included a few vocal tracks--an all instrumental album can sometimes be a tougher sell, and this record should get into as many hands as possible.

• Hot on the heels of The Lions' recent ace 45 "The Loser" comes this Lions-Aggrolites side hustle of sorts, the Night Owls. Like "The Loser," the new mind-bogglingly good Night Owls single "Gossip" b/w "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" (Vinyl/digital single, F-Spot Records, 2020) sports two soul classics done in a vintage JA style. The core of The Night Owls is three Lions (Dan Ubick on guitar, Blake Colie on drums, and Dave Wilder on bass) plus an Aggrolite (keyboardist Roger Rivas)--and there are even more Lions and Aggrolites when you include the vocalists. The Lion's Malik "The Freq" Moore knocks it out of the park on Cyril Neville backed by The Meters' 1969 magnificent soul/funk track "Gossip" (and the sitar echoing the original keeps everything grounded in the psychedelic side of the '60s), while Alex Désert (Hepcat/Lions) and Jesse Wagner (The Aggrolites) trade vocals on their amazing cover of The Dramatics' 1971 cut "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" ("Some people are made of plastic/And you know some people are made of wood/Some people have hearts of stone/Some people are up to no good...But baby I'm for real"). The selection of songs covered here is impeccable, and the performances outstanding.

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Duff Review: Arthur Kay and The Originals "Rare 'N' Tasty" Reissue!

(By Steve Shafer)

Arthur Kay and The Originals Rare 'N' Tasty (LP, Mad Butcher/Black Butcher Classics, 2016 re-issue--available in the US through Jump Up Records): Back in 2008, MOJO Magazine dubbed Arthur Kay (nee Kitchener) as "the unsung hero of ska" and included one of his tracks in their Dawning of a New Era compilation CD, alongside The Specials, Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals, Rico, Bob Marley, Laurel Aitken, Dandy Livingstone, and others. But his inclusion with such illustrious company surely left many casual ska fans scratching their heads. While he had built a considerable following of die-hard ska fans during 2 Tone and the late 80s/early 90s British/Euro ska revival, Arthur Kay never quite achieved the level of popularity and recognition that was his due, despite being a UK ska pioneer who had been in the right place at the right time with great and undeniably catchy material.

A first-generation South London mod in 1965, Kay had played bass in The Next Collection, which performed a mix of Tamla and Stax soul covers as well as their own songs at venues like the famed Ram Jam Club (where they played a week after Jimi Hendrix's debut there). Like many other mods, Kay also had caught the ska bug via the Prince Buster singles that were seemingly ever-present on the sound systems of all the clubs he frequented that year. In a development that further galvanized Kay's interest in ska, The Next Collection had the great fortune to back the great JA ska trombonist Rico Rodriguez and jazz trumpeter Harry Beckett during their first-ever recording session. But by 1966, Kay had left the band to become a session bass player at Chalk Farm Recording Studios in Camden (owned by The Next Collection's manager Vic Keary and Blue Beat Records/Melodisc owner Emil Shalit), where Kay appeared on many reggae recordings released on Trojan Records.

Just before 2 Tone hit in 1979, when there was no galvanized ska scene in the UK to speak of, Kay released his "Ska Wars" b/w "Warska" single for a local indie Red Admiral Records, which seemed to anticipate the looming ska craze (though Kay's ska sound had little in common with what The Specials, Selecter, and Madness were about to unleash--it was more of a stripped-down, often minor-key affair, devoid of any punk rock influences or hint of its origins in rhythm and blues). With only limited radio play and no major label backing, all 10,000 copies of the single still managed to sell out quickly, yet it never charted. The even stronger follow-up 45 on Red Admiral "Play My Record" (by Arthur Kay and the Originals), about how radio playlists are largely pay-to-play and dominated by the deep-pocketed major labels, was released during the fever pitch of 2 Tone in 1980, but failed to attract any significant national attention (and a potentially momentous tour with The Bodysnatchers had to be turned down due to scheduling conflicts with various members of The Originals). Two other excellent singles--"No One But You" b/w "High Flyer" (by The Originals) and "Watching the Rich Kids" b/w "Doctor Bird" (by Arthur Kay and The Originators)--were recorded during the 2 Tone era, but not issued.

During the UK ska revival of the late 80s (which featured such extraordinary acts as the Potato 5, The Trojans, Laurel Aitken, Loafers, Bad Manners, Judge Dread, The Deltones, Maroon Town, The Hotknives, etc.), Skank Records, as part of their Invisible Ska Years series, collected all of Arthur Kay and The Originals' released and unreleased 2 Tone-era recordings and issued Rare 'N' Tasty in 1988. At the time of its release, all of the 1979/1980 cuts on Rare and Tasty were right in synch with the contemporary UK ska scene, which must have been particularly satisfying to Kay--even if he had been ignored by the music industry and press, the kids had paid attention. Arthur Kay and the Originals clearly had influenced many of the late 80s UK ska acts (all of which were all decidedly non-2 Tone in sound); you could hear it in The Loafers, The Hotknives, The Riffs, and others. Kay's music had helped spawn the next UK ska scene and, in doing so, revitalized his career.

Interest in the band surged after the release of the Skank comp and Arthur Kay's Originals went on to record and release three albums (Sparkes of Inspiration in 1989, The Count of Clerkenwell in 1995, and Live in Berlin in 1996) with yet another iteration of the band (who also sometimes served as Judge Dread's backing band until his death in 1998).

As I was writing this post, I remembered that the reviewers in George Marshall's amazing late 80s Scottish skazine Zoot! had been huge fans of Arthur Kay. So, I dug my treasured copies out of my closet and found the review of Rare 'N' Tasty in Zoot! #9 (all of Zoot's reviews were always spot-on and brilliantly succinct). The rave write-up, which notes the injustice of Arthur Kay's exclusion from the history of UK ska/2 Tone, concludes with this line: "If I was a millionaire, I'd make sure everyone had a copy."

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Your Vote Needed to Choose a Band for the 2012 London International Ska Festival!

Voting for the 2012 London International Ska Festival band competition is now open! To vote, choose one act from the 20 finalists listed below and email the band's name to enquiries@rockersrevolt.com. There is only vote per person (only valid email addresses will be count)--and the contest ends on December 1, 2011. You can listen to tracks from all 20 finalists on the LISF band page.

Since I'm based in New York City, I'd love to see an American band win this contest, so I've started the list below with the US acts...

Bigger Thomas
The Forthrights
Maddie Ruthless
See Spot
Green Room Rockers
Babylove and the Van Dangos
Offbeat Offensive
The Riffs
The Downsetters
Akatz
The Simmertones
Monkey Boots
Kinky Coo Coos
Captain Accident
Jamaica 69
Bombscare
Los Furios
The Oldians
Jeramiah Ferrari
The Liptones

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The 2012 London International Ska Festival will be held between 3rd - 6th May 2012 at Brixton Academy, Shepards Bush Empire and Islington Academy. Already confirmed for 2012 are: The Dualers (UK), Neol Davies aka The Selecter (UK), The Hotknives (original line-up; UK), The Moon Invaders (Belgium), Los Granadians (Spain), Capone & The Bullets (Scotland)--plus DJs Andy Smith (Trojan Document/Jam Up Twist); Count Skylarkin (Skylarkin Sound System/Big 10"); Tim 'Bilko' Wells; Mark 'Bazza' Barrett (Pressure Drop); 3DJ (Funkdub). More bands and DJs to be confirmed and announced over the coming months.