Duff Review: John Bunkley "Sunshine and Chocolate"

Cover watercolor painting by John Bunkley

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Long-time ska fans will know John Bunkley as the lead singer from the fantastic late '80s/early '90s Detroit ska band Gangster Fun. Bunkley recorded two albums with that band--both essential first generation American ska records (Come See, Come Ska in 1989 and Time Flies When You're Gangster Fun in 1992; their ska "hits" were "Mario's Hideout," "I'd Buy a Gun," and "Fat Lady Skank")--and if you were into swing in the late '90s, he also was in The Atomic Fireballs (something I learned in Kenneth Partridge's Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing). Bunkley is back in the ska fold with a magnificent new six-track EP of rocksteady songs "about people breaking up with me," as he commented during a recent show with Bim Skala Bim in Brooklyn. Co-produced and co-performed by Eric Mazurak (of The Tellways), Bunkley's Sunshine and Chocolate (Vinyl/digital, Paradise Valley Records, 2021) is a beautifully crafted collection of hook-packed love songs. And everything just works--the contrast of Bunkley's wonderfully gruff and expressive voice with the shimmering music; the many fantastic small details, like the deft touches of organ, percussion, and guitar licks, and how the back-up vocals (some by Rachel Stokes of The Tellways) provide just the right punctuation and bursts of emotion; and the confidently intentional and unfussy arrangements of each track.

In "Sunshine and Chocolate," love is chemical and triggers the pleasure zones in our brains that bring us immense joy and satisfaction. Bunkley sings: "You so, so high baby/That's how you make me feel/I know I'm not that crazy/I know this love is real/You know you've got me sweating/And working overtime/I'm spending all my spare change/My nickels and dimes/You're like sunshine and chocolate/Melting in my pocket..." Whereas, the super catchy "Addicted" posits that love is a drug to consume (and illicit at that): "This love has been tried and convicted/Arrest me, 'cause I so addicted/Don't want to be your defendant/I'm so addicted."

Sometimes, as in the upbeat "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday," you have to work a long week for love (in a song that reminds me of XTC's "Earn Enough for Us" without the anxiety): "Monday, landlord says he needs the rent/Tuesday, work twelve hours, just have it spent/Wednesday, digging holes, long days in the ditch/Thursday, kisses from my love, now I feel rich!" Other times, you have to be optimistic and keep trying to find it; and occasionally you luck out, stumbling across it (as in "Once in a While I Find Love"): "The game begins when you throw the first pitch/And I'm begging you--please--with this/A prospector looks for gold until he's rich...I live my life on kisses and hugs/I'm high on this and you are my drug/I take my time with pushes and shoves/And once in a while, I find love." The EP closes with "Stars," a hopeful, but dark around the edges, lullaby of sorts for grown-ups: "And there are no monsters outside my door/'Cause the stars are shining on me."

Don't sleep on John Bunkley's Sunshine and Chocolate--it's one of the best records I've heard all year.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: The Tellways "Out to the Cosmos"!

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The laid-back, almost understated mid-tempo ska and rocksteady of The Tellways might remind one--and I'm carbon dating myself here--of Easy Big Fella, The Allstonians, Skavoovie & The Epitones, or The Skalars. They're not flashy, but they've really got it going on. In particular, lead singer Rachel Stokes' wonderfully pure alto voice (Chuck Wren is spot on when he describes it as "old timey and sultry," like she's a singer in a classic film noir), and her masterful and seemingly effortless control of her instrument helps make this ace Detroit band stand head and shoulders above the fray. The Tellways excellent debut album Out to the Cosmos (LP/digital, self-released, 2021; also available through Jump Up Records) contains seven new tracks (all by guitarist, keyboardist, producer Eric Mazurak), as well as new recordings of the five songs from their fine 2019 EP Closer to the Fire. Top 2021 tracks include "Anxious" ("If we were living in peaceful times/Then we should all have peaceful minds/Instead, we're anxious"), a theme song of sorts for several people in my household, though in our case I think it's more genetic than environmental; the Calypso-ish "I Don't Need to Tell You," which is about the object of your affection not picking up on your non-verbal clues at all; and the boastful reggae make-'em-dance cut "Tellway Stomp": "Pull the lever on your fever/Burn you up, burn you up/Making you a true believer/Heal you up, heal you up/Transmitter to receiver/Pick it up, pick it up/Treatin' you like you were Caesar/Stick it up, stick it up!" 

My favorite cut on the record is "Space Force," which is less about that wacky new division of the armed forces and more the Space Race era (note the illustration of Laika on the album cover) with a bit of Ren & Stimpy's "Space Madness" in the mix:

Come onboard our rocketship
On an interstellar trip
Out to the cosmos
We don't need intros
You know that we're the Space Force

Our captain's a genius
Tries to appease us
Dark, disconnected
Don't ask him questions

He tore up our charter
Salted our water
We can't step outside
That don't matter in the mind
Of the Space Force

The re-recordings of their 2019 material sound really great. You may have caught the terrific "Closer" on Happy People Records' Rudies All Around, Vol. 2 comp (which you should really check out, since there's so much good stuff on it!), but I'm still most partial to the soul-ska of "Friendly." All in all, this an outstanding debut album.

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Detroit Riddim Crew and Friends "Detroit Riddim Crew and Friends"

Abbey Productions/Jump Up Records
Red, white, and black vinyl LP/digital
2019

(Review by Steve Shafer)

To my great shame, I'm very late in getting around to reviewing the Detroit Riddim Crew and Friends' stellar debut album and am now abashedly singing its praises to anyone who'll listen! As their name indicates, the Detroit Riddim Crew is a collective of Detroit-area ska and reggae musicians (plus a few from the Anchor/Music works in Kingston, JA) in the orbit of producer-songwriter-musician Eric Abbey (1592, The Dirty Notion, J. Navarro and the Traitors) who first came together to release riddim tracks for others to version or deejay/toast over (see their great "Castle" and "Cane" riddims--the latter appears as "Oh Shephard" here). This record, however, is half secular Christmas tracks on side A (note Santa on his Vespa sleigh in the upper right hand corner of the album cover) and the Detroit Riddim Crew's original ska and reggae material on the flip. So, at least one side of the album works/is appropriate to play all year round!

The Christmas half of Detroit Riddim Crew and Friends is (thankfully) treacle-free with a choice selection of several lesser-trod, ska-ified covers (Roy Orbison's "Pretty Paper" and a really lovely rendition of The Emotions "What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas?"), perennial radio faves ("Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" and "Sleigh Ride"), and two really fine originals: the reggae instrumental "Christmas A Come" and the upbeat "Take Care," which, given the times, could be an anthem for surviving the pandemic and boosting morale ("Time is now to lend a hand and to ask for help/And try to stand in the midst of chaos, darkness, and fear/Be sure to know that this community is here/Take care of yourself and each other"--messages of solidarity and "goodwill toward men" shouldn't be limited to a few weeks in December)! Surely, all of these tracks are destined to be broken out by discerning ska and reggae fans every late November with whatever other tunes they rely on for promoting holiday cheer.

Side B is a collection of sensational tracks that explore a variety of Jamaican musical genres. "Oh Shepard" is moody '70s dancehall cut about seeking divine intervention to survive the predatory capitalism of Babyon ("Oh Shepard, please watch the sheep/The wolves are out for the kill/And they won't stop at anything/They've got to get their meal"). "Trafalgar" is a great, brisk, old-school, big band ska instrumental, while the sultry "Come To Me" and its lively, sax-spotlighting dub version, "Double E Dub," are pop-leaning reggae, like prime early '80s UB40. The militant, roots cut "Smash Dem Down" yearns for a better way of living with each other and the planet ("So break up the hatred/And fix all the mess/There's gotta be a way, much more than this/Find a way to smash them down!"). The terrific Detroit-based group The Tellways are showcased here with their excellent rocksteady track "Friendly" (from their 2019 debut EP Closer to the Fire, also produced by Eric Abbey/Abbey Productions--and he's their drummer), which is about trying to reel in a shy, uncertain romantic partner ("If we never talked before/I want to change that thing for sure/I may seem frightening/But I assure you that I'm charming"). And then there's the hilariously over-the-top toker's hymn, "Smokin' Everyday" ("Dig this...I've been smoking everyday since 1969/Me and my son Chaos, we had a real good time/We smoked downtown, we smoked in the woods/We smoked in the ghetto and expensive neighborhoods...We were smoking everyday/Smoking every way"); this ends up being just shy of parody, except that pretty much everyone knows or has known someone as obsessed with weed as this!

Don't wait for the next holiday season to roll around to enjoy these sounds--pick up Detroit Riddim Crew and Friends' awesome album now!

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