Monday, December 13, 2021

Duff Review: The Bakesys "Sentences I'd Like to Hear the End Of"

The album artwork features cartoon illustrations of an astronaut, a Cold War spy, Christine Keeler, an East German soldier, and Muhammad Ali

(Review by Steve Shafer)

I'd been holding off on reviewing The Bakesys' terrific Sentences I'd Like to Hear the End Of (CD/digital, Do the Dog Music, 2021) as I thought its physical vinyl release on Jump Up Records would be soon forthcoming. However, since that label seems to have taken a bit of a detour as of late to capitalize on the 2021 resurgence of ska-punk, it feels like a disservice to the band to wait any longer. 

Like their single "Leaving the American Sector" (about the Cold War-era Berlin Wall, which I reviewed earlier this year), the songs on The Bakesys' Sentences I'd Like to Hear the End Of are concerned with significant figures and events from 1960s world history, while employing a late 1980s UK traditional ska sound crossed with electro/dance beats and toasting/rapping that was practiced by Maroon Town, Potato 5 (on True Fact), House of Rhythm, and others (it was a cousin to the brief 1989 ska-acid fad--see Longsy D et al--but better, with the exception of Buster Bloodvessel's killer mix of "This is Ska").

Most of Sentences I'd Like to Hear the End Of's uniformly excellent tracks judiciously incorporate offbeat found sound clips from contemporary '60s TV/radio news reports that hint at the event/figure being referenced without being obviously direct--and work exceptionally well (though some of their added spoken word/rapping bits play better than others).

The title track is about the model/showgirl Christine Keeler, who was sexually involved with both a married British cabinet member and a Soviet naval attaché, which, when came to light, became tabloid fodder and sparked all sorts of embarrassing national security concerns (The Skatalites, of course, recorded an instrumental named after her, and Keeler also was the subject of the 1989 movie Scandal, whose 1960s ska soundtrack was selected by The Trojans' Gaz Mayall). "638 Ways They Tried" comments on the number of times the CIA attempted to assassinate Cuba's communist dictator Fidel Castro; and the Clash-referencing "Atomic Invasion" ("When Ivan meets GI Joe/Well, we all know how this is going to go/The talking stops and the missiles flow...Well, if the blast don't kill ya/Then the fallout's gonna get ya") conveys the almost universal Cold War dread of nuclear war, which, of course, came very close to happening in '61 with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The horror show of both JFK and Bobby Kennedy's assassinations are captured in the tense and mournful "We Don't Need Another Oswald," where we hear snippets of Bobby's last speech and then the immediate, awful aftermath of his murder. We hear people urging others to secure the gun and to keep people away from Sirhan Sirhan; they don't want him killed by vigilantes before he is brought to trial, as in the case of JFK's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, who was killed by Jack Ruby.

The three dubs--"Go Dub Go," "Bernauer Strasse Dub," and "Desolation Dub" (a version of "Get Your Moon Boots On")--are exceptionally good. Buzz Aldrin, the second human to step foot on the Moon, described the moonscape as "magnificent desolation." One of the major--and ironic--discoveries of the Apollo Moon program was the realization of how precious our own life-sustaining planet is (William Shatner said of his suborbital experience that after leaving Earth's blue atmosphere, the black of space was like "death"). Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who took the famous "Earthrise" photo remarked, "We set out to explore the Moon and instead discovered the Earth."

I wonder if The Bakesys will take on the '70s next--there's lots of good material (Watergate, Vietnam War, Iranian Hostages, Jonestown, Camp David Accords, Three Mile Island, Reagan and Thatcher, and so much more!)...

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Wednesday, December 8, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #8 Winter 2021/2022

Sunday, December 12, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

Desorden Publico and King Chango
S.O.B.'s
204 Varick Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $50
21+

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Friday, December 17, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

Subway to Skaville & Electric Avenue present a Ska Holiday Party with Hub City Stompers, Barbicide, The End Times (plus DJ Ryan Midnight and DJ Duff Guy spinning ska vinyl all night!)

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A & B)
Manhattan, NY
No cover (but bring cash to tip bands when the bucket goes round and to buy band merch)
21+

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Saturday, December 18, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

The Slackers and The Aggrolites

Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $22.50
16+

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Saturday, January 8, 2022 (doors @ 7:00 pm)

Cabite, JER, Teenage Halloween, Common Sage, Ian Fidance

St. Vitus Bar
1120 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $18.79
18+

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Saturday, June 4, 2022 @ 8:00 pm

Madness and The English Beat

Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $55 and up

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Tuesday, November 16, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #7/Fall & Winter 2021

A close-up of Dennis Bovell's face looms over a city comprised of various stereo speakers.Note: Remember to bring proof of vaccination for entry to all shows!

Friday, November 19, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

79.5, The Far East, Walk Talk, DJ Miss Hap

Live in the Sultan Room
234 Starr Street
Brooklyn, NY
$15/$20
21+

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Saturday, November 20, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

Subway to Skaville and Electric Avenue present The Simulators, Skappository, Dunia & Aram plus DJs Ryan Midnight and Duff Guy

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A & B)
Manhattan, NY
No cover (but bring cash to tip bands when the bucket goes round and to buy band merch)
21+

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

The Skatalites Band

Cafe Wha?
115 MacDougal Street
Manhattan, NY
Tix: $30 (plus two drink minimum)
21+

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Sunday, December 5, 2021 @ 5:00 pm

Hub City Stompers, Stop the Presses, Sgt Scag

Pianos
158 Ludlow Street
Manhattan, NY
Tix: $12
21+

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Sunday, December 12, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

Desorden Publico and King Chango

S.O.B.'s
204 Varick Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $50
21+

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Friday, December 17, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

Subway to Skaville & Electric Avenue present a Ska Holiday Party with Barbicide, The End Times & more TBA!

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A & B)
Manhattan, NY
No cover (but bring cash to tip bands when the bucket goes round and to buy band merch)
21+

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Saturday, December 18, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

The Slackers and The Aggrolites

Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $22.50
16+

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Saturday, June 4, 2022 @ 8:00 pm

Madness and The English Beat

Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $55 and up

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Wednesday, November 3, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #6/Fall & Winter 2021

Rhoda smiles at Roger.
Rhoda Dakar & Ranking Roger
Note: Remember to bring proof of vaccination for entry to all shows!

Saturday, November 10, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

Subway to Skaville and Electric Avenue present The Stimulators, Skappository, Dunia & Aram plus DJs Ryan Midnight and Duff Guy

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A & B)
Manhattan, NY
No cover (but bring cash to tip bands when the bucket goes round and to buy band merch)
21+

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

The Skatalites Band

Cafe Wha?
115 MacDougal Street
Manhattan, NY
Tix: $30 (plus two drink minimum)
21+

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Sunday, December 5, 2021 @ 5:00 pm

Hub City Stompers, Stop the Presses, Sgt Scag

Mercury Lounge
217 East Houston Street
Manhattan, NY
Tix: $12
16+

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Sunday, December 12, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

Desorden Publico and King Chango

S.O.B.'s
204 Varick Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $50
21+

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Friday, December 17, 2021 @ 8:00 pm

Subway to Skaville & Electric Avenue present a Ska Holiday Party with Barbicide, The End Times & more TBA!

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A & B)
Manhattan, NY
No cover (but bring cash to tip bands when the bucket goes round and to buy band merch)
21+

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Saturday, December 18, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

The Slackers and The Aggrolites

Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $22.50
16+

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Saturday, June 4, 2022 @ 8:00 pm

Madness and The English Beat

Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $55 and up

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Monday, October 25, 2021

Duff Review: Various Artists "Disco Reggae, Volume 4"

A young, Black woman looks out from the cover of the album.
This is not a Trojan comp.
(Review by Steve Shafer)

Disco Reggae, Volume 4 (LP/digital, Stix Records/Favorite Recordings, 2021) is the latest in this series of similarly-themed compilations from this French label and its orbit of French producers (and is a great companion record to the recently released, Don Letts-selected Version Excursion for Late Night Tales, which I reviewed here). Disco Reggae, Volume 4 is a sweet mix of dance floor rump shakers, Quiet Storm slow-dancers/make-out tracks, and afterparty cool down cuts. 

Side A doesn't quite get the balance right. While excellent cuts in their own right, Taggy Matcher's cover of Chemise's "She Can't Love You" and Blundetto Meets Booker Gee's read of Tyrone & Carr's 1973 song "Take Me With You" lean heavily disco, with very little reggae to speak of. Having said that, Soul Sugar's take on Roy Ayers' 1972 Afrocentric/Black empowerment soul-jazz track "We Live in Brooklyn, Baby" sounds a bit like Mad Professor meets Massive Attack (I've been listening a lot to their stellar Part II/Mezzanine Remix Tapes '98 lately); and Wolfgang's fantastic "Summertime" marries a Casio-like percussive track (shades of The Specials More Specials) to a roots reggae/trombone-focused interpretation of this Ira and George Gershwin jazz standard from Porgy & Bess.

The flip side of Disco Reggae really nails it with Mato's infectious, groovy cover of A Taste of Honey's 1978 world-wide hit "Boogie Oogie Oogie"; and Hawa's version of Keni Burke's 1982 cut "Risin' To The Top" (which here seems like a cousin to Lovers Rock) even incorporates a bit of the Mary Jane Girls' super-steamy "All Night Long" (which originally borrowed the bass line from "Risin' To The Top"!) While more disco reggae-adjacent, Taggy Matcher's awesome take on Kraftwerk's "Radioactivity" marries the Germans' electronic/synthpop melody to a much-needed propulsive reggae skank (the original's pretty stiff). If you're rigid in your musical tastes, this may not be for you--but if you're into a bit of genre-bending/blending, Disco Reggae, Volume 4 delivers the goods!

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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Duff Review: The Specials "Protest Songs 1924-2012"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The Specials' new album Protest Songs 1924-2012 (CD/LP, Island Records, 2021)--their follow-up to 2019's excellent Encore (read my review here)--is a strange beast. It manages to be both a powerful and beautifully realized concept album and a huge sod off to their fans. Anyone who has faithfully supported The Specials through its various incarnations and diminishing ranks of original members, lo these 40+ years, is not unreasonably expecting some ska. But Protest Songs adamantly delivers none, though there's folk, blues, spirituals, soul, skiffle, rock, and post punk (having said that, I did catch a bit of ska rhythm guitar in "Listening Wind!"). What's odd is that as you listen through the tracks, it's quite easy to imagine at least some of them recast as ska or reggae songs. So, for whatever reason, the band--Terry Hall, Lynval Golding, and Horace Panter (plus Nikolaj Torp Larsen, Kendrick Rowe, Steve Cradock, Tim Smart, Pablo Mendelssohn, Jim Hunt, Michael "Bammie" Rose, Tony "Groco" Uter, and Hanna Hu)--opted to go in this direction, surely well-aware that it would dash fans' expectations and piss many of them off mightily.

Before the pandemic disrupted everything, The Specials had been planning to record a reggae album in Jamaica--and then the world-wide George Floyd protests erupted in the wake of Floyd's horrific murder at the hands of the police. So, they decided to record a covers album of protest songs in response (and one imagines that the resurgence of white supremacy and worsening cold civil war between Americans and seditious, anti-democratic forces in the US played a part, too), the majority of them by American musicians, as an interim project and to force them out of a post-Covid lockdown creative rut.

Once you set aside your disappointment regarding the absence of ska sounds (though the fact that these are protest songs is very much on brand), you may find that The Specials' Protest Songs 1924-2012 is a terrific album. The choice of tracks (with lyrics that pack a wallop), their interpretations, and performances are uniformly excellent. Some of the songs are direct in their messaging: The Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway" and The Freedom Singers' "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around" are potent, raucous US Civil Rights Movement-era anti-racist anthems; Rod McKuen's "Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes" ("...number practically zero/But there are millions/Who want to be civilians") is an anti-war earworm written before Vietnam, but reissued at its height, and relevant countless times since then; Frank Zappa's "Trouble Every Day," written in reaction to the 1965 Watts riots and decrying both the violence/looting unleashed in that neighborhood and ubiquitous racism that led to the social unrest; and Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" is a general call for solidarity in support of universal human rights--though this quiet, acoustic version sung by Golding seems like something one would pull in on shortwave radio while hunkered down in some secret hiding place as in The Clash's English Civil War. While others are more oblique in subject matter or less-known for being protest songs.

Leonard Cohen's 1988 track "Everybody Knows"--about how everything is inexorably corrupt--was tailor-made for Hall's resigned/deadpan delivery. While it wasn't specifically written as such, it captures the mood of a lot of people in the US (and elsewhere) who want to live in and are working for a more just, equitable, and inclusive world, but are stymied at every turn by those with all the power and wealth:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Malvina Reynold's children's folk tune "I Live in a City" seems like a weird choice, but it's a strong endorsement of urban solidarity and multiculturalism: "Brown hands, yellow hands, white and black/All together built this town" (take that, rural MAGA-Again-heads!). And Reynold's proud rejection of American dog-eat-dog capitalism, "I Don't Mind Failing in This World,"  is positively punk rock in attitude, even if it's delivered via gentle folk song: 

I don't mind failing in this world
Don't mind wearing the ragged britches
'Cause those who succeed are sons of bitches...

...I don't mind failing in this world
I'll stay down here with the raggedy crew
'Cause getting up there means stepping on you, so
I don't mind failing in this world

...I don't mind failing in this world
Some people ride in a car so fine
While others walk on a picket line, so
I don't mind failing in this world

One of the cruelest injustices that Black American GIs faced after fighting fascism during WW II in Europe was returning to the US and being subjected to racist Jim Crow laws in their own country (the Nazis based their Nuremberg Laws--their racial purity edicts--and their "Final Solution" on Jim Crow and the American eugenics movement). Blues musician Big Bill Broonzy first recorded his song "Black, Brown and White" in 1947 about this and the general Black American experience with white supremacy (wryly sung here by Golding):

I helped build this country
And I fought for it too
Now I guess that you can see
What a black man has to do

They say if you're white, should be all right
If you're brown, stick around
But if you're black, oh brother, get back, get back, get back

I win sweet victory
With my plough and hoe
Now, brother, you tell me
Whatcha gonna do 'bout the old Jim Crow?


The inclusion of Talking Heads' incredible "Listening Wind" (from Remain in Light and used in The Americans) is an unusual choice--it's a Cold War-era anti-American imperialism cut from the point of view of a African freedom fighter planting bombs to drive out the Yanks from his country (singer Hannah Hu takes lead vocals here). I'm a little surprised The Specials' didn't work in a little of John Holt's "Man Next Door" into their version of Jerry McCain's "My Next Door Neighbor" (essentially a long rant about someone driving you mad by always borrowing all your stuff). Perhaps the most Terry Hall-ish song ever, the country lullaby "Fuck All The Perfect People" by Chip Taylor of "Wild Thing" fame--about prison inmates who have no agency while they do their time ("To sing or not to sing/To swing or not to swing/Hell fills up the silence like chalk on the wall")--was chosen as it "rails against all those people who are So. Damn. Right." (Hopefully, it's not a message to you.)

My imported red vinyl LP included an exclusive and exceptionally good 7" single containing their "Vote for Me" and a cover of The Valentines' "Blam Blam Fever," recorded live at Coventry Cathedral during the 2019 Encore tour. Admittedly, this helped take the sting out of the lack of ska on Protest Songs, but also reminded me of what was missing. One of The Specials' brilliant strengths has been their ability to offer up songs that make you both think and dance--their medium, 2 Tone, is also the message. But Protest Songs, as great an album as it is, obliterates half of that formula and may turn off a good portion of their audience as a result.

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Friday, October 15, 2021

Duff Review: Mento Buru "Skalloween" EP

The cover features a skull wearing glasses with swirling, hypnotic images in the lenses.

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Just in time for what promises to be a close-to-normal Halloween comes a fantastic treat from Mento Buru. Their new Skalloween EP (Digital, self-released, 2021) contains two boss ska covers of novelty monster cuts from fellow sons of Bakersfield, CA, as well as a Spanish language version, and three choice dubs by Dubrobot. "Goo Goo Muck" is a 1962 garage rock single by Ronnie Cook and The Gaylads about a teenage vampire on the prowl for, um, blood (the sexual subtext is hard to miss) that was famously covered by The Cramps on their 1981 album Psychedelic Jungle. Mento Buru's revved-up version (replete with horror movie sounds) is completely winning--even the undead couldn't resist dancing to it! "(It's a) Monster's Holiday" is a 1974 country track by Buck Owen (and covered fairly recently by Reagan Youth) about repeatedly running into the classic Universal Studios monsters (Frankenstein, Wolf Man, Dracula), though there's no real danger--think Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Mento Buru keep their take light and fun--and very appropriately quote The Munsters theme towards the end before a "Nite Klub"-inspired outro. These tracks are worthy--and sure to be popular--additions to any ska Halloween party mix (see Hoi Polloi skazine's extensive 500+ track list!).

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Saturday, October 9, 2021

The Beat's Everett Morton Passes Away at 71

Everett Morton (photo by Adrian Boot)

Terribly sad news comes via Lee Morris of 2 Tone--Before, During & After: The Beat's wonderful drummer Everett Morton died on October 8, 2021 at age 71. His use of complex rhythms and unique style of reggae drumming and percussion lent The Beat an immediately recognizable sound and firmly grounded their music in Jamaican ska, while also allowing the other musicians in the band to take a more unorthodox, punky, and often aggressive approach to the genre--all of which formed the brilliant signature Beat sound.

According to Malu Halasa's essential 1981 biography of the band, The Beat: Twist and Crawl, Morton came to the attention of the fledgling Beat via a friend through David Steele's day job at a Birmingham psychiatric hospital:

"During one afternoon tea break, he [Dave Wakeling] was chatting with his black friend Paulette Sherley, telling her how difficult it was to find a drummer for his band. Band practice was every Saturday--that is when they could get it together. Paulette suggested a drummer she knew in Handsworth. The fellow, free since his last band had broken up, was considered an excellent reggae drummer, and had a van as well, which was what really sealed it. Steele phoned Everett Morton and invited him over to Andy's flat that weekend.

Tall and dark, Everett brought his mate Freddy to check out the mystery band in need of a drummer. While the two Daves and Andy [Cox] rendered "Click Click," "Two Swords" and "Twist and Crawl" on acoustic guitars, Freddy recorded them on his portable sound system. Afterwards, the five sat quietly together drinking tea and listen to the tape, which sounded oddly like The Beach Boys. They were unusually alright, agreed Everett, but it was little early to tell. With electric guitars and a couple of amps they could sound different. The band had arranged to practice properly in the upstairs room of a pub around the corner, The Yorkshire Grey, for a three quid rental fee. Morton promised to join them there on Tuesday night with his drum kit.

Tuesday's practice was a mess. The main problem was that the boys hadn't written any songs with a reggae beat, and Everett had been drumming in reggae and soul bands for some fifteen years. Without the bass and drums fitting together, there was little foundation for the music. Even the guitars seemed out of place. By the end of the evening the four of them, pissed and frustrated, decided to close with an early version of "Noise in This World," an extraordinary punk number. Somehow, it came together. Although vile and very noisy, they played for a long time, which for them determined if a song was any good. They decided to meet again the following week.

Everett had come to England from St. Kitts in the mid-sixties, working in a kettle-spinning factory and playing music in the evenings and weekends. He first learned the drums when his cousin asked him to join his band. After a stint at drum school at Yardley's in Birmingham, and practicing almost constantly on the settee and table in the house, Everett developed his own style and began playing around Handsworth [including Joan Armatrading's band]. He was the most experienced musician in the pack by far, and yet Steele and Wakeling wouldn't hesitate to tell him when songs went wrong.

"You're messing up, Everett. You're messing up." It was hopeless to talk about what the music should sound like. Dave and Everett talking about the same thing would describe it differently, and then end up in a vicious argument. In part it had something to do with Dave's current job at a building site in town. At twenty-three, he was an angry young man. If he offended someone, he expected them to put him right, but Everett didn't think he should have to do that. Strangers ought to have better manners."

When The Beat were preparing to record "Tears of a Clown" for their debut 2 Tone single, it was decided that they needed some saxophone on the track, so Everett introduced them to Saxa, whom he had played with in bands around Handsworth. Of course, Saxa was recruited to join the band almost immediately and his sublime sax playing completed The Beat's classic sound.

One of my favorite Beat tracks is "Psychedelic Rockers" (about dread of nuclear war: "On a night like tonight, when I'm losing my hope/I pray for the best with my heart and soul/It is the hardest...At the edge of your nerves where the lights are pretty/A change in the weather and it smothers the city/Psychedelic, psychedelic, psychedelic war...Well, it's an atmospheric shock...")--which also happens to highlight Morton's fantastic percussion work.

I offer my deepest condolences to Everett Morton's family, friends, and fans. May he Rest In Peace.

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Friday, October 8, 2021

Duff Review: Smoke & Mirrors Soundsystem: "Second That Emotion" EP

The cover features the single's paper label listing the artist, title, and record label (Badasonic).
(Review by Steve Shafer)

This new EP from the John Roy-driven Smoke & Mirrors Soundsystem musical collective is a terrific preview of their upcoming--and eagerly awaited in these parts--album of covers (which will feature their versions of David Bowie's "Let's Dance," Echo and the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon," Junior Byles' "Fade Away," Sam and Dave's "When Something's Wrong with My Baby," Edwin Star's "25 Miles," Spencer Davis Group's "I'm a Man," amongst others). Smoke & Mirrors Soundsystem's Second That Emotion EP (7" vinyl/digital, Badasonic Records, 2021) highlights two cuts off the covers album and includes their own "The Great Divide" (from SMS' excellent pandemic lockdown debut album Strength in Numbers--read my review of it here), plus its great new companion dub by Nico Leonard).

As advertised, there's a sweet rocksteady version of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "Second That Emotion" with the formidable Rebecca Jade on vocals, and devastatingly good take on Tears for Fears' dark and disturbing 1983 synth pop hit "Mad World" ("I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad/The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had") with The Hot Mess' Tori Roze at the mic. The ominous swells of brass at the edges and wistful trombone solo at the end (by Buford O'Sullivan!) are particularly wonderful and effective touches. "The Great Divide" is a fantastic duet of sorts between Mark QMaxx Lyn (ex-Slackers) and Dunia Best (Dubistry) that delivers an anti-racist plea for unity in a country that desperately needs it (Dunia sings in the chorus: "With a strength, joy, and love/We can all rise above"; Lyn toasts in response: "You’re on one side and I am the other/I’m not your enemy, I’m just your brother"). Mad world, indeed.

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

Duff Review: Various Artists (Selected by Don Letts) "Version Excursion"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

For the uninitiated, Late Night Tales is a long-running series of compilations, each selected by a musician with the goal of creating what they consider to be their ultimate, mood-setting "late night mix." The latest release is Don Letts' mighty and marvelous Version Excursion (Heavyweight double LP, LateNightTales, 2021), which reflects his omnivorous musical tastes: '60s rock, Black American R&B and soul, punk and post-punk, and--of course--Jamaican and British reggae and dub. This is expressed through Letts' selection of dub covers (many of them exclusive remixes personally solicited by Letts) of songs by Aaron Neville, Jefferson Airplane, The Clash, Joy Division, Stevie Wonder, The Beach Boys, Lou Rawls, Marvin Gaye, Kool & The Gang, Bill Withers, Althea and Donna, Randy Newman, Merle Travis, The Bee Gees, War, The Beatles, and others.

Letts, the British-born son of Windrush generation Jamaican immigrants to the UK, grew up straddling the divide of white and Black music and culture--and during the advent of the mid-'70s punk scene, he was hired as the in-house DJ at London's infamous Roxy club (punk's ground zero), where he effectively introduced/turned on the British punk scene to reggae and dub in between sets by The Clash, Damned, Buzzcocks, Slits, Generation X, etc. (since so few punk records existed at the outset of his two-year DJ residency there in early 1977, he spun a lot of reggae!). Letts went on to film all of The Clash's music videos (as well as others for The Psychedelic Furs, Musical Youth, The Pretenders, The Undertones, Fun Boy Three, Eddy Grant,  Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Public Image Ltd., Bob Marley & The Wailers, and more); co-found Big Audio Dynamite (read my review of their reunion show in NYC in 2011) with The Clash's Mick Jones (he made BAD's music videos, too); direct many music documentaries, including The Clash: Westway to the World (which won him a Grammy), Soul Britannia, and The Story of Skinhead; and work as a DJ on BBC's Radio 6. Also his 2008 book Culture Clash, Dread Meets Punk Rockers is essential reading (and he has a new one out, too).

Many of the cuts Letts spotlights on Version Excursion are phenomenal reimaginings of their source material (though a few are so deconstructed as to be rendered almost unrecognizable, unless you consult the track listing--see Wrongton Meets The Rockers "Dub in the Supermarket" and Black Box Recorder's "Uptown Top Ranking"). Stand out tracks abound. Prince Fatty & Shniece McMenamin's "Black Rabbit" (their take on Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit," which I previously reviewed here) is an alluringly menacing dubby trip, while Zoe Devlin Love featuring (Dub Pistols') Tim Hutton's version of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds track "Carolina No" is a gorgeous lover's rocker. The exclusive remix of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart Again" by Capitol 1212 featuring Earl 16 is stellar and may even top their original (I reviewed that mix here). Cornell Campell's recasting of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" as "Ital City Dub" is mind-blowingly good, as is Dennis Bovell's new remix of his old band Matumbi's "(Can't Get Enough of) That Reggae Stuff," which is their read of Kool & The Gang's awesome "Funky Stuff."

According to Letts' track-by-track liner notes, The Clash used to warm-up in rehearsals to Ernie Ford's "16 Tons," which is given an incredibly dread spaghetti Western reggae dub by French act OBF. Japanese producer Yasushi Ide enlisted U-Roy for a wonderfully melancholy cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" (love all those strings!). The Tamlins' read of Randy Newman's "Baltimore" (an indictment of everything that contributed to the decline of Black urban cities in the late '70s) is blistering. At one point in his teens, Letts had amassed an enormous collection of Beatles memorabilia, but once punk struck (The Clash: "No Elvis, Beatles, or Rolling Stones") he exchanged it all for a car (which he eventually got rid off, since the coppers kept pulling him over for Driving While Black). Having said all that, he never lost his love for the Fab Four and has included the Easy Star All-Stars featuring Matisyahu's wild dub of George Harrison's "Within You Without You."

The track that I keep coming back to here most is Gaudi Meets The Rebel Dread featuring Emily Capell's superb version of Big Audio Dynamite's "E = MC Squared" (which Letts co-wrote with Mick Jones). Part of it's nostalgia (it's a key cut from the soundtrack of late teens), but this mellow reworking is just perfect (the repeated descending piano riff toward the end of song is brilliant!).

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Tuesday, October 5, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #5/Fall 2021

The cover illustration features a cartoonish King Kong-sized rude boy smiling and dancing as buildings shake all around him.
Editor's note: I'll be sharing the decks with DJ Ryan Midnight (spinning nothing but vinyl!) at two upcoming ska shows at Otto's Shrunken Head in November and December. Stay tuned for details--watch this space! Also, don't forget to bring proof of vaccination and photo ID for entry to all of these shows.


Friday, October 15, 2021 7:00 pm to 12:00 am

DJ Ryan Midnight Spins 100% Ska
Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street, between Avenues A & B
New York, NY
No cover!/21+

Saturday, October 16, 2021 @ 9:00 pm

Beat Brigade
The Bitter End
147 Bleeker Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $10
All ages

Saturday, October 16, 2021

The Pietasters Booze Cruise (SOLD OUT)
The Lucille--Rocks Off Concert Cruise
23rd Street and the FDR Drive
Manhattan, NY
$45/21+
Doors at 6:00 pm, boat departs at 7:00 pm

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

The Pilfers, Be Like Max, Bright Ugly
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$17.95 in advance/$20 day of show/16+

Sunday, December 12, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

Desorden Publico and King Chango
S.O.B.'s
204 Varick Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $50
21+

Saturday, December 18, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

The Slackers and The Aggrolites
Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
$22.50/16+

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Saturday, June 4, 2022 @ 8:00 pm

Madness and The English Beat
Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
$55 and up

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Monday, October 4, 2021

Duff Guide Blast from the Past: Little Roy "Battle for Seattle"

The cover features two long-haired grungy punks dancing.Editor's note: The Duff Guide Blast from the Past is a series of older reviews of exceptional albums that are worth revisiting--or checking out, if you missed them the first time 'round. I happened to pull this album out the other day to listen to while doing my day job, and still find it to be one of Prince Fatty's (and Mutant Hi-Fi's) best productions. I first published this review almost ten years ago on November 11, 2011. 

(Review by Steve Shafer)

After their monumental, game-changing Nevermind was released in 1991 (launching grunge, in particular, and alternative music in general into the stratosphere), Nirvana were inescapable: they ruled, fueled, and defined college/classic/modern rock radio, the music press, and MTV (back then, if you had told me that these three forms of media would be practically irrelevant 20 years later, I would have laughed loudly in your face). While I wasn't a huge fan--my musical preferences then were more along the lines of Britpop and ska/reggae (obviously)--I couldn't help but admire how at the core of many of Nirvana's hits lay an incredibly keen pop sensibility. These were intensely catchy songs that deserved to be hits, even if they were obscured by a sonic wall of punky grunge fury. That Kurt Cobain could write a damn good melody. 

And that's a key component of what makes Little Roy's Battle for Seattle (CD/LP, Ark Recordings, 2011), a roots reggae album of Nirvana covers, such a brilliant (and completely enjoyable) success. A really well-written song is like a high-performance engine--it doesn't matter what car body you dress it up in, it's still going to drive like mad! It isn't limited by genre. But what really allows Battle for Seattle to transcend the usual shortcomings of a tribute album (mimicking the original artist out of an overabundance of reverence or fear of alienating the fans by deviating too much from the source material) is that this is a fully-realized, whip smart re-imagining--or, more appropriately (in Jamaican fashion, naturally), re-versioning of Nirvana's original tracks. Little Roy and Co. own these tunes. 

As a result, it doesn't really matter if you are familiar with these cuts off of BleachNevermindIn Utero, or Unplugged (though this record will probably blow the minds of hardcore Nirvana fans)--the tracks here sound as if they had been originally written as reggae songs (which reminds me--embarrassingly--of when I was a teenager in the '80s and heard Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Tears of a Clown" on the radio in Memphis, of all places, and thought, "that's a really good cover of the English Beat!"). Almost from the start, you realize, "Courtney, we're not in Seattle any more!" when the horn line in "Dive" abruptly shifts to incorporate the "Real Rock" rhythm, as if to boldly plant the Rasta colors and claim this territory in the name of Reggae. Clearly, album producers (who came up with this concept in the first place) Prince Fatty and Mutant Hi-Fi put much thought and care into adapting these songs to the reggae idiom. For proof, check out "Come As You Are's" eerie, dubby, Welson organ opening (from the bass line in Nirvana's original, which itself was pilfered from Killing Joke's stunningly furious "Eighties") or the bouncy "Is This Love" Bob Marley-ish arrangement of "Polly" (kind of ironic, since love certainly isn't in the equation here). Even the disposable sexual relationship of "About a Girl" ("I'll take advantage/while you hang me out to dry") is given an almost majestic context with these expansive, echo-throughout-the-landscape horn lines.

One of the other immediately striking things is that you can actually understand Cobain's often difficult, painful, and brutal lyrics (about abusive relationships, severe alienation, drug addiction, and deeply damaged minds), which Little Roy presents in a very straightforward, drama-free manner that's quite effective (the lyrics pack a devastating Joe Frazier punch all by themselves). In the bleak and ugly recounting of what one assumes was Cobain's mercurial, co-dependent relationship with Courtney Love in "Heart Shaped Box," Little Roy deftly brings out the humor of the "Hey!/Wait!/I've got a new complaint" chorus after heavy lyrics like "Throw down your umbilical noose/so I can climb right back" (yes, the heart-shaped box here is her uterus). "Polly"--with its horrific sexually sadistic subtext--comes across as more pathetic and mournful than malevolent and cruel. Little Roy's delivery on "On a Plain"--about a stuck-in-neutral, self-aware, but self-centered heroin user--is perfectly blase and non-commital--even blissed-out ("I love myself/better than you/I know it's wrong/so what should I do?/I'm on a plain/I can't complain"). "Come As You Are" (originally addressed to Nirvana's fans) is probably the closest to the ska/reggae ethos of acceptance and tolerance: "Come doused in mud/soaked in bleach" (and you definitely believe Little Roy's sincere when he states he doesn't have a gun hidden behind his back--Cobain did, but it was only to be aimed at himself).

Just in case you're wondering, Nirvana's (now cliched) signature alternating soft-and-melodic verse/blaring-crunch-blast chorus song structure is (wisely) abandoned--it's just not a reggae thing. All of Nirvana's bellowing rage is sublimated--reggae doesn't wear its anger on its sleeve like punk or grunge. It's expressed through supremely confident, never-faultering righteous indignation--a deadly cool, slow burn (captured best here as Little Roy sings "Lithium's" defiant in-the-face-of-madness chorus: "I like it/I'm not gonna crack/I miss you/I'm not gonna crack/I love you/I'm not gonna crack/I saved you/I'm not gonna crack").

One last comment about this album's sound: Battle for Seattle's super warm production by Prince Fatty and Mutant Hi-Fi conveys a clarity and immediacy that are really best heard through a proper stereo from a CD or LP. You'll miss way too much in the compressed Mp3 format playing through your computer speakers or earbuds. Go old school with this one. Little Roy's Battle for Seattle takes all kinds of wild risks in covering Nirvana's almost sacred songbook, but ends up triumphing big time. There are mighty few reggae records this year that can match the full-on glories of this one.  


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Originally published on November 11, 2011.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Duff Review: The Red Stripes: "Soundclash"

The cover features an illustration of Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly DJing in front of a wall of stacked speakers.
Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly wanna drop some heavy dub on you.
(Review by Steve Shafer)

I had intended to review The Red Stripes' Soundclash (LP/digital, Mod Sound Records, 2021) over the summer, but since I was packing up the contents of our apartment of almost three decades and painting/prepping the new one, this album (and a few others) fell through the cracks. But this really stellar album of dub versions of tracks from The Red Stripes' first two albums--In the East (produced by Sean "Cavo" Dinsmore of The Toasters and reviewed by me here) and Made in Hong Kong (produced by King Zepha, which I reviewed here)--by various artists and producers is not to be missed or ignored. There are two magnificent, widescreen cinematic dubs of "Made in Hong Kong Dub" by Celestial and Kusch, respectively. JStar's digital dancehall "Train Wreck Dub" is fantastic for all of its spot-on King Jammy Eighties-ness, whereas King Zepha and B Dub's "His Dubness Returns" is classic roots-era dub with some offbeat sound effects in the mix. Heavensbee's remix of The Red Stripes' cover of "Theme from Rocky," rechristened "Gonna Dub Now" is particularly brilliant and inventive, and Celestial's "55 Dubs Later" reminds me of Mad Professor vs. Massive Attack's No Protection. Fans of the band will definitely want this collection, but even if you're not familiar with The Red Stripes' catalogue, Soundclash is a fantastic dub album in its own right. 

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Friday, September 24, 2021

Duff Review: Rude Girl Revue "Lioness" b/w "Unruly Ways"

The cover features a cartoon illustration of an alien woman with antennae dancing with a ray gun in her hand.(Review by Steve Shafer)

By all accounts, Rude Girl Revue's debut performance at the recent Supernova Ska Festival in Virginia wowed everyone in attendance, and pretty much stole the three-day festival from all other contenders (the vast majority of them, ahem, male). This supergroup comprised of women ska musicians from 12 bands across the country (Kristin, Jade, and Tiffany from The Scotch Bonnets; Jenny from Hub City Stompers/Rude Boy George; Dunia from Dubistry; Dani from Soul Radics; Brittany from Catbite; Ali from Stop the Presses; Marcia and Katie from BowCat; Tara from Half Past Two; Lindsay from Thirteen Towers/The Skluttz; Emily from The Skluttz; Kat from The Pandemics; Tricia from Some Ska Band; plus Tara from the Checkered Cast podcast) was formed to stake their claim in a genre that's been heavily dominated by men; celebrate their role in the scene; and inject feminist messages into the ska mix.

Rude Girl Revue's excellent debut single (Digital, self-released, 2021) features the great rocksteady cut "Lioness" (written and sung by The Scotch Bonnets' Jade Tremba and Lady Hatchet) that both boasts of their prowess and calls for women's solidarity to combat the patriarchy ("To all the lady conquerers/We strike as one/And watch them fall"), while the extraordinary new ska anthem to women's empowerment "Unruly Ways" (written and sung by Jenny Whiskey) decries the ludicrous and sexist rules that society imposes on women, while men are free to do as they please ("Just to love yourself truly is a radical act/And we won't be holding back/It doesn't matter if you're the virgin or the whore/You only get two sides to divide/But you could be so much more!/So, be a bitch, be a slut/Be whatever the fuck you want/'Cause I love you, girl, for your unruly ways!").

While both '60s Jamaican ska and late '70s 2 Tone were often overtly political (addressing racism, economic inequity, and social injustice), American ska--with some very notable exceptions--has been largely apolitical. Perhaps, this marks a major shift in the scene with the women of Rude Girl Revue leading the way...

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Monday, September 20, 2021

Duff Review: John Bunkley "Sunshine and Chocolate"

The watercolor painting on the cover depicts Bunkley dancing face to face with a woman in a dress on the hood of a car.
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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Friday, September 17, 2021

Duff Gig Review: Bim Skala Bim featuring John Bunkley of Gangster Fun at Arrogant Swine, Brooklyn, NY (9/16/21)

(by Steve Shafer)

Last night, I was lucky to catch American ska trailblazers Bim Skala Bim in a rare NYC performance at Arrogant Swine in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The band is making its way down from Boston to the Supernova Ska Festival in Virginia this weekend--though without lead singer Dan Vitale, who, at the last minute, was unable to make the tour. Fortunately, John Bunkley of the late '80s/early '90s Detroit ska act Gangster Fun was able to sub on vocals (and he has an excellent new rocksteady EP titled Sunshine and Chocolate that I'll be reviewing shortly). Bim's fantastic set (which emphasized tracks from their first three albums, as well as their latest LP Sonic Tonic, which I reviewed here) included "Bangin'," "Digging a Hole," "Jah Laundromat," "Solitary Confinement," "Better Get Out," Marley's "Hypocrite," "Summer of Ska," "Go Back," "Lightning," a cover of Gangster Fun's 1989 breakout underground hit (from their debut LP Come See Come Ska) "Mario's Hideout," and much more. 

Below, you'll find videos I shot of the band playing "Lightning" and "Mario's Hideout." Bim and Bunkley play the Pie Shop in Washington, DC tonight (9/17) and Supernova on Saturday (9/18). 




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Monday, September 13, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar: This Week It's One-Two Punch of Ska with Bim's Boston Bluebeat vs. The Toasters' East Side Beat!

Let's just say that it's been a very long time since we've seen these two OG '80s American ska bands play NYC during the same week (plus old schoolers Beat Brigade!). So, if you're in the New York metro area, this is a good week to get out and see some great live ska music (and it's a bit of a consolation if you're not able to make it down to the Supernova Ska Festival). Details are below (and don't forget to bring proof of vaccination!)

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Mephiskapheles, Bim Skala Bim, The Hempsteadys PLUS the NYC premiere of the New England Ska Summit documentary film
Arrogant Swine (they have AMAZING BBQ here)
173 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

6:00 pm: Doors open
7:00 pm: NYC premiere of the documentary New England Ska Summit
9:00 pm The Hempsteadys
10:00 pm Bim Skala Bim w/John Bunkley (of Gangster Fun)
11:20 pm Mephiskapheles
Tix: $25 in advance/$30 day of show
18+

Friday, September 17, 2021 @ 6:00 pm

The Toasters, Beat Brigade, The Rudie Crew, The Lousekateers, The Monkeychunks
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $17.95
16+

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Friday, September 10, 2021

Duff Review: Kenneth Partridge "Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing"

The book cover features various ska bands performing or posing for promotional photos.(Review by Steve Shafer)

[Full disclosure: I was interviewed for and am quoted in this book, since I was Moon Records' director of promotions, marketing, and production from 1991-1999.]

I'm really of two minds regarding Ken Partridge's Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing (Hardcover, Penn State University Press, 2021). On one hand, it's a very good and engaging read, providing an excellent and oftentimes insightful overview of the bigger, mostly ska-punk, ska-pop, and swing bands that made it relatively big in the 1990s. In doing so, Hell of a Hat focuses on the rise and inevitable fall of acts that made it to major or major-label backed labels and flirted with or achieved stardom, such as the Bosstones, Sublime, No Doubt, Rancid, Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Goldfinger, Dance Hall Crashers, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Less Than Jake, Suicide Machines, Buck-O-Nine, MU330, Mustard Plug, Stubborn All-Stars, Hepcat, Pietasters, Slackers, Spring Heeled Jack, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Royal Crown Review, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and Squirrel Nut Zippers. During that decade, I was so immersed in all things ska that I knew practically zilch about the swing scene beyond that when ska was declared dead in 1998, swing was the music industry's next shiny thing, and that one of the former members of The NY Citizens was in the local swing band Dem Brooklyn Bums (Chris "Kid Coconuts" Acosta told me about 'em). So, I learned a fair amount from this book--in particular, the Royal Crown Revue's story is pretty compelling, and I had no idea that Gangster Fun's John Bunkley was in Detroit swing band The Atomic Fireballs.

On the other hand, as someone who was directly involved in promoting the ska scene, it's a bit maddening to read a history of this era of American ska and find that Moon Records is depicted as a minor player, almost a footnote, really. The chapter on Moon starts 174 pages in and is done ten pages later, and much of it is devoted to certain bands bellyaching that the label didn't do enough to make them stars, even though nothing of the sort was ever proffered. Though, to be fair, he does mention Moon on page four and describes the label as "a major driver in the ’90s ska explosion." (And I have to admit to being disappointed that Partridge didn't include my tale of how The Slackers' manager at the time allegedly stole Moon's promo list from my apartment office and brought it to Epitaph, where she was made head of Hellcat; we realized the theft/betrayal had gone down when a Hellcat promo mailer was sent to one of our dummy addresses--a fake name, but using Moon's post office box!--that we used to check that our promo mailings went out.) Moon was an indie ska label with a punk rock attitude, just like Lookout or Dischord, and it sometimes managed to punch above its weight--but we never sold ourselves as anything otherwise. Having said that, Moon built the foundation for much of what transpired in ska during the '90s and helped promote/establish dozens of well-known acts when they were in their infancy. No one was championing ska music like Moon was--particularly in the first half of the '90s. I'd wager that if Moon hadn't been around, that decade's ska boom would never have happened. 

While there are several key traditional and modern ska bands mentioned in the periphery of Hell of a Hat (who did quite well for indie-label acts), the premise of the book seems to be that only the bands who made it to the cusp of fame or superstardom should make up the story of that era. It's a capitalist's version of the history of American ska, based on record sales and Billboard charts, and it's incomplete (particularly since the music industry really only knew how to market ska that was more punk or pop--and the more mainstream music audiences were only into those kinds of sounds, not 2 Tone-influenced or traditional ska).

Having said all that, if you're a ska-punk and/or ska-pop fan, you absolutely will enjoy Hell of a Hat--it covers that aspect of '90s ska very well and is a valuable addition to the growing library of books on American ska.

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If you're in the NYC area on Tuesday, September 28, there is a Hell of a Hat book launch party at Mama Tried in Brooklyn from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm with DJ Ryan Midnight playing '90s classics.

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Thursday, September 2, 2021

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: The Articles "Action Claw vs. Gorilla Grip"

The illustration features two robot-like creatures facing off; one has claws for hands, while the other has oversize gorilla paws.
(Review by Steve Shafer)

Detroit's mid-to-late '90s ska-jazz greats The Articles--who were often favorably compared to The Skatalites, Jump With Joey, and NY Ska Jazz Ensemble--released their debut album Flip F'Real in 1997 on Moon Ska, which was produced by Victor Rice and featured a mix of fantastic original instrumentals and covers of tunes by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Laurel Aitken, and The Skatalites. [Full disclosure: I had the great pleasure of working with The Articles when I was at Moon.] Tower Records Pulse! reviewer Norman Weinstein gave it four and a half stars and ranked it as the #1 reggae release of '97. While the band appeared on many comps (including Skarmageddon 3, Love and Affection, and the Bang movie soundtrack--all on Moon), they didn't get a chance to release a follow-up album before the bottom fell out on the US ska scene and Moon shuttered its doors at the end of that wild decade.

Unbeknownst to many, The Articles recorded their sophomore album in 2001 with Joe Ferry (he produced two mid-'90s albums for The Skatalites: Hi-Bop Ska and Greetings from Skamania), but the project was mysteriously shelved after completion. That is, until now. After 20 long years, The Articles have liberated their second album from the archives and unleashed the extraordinary Action Claw vs. Gorilla Grip (digital, self-released; limited-edition cassette, Jump Up Records, 2021) on an unsuspecting world. Action Claw vs. Gorilla Grip is full of superb originals and impeccable performances all around, though it's heavily tilted toward the jazz side of the ska-jazz equation (and may remind one of when Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra is in their big band/AM pop radio mode). Having said that, there are a good number of ska-ish songs, including the magnificent "Sophist" (which has a great liturgical-sounding organ intro), "Frantic," the slinky, reggae-ish "Jetta Girl,""Hand Me Down" (so cheery as it struts its stuff), "Hard To Get," and the wonderfully epic (and slightly menacing) "Slip'n'Slide." All in all, a wildly impressive album (which would be great to have on vinyl some day...).

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Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Lee "Scratch" Perry RIP

Perry sits on a throne with a crown on his head and holds a globe and a scepter in his hands.
The Upsetter
As others have commented, Lee "Scratch" Perry was so full of life and boundless, crazy genius-level creativity and talent that it seemed like he would be walking this Earth forever. So his death on Sunday, August 29, 2021 at 85 feels like a sucker punch to the head (forgive us for taking you for granted, "Scratch").

His musical legacy as producer, songwriter, dub master, and performer is almost unparalleled in the history of reggae music. And the vast body of work he leaves in his wake--surely a daunting endeavor to consume in its entirety--is a magnificent gift that will keep on giving to anyone exploring or rediscovering his music for eons to come (the 1997 3xCD compilation Arkology, which collects the top cuts he recorded at his Black Ark studio, is an amazing place to start).

I'm certainly not alone in thinking that Perry's greatest productions were The Congos' Heart of the Congos ("Children Crying" is one of the most brilliant reggae cuts ever recorded) and Max Romeo's War Ina Babylon (ditto for the title track). I'm also partial to The Upsetters' Super Ape (1976), Perry's Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Corn Bread (1978), and his collaboration with Adrian Sherwood and the Dub Syndicate Time Boom X De Devil Dead (1987).

I reviewed a fair number of Scratch's recent releases and reissues for this blog, which are linked below. While his output in his later years may not have matched the heights of the Black Ark years, it was still incredibly good and often extraordinary. All of these releases are worth checking out.

Lee "Scratch" Perry: Heavy Rain LP (2020)

Various Artists Black Ark Days: Play On Mr. Music LP (2020)

Max Romeo Revelation Time reissue (2020)

The Upsetters with Vin Gordon Musical Bones reissue (2020)

Lee "Scratch" Perry: Rainford LP (2019)

Lee "Scratch" Perry with Peaking Lights and Ivan Lee Life of the Plants EP (2019)

Lee "Scratch" Perry: "Big Ben Rock" 7" (2019)

Lee "Scratch" Perry: The Black Album LP (2018)

Lee "Scratch" Perry: Game of the Throne EP (2018)

Lee "Scratch" Perry and Subatomic Sound System: Super Ape Returns to Conquer LP (2017)

Various Artists: Sound System Scratch: Lee Perry's Dub Plate Mixes 1973-1979 LP (2010)

If you need a refresher on Perry's life and musical career, make sure to read the excellent Perry obituaries in The Guardian by Peter Mason and New York Times by Jon Pareles.

Play on, Mr. Music!

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Wednesday, August 18, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #4/Summer & Fall 2021

Vivien Goldman
Sunday, August 22, 2021 @ 4:00 pm & 7:00 pm (doors half an hour before each set)

Vivien Goldman w/Dunia & Aram, DJ Misbehaviour
IRL Gallery
80 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $15 in advance/$20 day of show

Friday, August 27, 2021 @ 7:00 pm-12:30 am

DJ Ryan Midnight Spins an All-Vinyl Ska Set
Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A & B)
New York, NY
No cover
21+

Saturday, August 28, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

Hub City Stompers, The Take, Murderer's Row, Violent Way
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15/All ages, 21 w/ID to drink
21+

Saturday, September 11, 2021 @ 7:00 pm

Sgt. Scag, Raise the Kicks, Eye Defy, Dubcorps
Bushwick Public House
1288 Myrtle Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: $10 in advance/$12 day of show
21+

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Bim Skala Bim PLUS the NJ premiere of the "New England Ska Summit documentary film
Randy Now's Man Cave
134 Farnsworth Avenue
Bordentown, NJ

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Bim Skala Bim & Mephiskapheles PLUS the NYC premiere of the "New England Ska Summit documentary film
Arrogant Swine
173 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

Friday, September 17, 2021 @ 6:00 pm

The Toasters, Beat Brigade, The Rudie Crew, The Lousekateers, The Monkeychunks
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$17.95/16+
16+

Saturday, October 16, 2021

The Pietasters Booze Cruise
The Lucille--Rocks Off Concert Cruise
23rd Street and the FDR Drive
Manhattan, NY
$45/21+
Doors at 6:00 pm, boat departs at 7:00 pm

Saturday, December 18, 2021

The Slackers and The Aggrolites
Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
$22.50/16+
Doors open at 7:00 pm

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Saturday, June 4, 2022

Madness and The English Beat
Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
$55 and up
Doors at 8:00 pm

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Sunday, August 15, 2021

The Specials to Release "Protest Songs 1924-2012" on September 24, 2021

The CD cover is solid red with the band's name and album title printed over it.
The Specials (Terry Hall, Lynval Golding, and Horace Panter, plus collaborators) have announced that they are releasing their follow-up to 2019's Encore (read my review) on September 24. The album is called Protest Songs 1924-2012 (Island Records/UMG) and, as its title indicates, it consists entirely of covers of powerful and still relevant folk, blues, spiritual, soul, rock, reggae, and new wave/post punk protest songs. Unless you're well-versed in this genre of music, particularly anti-war and civil rights songs, you may not recognize many of these amazing tracks apart from Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up," and Talking Heads' "Listening Wind" (for a great overview of this history of protest music, check out Dorian Lynskey's 33 Revolutions Per Minute). 

The tracklist for Protest Songs 1924-2012 is as follows (with links to the original songwriter/performer's recording in parentheses):

1. "Freedom Highway" (The Staple Singers)
2. "Everybody Knows" (Leonard Cohen)
3. "I Don't Mind Failing In This World" (Malvina Reynolds)
4. "Black, Brown And White" (Big Bill Broonzy)
5. "Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around" (The Freedom Singers)
6. "Fuck All The Perfect People" (Chip Taylor & the New Ukrainians)
7. "My Next Door Neighbour" (Jerry McCain)
8. "Trouble Every Day" (Frank Zappa with the Mothers of Invention)
9. "Listening Wind" (Talking Heads)
10. "Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes" (Rod McKuen)
11. "I Live in a City" (Malvina Reynolds)
12. "Get Up, Stand Up" (Bob Marley)

The Specials have a short snippet of their cover of The Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway" up on their Facebook page (and it sounds quite good). 

And you can pre-order the CD now from the Universal Music store (no word on when the LP can be ordered). 

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