Like his superb collaborations with Lee "Scratch" Perry before his death (Rainford and Heavy Rain, which I reviewed here and here), Adrian Sherwood's latest effort with Horace Andy yields another masterpiece. Midnight Rocker is easily one of the finest albums in Andy's catalogue and certainly one of the best new roots reggae records you'll hear this year.
At 71, Sleepy's seemingly ageless voice remains in top form--always wonderfully expressive, whether conveying empathy for those suffering or passing along Jah's unyielding judgment on the wicked. He's backed by an all-star band, including Gaudi, George Oban (Aswad), Skip McDonald (Sugar Hill Records house band, Tackhead, African Head Charge), Douglas Wimbish (Sugar Hill Records house band, Tackhead, Living Colour), Horseman (Prince Fatty, Mungo's Hi-Fi, Mad Professor), and more. And Sherwood's virtuoso production--his first for Andy(!)--bathes everything in crisp warmth and life, and leaves plenty of space for Andy to do his thing.
Midnight Rocker contains a mix of new tracks and re-worked versions of Andy classics, some surely chosen for their heightened relevance today. The album opens with a fantastic rendition of Andy's plaintive "This Must Be Hell" (first released as a Tapper Zukie-produced single in 1978), Things may have been bad in the late '70s, but they have nothing on our everyone's-always-at-each-other's-throats times. This more sparse take on "Materialist" (which was originally produced and released by Niney the Observer in 1977) still packs a punch: "Material comes first in this society/You can't afford a car or a house, no one knows you" (and the track also warns of giving into vanity and acquiring too much). Andy's 1976 reggae lullaby "Rock to Sleep" is beautifully and hauntingly updated with cellos. And even Sleepy's much-revisited, Studio One/Coxsone Dodd-produced single "Mr. Bassie" is given a great new spin with this tightened-up take. (If you compare all of these versions to their originals, you'll be pleased to find that Andy has much more control of his singing, and his voice is arguably stronger and more nimble than ever.)
Like the reworked classics, Andy's new cuts are like late-night, pirate broadcasts of hope and warning--a rebel counternarrative for these entropic times. "Easy Money" (penned by Jeb Loy Nichols and Sherwood) is a melodica-driven sequel of sorts to his 1975 Phil Pratt-produced single "Root of All Evil" (key lyric: "It make friends/It break friends/Judas betrayed Christ for it!") that is an oblique critique of our capitalist way of life: "Tell me why/Did I ever start/To make money money/You did me wrong/You been cheating me/My whole life long." The stately "Today is Right Here" (by Sherwood/Nichols/Oban) reminds one that life is tenuous and fleeting, so you need to enjoy/be in the right now ("See that old black bird flying/See that fox on the run/They don't think about tomorrow/'Cause it might never come"). Despite its topic, "Careful" (by Leigh Stephen Kenny/LSK and Sherwood) is a bright and jaunty track about the pernicious disinformation we're swimming in daily ("All that glitters is not gold/All that's written is not so/Pictures, scriptures always told through the eyes of victors, all I know"). With all the turmoil, dangers, and moral quandaries to navigate these days, Andy pleads to Jah--over a Lover's Rock cut (written by LSK/Gaudi/Roydel Johnson aka Congo Ashanti Roy)--to "Watch Over Them." We need all the protection we can get.
One of my favorite tracks on Midnight Rocker is the cover of Massive Attack's "Safe from Harm" from Blue Lines. For all of Andy's past work with Massive Attack, this song from their 1991 debut--inspired by Martin Scorsese's neo-noir nightmare Taxi Driver (it's about Travis Bickle expressing his compulsion to protect the teenage prostitute Iris)--was originally sung by Shara Nelson. Yet hearing Andy singing it in this urgent, slightly futuristic dubstep-reggae setting (that rumbling bassline is ominous!), you don't think of Jodie Foster, but rather whoever means the world to you and you'd be devastated to lose: "But if you hurt what's mine/I'll sure as hell retaliate/You can free the world, you can free my mind/Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight."
While Midnight Rocker immediately appealed to me from first play on the turntable, I've been listening to it on and off for weeks now--and still don't think the album has fully revealed itself to me yet.
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.
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.
Back in the mid-nineties when I ran the Moon Records promo department out of a bedroom in my apartment (with my assistant and an intern or two), I often played dub albums (loads of Lee "Scratch" Perry after reading an extensive overview/ranking of his recordings in the Beastie Boys' magazine "Grand Royale"), as the rhythms and melodies would help keep us working at a steady pace without being too intrusive or overpowering. While I'm certainly not implying that dub is akin to background music a la Muzak, it is great music to play either while doing something else or when taking the time to do nothing but be alone with your thoughts. If Flying Vipers'Cuttings had been available back then, it would have been in heavy rotation on the office stereo, as well as during the off hours.
After releasing a series of superb cassettes (The Green Tape, The Copper Tape), and physical and digital singles ("Highest Region," "Nervous Breakdub (Pandemic Version)" b/w "PMA Calling") over the past few years, Flying Vipers have finally issued their first long-player Cuttings, which, as one would expect, is crammed with incredibly hooky, dubby roots reggae instrumentals reminiscent of Dennis Bovell's magnificent productions and Perry's recent and awesome collaborations with Adrian Sherwood and Daniel Boyle. Cuttings, of course, refers not only to the leaves that have been harvested from cannabis plants, but these musical fruits of the band's labors in the studio--and they have one bounteous crop here. Highlights include "Leaf Miner," which has a wonderful interplay between a rigid and relentless bass riff and a series of answering free flowing Rhodes piano lines; the prescient, apocalyptic "Two Twenties Clash" (and people thought things were bad back in '77!); the Bunny "Striker" Lee tribute "Flight of the Gorgon" with its majestic, panoramic horns; the bad-ass "Scorpio Son" and its version "Son of Scorpio"; and the supremely confident and untouchable "Puff Adder" (many of the cuts on this album are ripe for being versioned by deejays and singers--and becoming well-known riddims in their own right).
Flying Vipers are comprised of the devastatingly good rhythm section of Marc and John Beaudette (Destroy Babylon, The Macrotones), the gifted Zack Brines (Pressure Cooker) on keys, and Jay Champany (10 Ft. Ganja Plant) on percussion and the master at the analogue controls (plus ace guests on horns, sax, flute, clarinet, and binghi).
If you haven't been paying attention to this band, Cuttings is a brilliant introduction to the mighty Flying Vipers; and if you have, you're going to love this album,
Mark Foggo's SkastersSka Pig Returns (LP, Jump Up Records, 2019): For anyone counting, Mark Foggo's Skasters released their debut album Ska Pig 30 (!) years ago (I first encountered them in '89 on Skank Records' Ska For Ska's Sakecompilation), hence the title of their new album, Ska Pig Returns. Throughout the decades, Foggo and Co. have been remarkably consistent in creating album after album of incredibly high energy, sing-song-y, slightly demented, but always entertaining 2 Tone-influenced ska (think Madness' "Land of Hope and Glory"/"Baggy Trousers" meets Ian Dury and the Blockheads' "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick"/"Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3") and their latest record doesn't disappoint! There's a stomper about encountering a woman on a train and thinking "she was the one, I was sure" but having her turn out to be the dreadful Theresa May and telling her off; a song about trying to make the best of things in increasingly dire times what with the planet dying and "Trump as boss" ("Eat Up Your Weeds": "Things are never as bad as they seem/But you never wake up from this one bad dream..."); and "Dum Diddy Die," a powerfully dark nursery rhyme of nonsensical sounds and disturbing couplets ("I've got to get a gun/And I got and fight the enemy/There's a very good chance/That maybe it's the end of me." But then there's the upbeat "Do The Monkey" (detailing the indignities the monkey in the zoo must suffer to get on); "London" is a really lovely, New Wave-tinged, unconventional tour of London ("Saw the queen and changed the guard/Breaking in, it wasn't hard/I just used my Oyster card/Had to beat the Scotland Yard/When I tried to steal the crown/The Beefeaters came and cut me down"); while the awesome "Rats and Mice" is about taphophobia, a fear that was much more widespread during the Victorian age ("Please build my coffin air-tight/But leave me for the rats and mice/And put me in a shallow grave/In case there's been a mistake/And I'm still alive!"). As you might infer from all this, Mark Foggo's Skasters' Ska Pig Returns seems like a blast--'cause it is!
Lee "Scratch" PerryHeavy Rain (LP/CD/digital, On-U Sound Records, 2019): This is the wild and massively good dub version of Perry and Adrian Sherwood's recent collaboration Rainford (reviewed by the Duff Guide here)--that actually overshadows its source material (and they include a few new cuts, too!). Heavy Rain plays to Perry and Sherwood's strengths as versioners; they're masters at revealing the dub versions not represented by, or hidden within, the official version (even if they created it in the first place). Perry and Sherwood have made space for the Rainford tracks to recombine, mutate, and augment--and their work reimagining the songs and adding effects, and blips and beeps both natural and synthesized is nothing short of brilliant. The deserved attention-getter is the incredible "Here Come the Warm Dreads" (the dub of one of Rainford's best tracks, "Makumba Rock"), with Brian Eno (get the punny title of this track now?) working his magic on everything coming out of your stereo's right channel. Perry's anti-capitalist/greed broadsides are largely traded in for the truly great Vin Gordon's melancholy, yet all-vanquishing trombone lines--and Gordon's playing is nothing short of magnificent on the now jauntier "Crickets in Moonlight" (original: "Cricket on the Moon"). Perry's "Autobiography of The Upsetter" is transformed into "Heavy Rainford," a wonderful conversation between a bluesy harmonica and reggae trombone (Vin Gordon, again!). The three new tracks that they slip in here are of the same calibre and fit in seamlessly. "Dreams Come True" is a slumberous cut that creates a musical twilight zone between the real and imagined (and this is apparently some of what Perry sees: "Mick Jagger/Tripe and banana/Rolling home from work work/Feeling kind of peckish/Flying to his home/To have his favorite dish/Ackee and saltfish"). "Above and Beyond" features both violin and sax lines ebbing and flowing over a strutting riddim, while "Mind Worker" (Perry: "I move brains and I transfigurate minds") has these amazing jazz piano breaks in the midst of a serious reggae groove. Heavy Rain has to be the best reggae album of 2019 and is certain to go down in history as another Perry/Sherwood masterpiece.
I have to admit that following 2018's excellent, Black Ark-sounding The Black Album (with ace producer Daniel Boyle), it took repeated plays for me to get into Lee Scratch Perry's latest album Rainford (CD/LP/digital, On-U Sound, 2019), co-produced and co-written with On-U's Adrian Sherwood. Now that all of these tracks are firmly embedded in my head, I've found that it's very much on par with Perry and Sherwood's phenomenal, left-field classic Time Boom X De Devil Dead, recorded with Dub Syndicate in 1987 (Sherwood and Perry's most recent collaboration was The Mighty Upsetter in 2008). Like Time Boom, Rainford is filled with brilliantly inventive sonic weirdness married to quirkily catchy and compelling reggae tunes--and is sure to be recognized as another essential Lee Scratch Perry album in a catalogue bursting with them.
As expected, Rainford contains common Perry themes (driving out/vanquishing evil; toppling the powerful and selfish rich--see the album artwork) and messages (of black empowerment, anti-racism, and the wisdom of Jah's righteous ways). And as always, there's great substance beneath the seemingly mad surface of exhortations and vocal sound effects (Perry mimicking the cries of babies, the bleats, neighs, and grunts of various animals, and horror movie screams). Perry knows full well that his decades-long reputation for being a bit of a lunatic gives him considerable freedom (or lee-way!) to express some heavy and--what establishment society might consider to be--dangerous ideas and opinions.
Album opener "Cricket on the Moon" begins with Perry reciting, "'Repent,' says the cricket on the moon/'Repent,' says the cricket in the room...Mercy call and judgment come." I've never encountered this expression before, but apparently a moon cricket is an ugly racial slur. In this context, Perry is subverting an aspect of this racist trope--essentially, a black person in a sea of whites--as a metaphor for rastas/Jamaicans/people of color struggling against the dominant, sinful Babylon ("I'm the man in the moon/Who kicked the Pope in him raas"). In addition, there could be another layer of meaning rolled into this song, as 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong being the first (white) human to step on the moon (when researching this epithet, I also found that supposedly Native Americans have used it as a derogatory term for white people). Naturally, cricket-like chirps are incorporated throughout this wonderful, loping reggae track.
The slightly off-kilter "Run Evil Spirit" is in the same vein of Perry and Max Romeo's "Chase the Devil," with various upstanding rastas (whose religiously proscribed diet includes a lot of fish--hence, "fisherman," with its Biblical echoes) and super humans (Perry refers to the "Bionic Man" at one point!) joining forces to rid the land of wickedness: "Fisherman come/Babylon run...Beggars, users, run/Superman a come/And I've told him what you've done, evil spirit/I said you run/Obeah man a run/Spiderman a come..." Unlike most of the mid-tempo tracks on Rainford, the propulsive, almost hypnotic "Makumba Rock" has the power to pack dance floors and refers to the Brazilian via Africa religion of Macumba: "Voodoo rock/Zodiac rock/Makumba rock...From roots asylum/This is mental zodiac/Are you ready for the black magic?"
Perry pictures himself as captain of a futuristic Black Star Liner on "African Starship" (which revisits/reworks Creation Rebel's 1978 Starship Africa), repatriating the black diaspora to a new Ethiopia somewhere out on the final frontier. While, the hard-hitting, militant-sounding "Kill Them Dreams Money Worshippers" envisions Perry entering the nightmarish, fever dreams of the rich to scuttle their rapacious, predatory scams before they can unleash them in reality and cause good people to suffer ("In the land of dreams/The greed is dead/In the land of schemes/Settle dem debts/In the land of flesh and bones/More than stones and bones/Rocklin' horror movies and scary scenes/A horrible place...We're going to have a black magic for you tonight...We are inviting you down to meet your debt...").
Perhaps the most extraordinary song on the record is "Autobiography of The Upsetter," which is exactly what the title indicates. This is Lee "Scratch" Perry's life's story ("This is my undead biographicie and prophesy"), told with surprising candor, self-awareness, and humor. Perry recounts his familial origins ("My Father was a Freemason, my Mother was an Eto Queen/They share a dream together/Said they're going to make a Godly being"; Rainford is Perry's actual first name); the many highlights of his extensive musical career (and related music industry axes to grind--the listener is reminded that Perry still believes Island's Chris Blackwell to be a bloodsucker); even the episodes of his life where people questioned his sanity, when he was actually profoundly troubled by pernicious goings on in the world around him ("People thought I was mad... Burn down Black Ark/Too much iniquity, too much outerquity was in the Ark/People thought I was crazy...walking backward in Spanish Town"). In sum, it recaps his incredible, visionary artistic legacy, which Perry continues to augment with records like Rainford: "I came up with the Ark, with salvation/And let the people dance/And give the people a chance/I am the Upsetter/Super Ape/Dub organizer, music striver/Pipecock Jackson/Lee Scratch Perry."
So much good music, so little time to digest and write about it all...
I just came across this phenomenal, mind-blowing mix of Afrobeat (hi-life, African drumming, funk, and jazz), and dub on Dele Sosimi Meets Prince Fatty and Nostalgia 77'sYou No Fit Touch Am in Dub (LP/digital, Wah Wah 45s, 2016). Right now, this LP is on heavy rotation on my turntable (the ecstatic "Dance Together Dub" and trippy "I Don't Care Dub" in particular) and it should be on yours. Speaking of Dele Sosimi, he used to work with Fela Kuti, so I'll also take this opportunity to note that a month ago I picked up a vinyl copy of Fela Soul--an amazing, if unauthorized, mash-up of Fela Kuti's music with De La Soul's raps that came out a few years ago.
On the fantastic Who Is That Mad Band? and its great track-for-track dub companion Dub World (CDs/digital, Temple Gong Recordings, 2016 and 2017), Detroit's The Process play a wild, heady mix of '70s rock and roots reggae with new wave-synths and metal theatricality--all of which works surprisingly well. The band stands tall on their own with tracks like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" which features the legendary (and late) Detroit rock guitarist Dick Wagner, "Mystery Babylon" "Dear Mr. Fantasy," and "Gypsy Wind." But then they have several excellent cuts mixed by On-U Sounds'Adrian Sherwood ("Time Has Come," "Return the Treasures") and David Harrow ("Fire Is Burning Version")--and others that feature Skip "Little Axe" McDonald (Sugar Hill Records' house band that recorded "The Message" and "White Lines" for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Tackhead, Dub Syndicate), Ghetto Priest, and the inimitable Lee "Scratch" Perry himself! The Process are yet another great act from this town that spawns them like crazy--Detroit again for the win!
Being the vinyl junkie that I am, I pre-ordered Hepcat's essential early Third Wave classic Out of Nowhere (which was never released on wax in the early '90s, since vinyl was on the way out then)--but the even more compelling reason to pick this up is the accompanying bonus album of stellar dubs by Victor Rice, Dub Outta Nowhere (to be honest, I like some of Rice's versions better than the originals). Highlights include "Dub Wit Me," "Dubvez," "Miss Dubgeniality, "Prison of Dub," and "Police Dub." (The pre-order includes an immediate digital download of both albums, to keep you sated while you wait for the real thing.)
Italy's awesome all-female ska/rocksteady/soul act Le Birrettereleased their debut album Gal Songs Only (LP/digital) earlier this month. A whole bunch of these tracks sound like could be off Jackie Mittoo's Evening Time ("Jamaican Night," "Let Me Stay," "Rise Up"), while others are wonderful vintage ska in The Skatalites/Potato 5 vein ("Wounded Man," "Eclisse," "Mantis"). I want the vinyl in my collection pretty badly, but the shipping from Europe is the same as the cost of the record (ouch!) Jump Up Records and The Drastics' imprint Happy As a Lark have co-released a cool new 45 featuring OG Jamaican all stars Derrick Morgan and Charlie Organaire (backed by the Tectonics) on the 1950's standard "There Stands the Glass" on side A with Dennis Alcapone doing his deejay thing on the version on the flip side. Don't miss this little gem! + + + +
In the early 1970s, Vivien Goldman's first and incredibly auspicious job right out of university was serving as Bob Marley's public relations person at Island Records (years later, she was Marley's biographer), just as the label released Bob Marley and The Wailers' first major label album--Catch a Fire--which had been specifically crafted by Chris Blackwell to appeal to the white rock crowd (and obviously worked spectacularly well). Whether or not this cross pop-cultural mash-up (at a time when the British and American music scenes were still largely segregated) set Goldman on her path mining the intersections of frisson between diverse musical genres is a matter of conjecture, but it certainly serves as an apt illustration of what became her life's work and passion. By the middle of that decade in the UK, when punk, reggae, and dub ripped everything up and started again, Goldman already had departed Island to become a music journalist doing interviews and writing reviews for Sounds, New Musical Express, and Melody Maker, covering an omnivorous array of key punk, post-punk, and reggae artists (see this list of her many pieces).
Not surprisingly, it was a time when, according to Goldman, "there were no barriers between journalist and artist." She was living, socializing, and collaborating in the same Ladbroke Grove, London neighborhood as many of the punk and reggae acts she was writing about in the music weeklies (such as members of The Clash and Aswad; Chrissie Hynde was her roomie for a time). A gifted soprano, Goldman grew up in a musical family (she and her sisters sang, her father played violin--an instrument that appears on many of her songs) and apparently was always singing, which--along with her connections to some of the most talented and daring post-punk and reggae/dub musicians in the UK--led to her writing and performing songs with David Cunningham and The Flying Lizards in 1979, as well as singing (with Neneh Cherry and The Slits' Ari-Up) on Adrian Sherwood's productions for Prince Far-I in 1980 and the New Age Steppers in 1981. That year, she also recorded her debut solo single, "Launderette" b/w "Private Armies" ("Private Armies" also appeared in its dub version on the debut New Age Steppers LP). In 1982, she moved to Paris to write for Actuel magazine and became highly enamored with African pop music (which she played on her pirate Radio Nova show "Cherie Noire" with Eve Blouin), recording and releasing the "It's Only Money" 12" EP in 1982 with Blouin as the duo Chantage (which is French for blackmail).
While Goldman would go on to write and record with groups like Massive Attack ("Sly"), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Coldcut, and Luscious Jackson, as well as with several house music producers, Resolutionary focuses on her recordings from the late 70s/early 80s--an era brilliant for its great fluidity between musical genres and the easy exchange between artists from markedly divergent scenes that oftentimes resulted in extraordinarily innovative and challenging music, some prime examples of which can be found here (punk had, at least temporarily, freed a generation of young musicians from pop music's constructs).
The "Launderette" b/w "Private Armies" single (issued in the UK as a 7" by Window/Rough Trade and as the Dirty Washing 12"--which included "P.A. Dub"--via NYC's pioneering art/punk label 99 Records, home to Liquid Liquid, ESG, Bush Tetras, Maximum Joy, Glen Branca, and others) is reason enough to pick up this compilation of Goldman's work (and considering that the original 7" and 12" versions command very high prices, they're an absolute bargain here). These tracks are unequivocal (and somewhat shamefully obscure on this side of the pond) post-punk gems.
"Launderette," written by Goldman and Aswad's bassist George Oban (who came up with the song's distinctive and catchy bass line), was apparently surreptitiously recorded on Virgin's dime during Public Image Ltd.'s sessions for their Flowers of Romance album (but, considering how record deals are structured, it really was PIL's dime in the end, wasn't it now?), which is how John Lydon and Keith Levene ended up with producer's credit on the tracks. Goldman was backed by PIL's Keith Levene, Robert Wyatt, Vicki Aspinall of The Raincoats, Steve Beresford of The Slits and The Flying Lizards, and George Oban. It's a slightly uncomfortable, off-kilter, shambling track that feels a bit tentative and improvised in spots. The bass and drums are firmly planted in reggae territory--particularly the prominent, fluid, and continually unfolding bass line--but the dissonant, droning violin and slashes of guitar, the tinkly toy piano, and crazy collection of busy percussive instruments clash with and grate against the orderly rhythm section, threatening to derail everything (but don't). Floating above all of this tension is Goldman's lovely singing--her delivery is wonderfully conversational and free of any vocal mannerisms. It's almost as if she's recounting this short, unsatisfying affair in her head (particularly the lyric, "I had to learn to say no") as she encounters her ex in the very same ordinary place they met.
"I wanted tenpence for the dryer
Yes, that was how we met
My laundry bag was broken
My clothes were soaking wet
I felt I needed hugging
You needed board and lodging
I can't complain
We went down the drain
Seems like I can't get away from you
Even in the launderette
Now my socks to your socks in the dryer
And your jeans run into my shirt
You always were untidy
You wanted coffee round at my place
It all seemed just a lark
But you hadn't left there two weeks later
and your hair's all over the bath
It's good to get you to go
I had to learn to say no
I can't complain
We went down the drain
Seems like I can't get away from you
Even in the launderette
Now my socks to your socks in the dryer
And your jeans run into my shirt
I can't complain
We went down the drain
You always were untidy"
"Private Armies," written by Goldman and performed by many of the same musicians who backed her on "Launderette" (Shooz on drums, Keith Levene on guitar and bass, Steve Beresford on toy piano and bass, and Vicky Aspinall on violin) is another post-punk/reggae/dub cut--with an ominous, lurking bass line (which is more prominent in "P.A. Dub")--produced by Adrian Sherwood, who introduces Jungle-like percussion into the mix.
It's the harrowing tale of witnessing what one assumes is a racist attack, given the amount of racial violence in England at the time, that becomes a rumination on the capacity for violence in boys which is enabled/unleashed in men as they join groups, gangs or government/business sanctioned agents of violence (such as mercenary forces, counterintelligence agents, or the police) who attempt to enforce/impose a particular, often fascist, political agenda/viewpoint through brutality and murder. But at the end of the song, she completely takes the piss out of these men by mocking their macho obsession with violence and phallic-y guns in suggesting that it all may be because they're impotent (and unable to perform the most elemental male function--procreation). All of this obsession with power and might has to be compensating for something...
"Vernon and Norman, just sat in a Mini
While the skinheads beat shit out of person on the pavement
Blood everywhere
Sets of initials with licenses to kill
Brand name business footing the bill
Blood everywhere
Private armies
Private armies
Blood everywhere
Little boys like dressing up
Little boys like dressing up
Dressing up in uniform
Little boys' toys blow things up
Little boys' toys blow things up
If the heavy metal boys or the boys in blue
Don't like the look of you, you'd better watch out
Really out of order
Really out of order
If you can't get a hard-on, get a gun
If you can't get a hard-on, get a gun"
The two Flying Lizards tracks (with Viv Albertine of The Slits and David Toop on guitar, Steve Beresford on bass and piano, George Oban on bass, Dave Solomon on drums, Bruce Smith on hi-hat) actually chronologically precede Goldman's debut single, but they're in the same vein--offbeat, funky reggae-influenced post-punk tracks conveyed from a woman's perspective. "Her Story" (written by Dave Solomon, David Cunningham, General Strike, and Goldman) concerns the historic (and continuing) subjugation of women and their treatment as property throughout a great deal of recorded history--and how men even profit from recording love songs to/about women, while treating them so shabbily and considerably less than equals.
Vivien Goldman (sung):
"Knights in shiny armor
Always takes the key
History, history, hypocrisy
But you can still make money
By singing sweet songs of love"
David Toop (spoken in monotone):
"I own you
You don't own me
You are my territory
This is a love song
This is a love song"
Vivien Goldman (sung):
"I blame our books
I blame the TV
I blame Top 20 for my jealousy
But you can still make money
By singing sweet songs of love"
The truly disturbing song "The Window" (written by Goldman)--shades of The Special AKA's "The Boiler"--turns the supposed eroticism of "Dracula" and similar misogynistic myths (virginal women want to be dominated and forcibly seduced/taken) on its head in this stalker scenario--a man is trying to break into a woman's home and her thoughts on the matter are crystal clear:
"Can you hear him bang at the window?
(He's throwing things at the window)
I don't want to let him in
I wish he wasn't twice my size
Sometimes I think he's a vampire
(He's making holes to drain blood)"
The fact that Goldman sings these lyrics in an almost resigned, matter-of-fact way--she's been here before and previously physically suffered from his abuse--is all the more creepy. The song ends with the crappy choice before her: "Sometimes you fight for the world/Sometimes you fight for yourself/Should I sit and listen/Sit, wait, listen hoping that the door's shut tight?"
Things shift dramatically with Chantage's marvelous and giddily euphoric full-on reggae cover of Bob Marley and The Wailers' "Do It Nice," cheekily retitled "Same Thing Twice" to emphasize the come-on of the chorus: "Baby, you're so nice/I'd like to do the same thing twice!" It'd be hard to resist an offer that sounds this fun and good. Goldman's and Blouin's delightful, insouciant "It's Only Money" ("...and every day it's worth a little less") has a melodramatic musical theater vibe to it (and a cynicism towards commerce/capitalism that reminds one of Cabaret's "Money"), albeit one that is set in the fantastic crossroads of a several dozen cultures, where Roma violins meet African soukous guitar, Trinidadian steel pan drums, Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican dance rhythms, Broadway--even a smidgen of British music hall. (Indeed, all of Chantage's songs are concerned with some sort of transaction between people, whether it's financial, emotional, or physical). The musical portion of the compilation closes with the short-but-sweet, a cappella "Tu M'Fais Rire" ("You make me laugh"), which sounds like a '60s French pop song and where Goldman's and Blouin's voices complement each other beautifully (all of Chantage's tracks were produced by Adrian Sherwood, Alan Jakoby, Carroll Thompson, Chantage, and Chris Thomas--and feature a wonderfully international group of musicians, including George Oban on bass, Bruce Smith of The Pop Group/Slits/New Age Steppers and Style Scott on drums, Jerry Malenkani on guitar, Deadly Headly and Annie Whitehead on horns, Bubbles on steel pan drums, Steve Beresford on piano and euphonium, Jancsi Hosszu on violin, and Ann Howard, Archie Pool, Carroll Thompson, and Neneh Cherry on backup vocals).
The last track is an interesting time capsule of sorts--an interview with Goldman from 1981, after the release of the "Launderette"/"Private Armies" single, with audio zine "Morrocci Klung!" that was released/distributed on cassette. In it, Goldman discusses the meaning of these songs (and dispels some of the incorrect interpretations at that time), gender politics, men's tendency to express themselves through violence, and the assassination of John Lennon.
A long-overdue retrospective of (a good portion of) her musical work, Vivien Goldman's Resolutionary (Songs 1979-1982) is jammed full of very smart, oftentimes provocative, and always incredibly enjoyable songs--and is a vital post-punk document. As a diehard fan of that phenomenal era of music, attitude, and style, I almost can't express how happy I am to have this album in my collection...
The mad genius behind Pyrotechnist is Nico Leonard of The Moon Invaders, Caroloregians, and Pum Pum Hotel studios notoriety (aided by David Loos on tenor sax and Pierre Haegeli on bass and guitars). With a title like Dub Rocketry, one might expect this albumto be filled with the radically deconstructed and reassembled dub of Lee "Scratch" Perry or Adrian Sherwood--but a better comparison would be with the instrumental funky reggae of Jackie Mittoo alternating with Augustus Pablo's (with support from King Tubby) "Far East" dub sound. And like those different approaches, Dub Rocketry is split between moody, introspective dub cuts (such as "Croch'on," "Really Hot Summer," and "Split Second") and shimmeringly bright instrumentals (like "In a Copan Mood," "Groove In," "Sunny Tubby" and "Bye Bye Beach"--shades of The Pioneers' "Long Shot Kick de Bucket"). I find myself putting Dub Rocketry on over and over--and if you're into the aforementioned styles of reggae, you will, too. This is top notch reggae!
If you're not fleeing the city this weekend--it is one of the last few weekends of the summer, after all, and we New Yorkers need to get away once every now and then to keep our freakin' sanity!--you might want to catch Dave Wakeling's US version of The Beat, Bad Manners, and Chris Murray at Webster Hall. The gig takes place this Saturday night, August 21, beginning at 6:00 pm (you read that correctly). Tix are $30.
+ + + +
In related Beat news, the UK version of the band, led by Ranking Roger (and featuring original Beat drummer Everett Morton and General Public/Dexy's Midnight Runners keyboardist Mickey Billingham), will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of I Just Can't Stop It by performing the entire album live. According to AltSounds.com, this event will take place at London's Bloomsbury Ballroom on Saturday October 9th, 2010.
Also, The Beat's MySpace page states that they have recorded an album of new material that is being mixed by boss dub producer Adrian Sherwood. I have to admit to being intrigued by this development (and for the past year or so, Dave has mentioned in various interviews that he is recording or has recorded his own new Beat material, too--maybe we'll have two new Beat releases at some point in the near future?).
What They're Saying About My Book "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone"
“An essential read…Stephen's eye for detail is incredible and his love for 2 Tone oozes from each page.” — Kevin Flowerdew, Do the Dog Skazine
“Written with a personal touch and with great passion about the bands and releases while giving a lot of emphasis to the lyrics, Stephen’s book is a great guiding hand to navigating your way to some great new music.” — Peter Walsh, 2-Tone.info
“It's some of the finest Madness analysis I've ever read.” —Donald Trull, Stateside Madness
“Steve's own story would make a great book, but instead he's written The Duff Guide to 2 Tone, a 250+ page collection of 2 Tone-related pieces from his blog. There are reviews of original pieces, but the book's real purpose is to show how the 2 Tone sound and—more importantly its ideals—carry on today...Get this book right away!" — Charles Benoit, Reggae Steady Ska
"...Shafer has definitely not forgotten how socially conscious issues were at the root of Ska even from the beginning. He makes certain to thread the political issues that motivated the development of Ska throughout his narrative; painting a picture that took both the oppressive political environments and the often ecstatic musical content into account. And in that, he nails down for me what the enduring pull of Ska was to its many fans. Was there ever a more upbeat dance music that combined its boundless energy with a push for progressive social values and calling truth to power?" —Post-Punk Monk
"...[The Duff Guide to 2 Tone is a] chatty, informative and knowledgeable work, one that you can either sit down and read or use as a reference source..." —Nik Skeat, Scootering Magazine
"During the reading of the book it is dangerous to have a screen open next to you with Discogs. I have found lots of ‘new music’ via the stories in The Duff Guide to 2 Tone which I must have." -- Peter Vrakking, Blue Beat & Ska
In the mail today, I received the first copy of my new paperback book The Duff Guide to 2 Tone --and am thrilled to announce that it is now...
About Your Duff Guide
Steve Shafer/The Duff Guide to Ska For most of the 1990s, I was the promotions, marketing, production guy for Moon Records (RIP). It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Seriously, I miss it badly. During 1999/2000, I ran 7 Wonders of the World Music, the first digital download-only ska label that was too ahead of the curve for its own good (RIP).
I filmed and edited this Toasters video for $2,500, which made its debut on MTV's 120 Minutes. I also put together these compilations for Moon: the first three Skarmageddons; Ska United: A Global Ska Sampler; Skank Down Under; This Are Moon Ska I, II, and III; and Moonshot!
Here's an old interview with Adam Monkey from Read Magazine that covers my days at Moon and 7 Wonders. I also did a somewhat more recent interview with Read Junk.
I've been interviewed about ska music and Moon Records for The New York Times, Heather Augustyn's "Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation," Aaron Carnes' "In Defense of Ska," Kenneth Partridge's "Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing," and Marc Wasserman's "Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History" (I also wrote the introductory chapter "1985: The Year American Ska Broke" for Wasserman's book).
And I'm the author of "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone," which can be ordered from Amazon--and is available in the US from Jump Up Records, and in Europe from the 2 Tone Village Shop (Coventry, UK), Champion Sound Records (Hull, UK), Aggroshop (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and Copasetic Mailorder (Hamburg, Germany). Plus, my book was on sale in the museum shop for the "2 Tone: Lives & Legacies" exhibition (May 28 - September 12, 2021), curated by Simon Reynolds, Cory Barrett, Pete Chambers, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike and Daniel Rachel, at the Herbert Art Gallery Museum in Coventry, UK.
I'm now working on my next book, "Calling All the Rude Boys: The Duff Guide to The Toasters, 1981-1992," to be published in 2023.
If you have a ska or reggae release that you'd like me to consider reviewing, please send an e-mail to Steve at duffguidetoska@gmail.com. You should know that I am old school and prefer music in tangible formats (plus I might use your music when I DJ ska events). I'd also appreciate any news or tips you may have about bands.
All reviews and interviews posted on The Duff Guide to Ska are copyrighted and are the sole property of Steve Shafer. Please contact me for permission to reproduce anything on this blog.
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Rougher Records 1981/2011 7" vinyl single (Reviewed by Steve Shafer) Despite my burgeoning interest in reggae and ska ( UB40 , P...
Visit The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel!
Check out The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel for footage of ska bands in action in clubs around NYC, as well as unusual and rare ska videos from the 90s! Bands featured include The Toasters, The Bluebeats, The Forthrights, Across the Aisle, The Caroloregians, The Moon Invaders, The Rudie Crew, Tip the Van, Hey Stranger, Beat Brigade, Bigger Thomas, King Chango, The Scofflaws, UB40, The Hard Times, Jah Love and the Valentinians, The Shifters, Rudies Don't Care, Big Audio Dynamite, Stranger Cole and Patsy with Crazy Baldhead, Queen P of Ocean 11, King Hammond, The Snails, King Django, Doomsday! The Ultimate Tribute to Mephiskapheles Consisting of Former Members of Mephiskapheles, Destroy Babylon, The Frightnrs, The Pandemics, Los Skarroneros, The Bullbuckers, The Scofflaws, The Reggay Lords, The Copacetics, Rude Boy George, Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, The Specials, Roddy Radiation and Lynval Golding, The Ladrones, Chris Murray, Radio Riddler, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro, and Mickey Virtue, Barbicide, The Twilights, Bim Skala Bim featuring John Bunkley (Gangster Fun), The Pomps, and more!
