Duff Guide to Ska Bullet Points: Vin Gordon, Park Rangers

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

• Despite having been Studio One's trombonist-in-residence following the tragic death of Don Drummond, and performing on hundreds of key recordings for top ska and reggae acts (including Lee "Scratch" Perry, Bob Marley, Burning Spear, The Heptones, The Ethiopians, Culture, Big Youth, Horace Andy, Mad Professor, Mighty Diamonds, Bob Andy, Keith Hudson, Augustus Pablo, Max Romeo, King Tubby, The Skatalites, Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, Alton Ellis, The Revolutionaries, Aswad, and many more), Vin Gordon's public profile has never quite matched that of his peers Drummond and Rico Rodriquez (he's only mentioned a few times in Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton's Reggae The Rough Guide and Colin Larkin's The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae for playing on other people's records--and doesn't even have his own entry in either book; while Gordon's nickname "Don D., Jr." is meant to be complimentary, perhaps it has kept him trapped in Drummond's shadow). Many ska and reggae fans know his trombone sound, but not his name. Recent collaborations with producers/musicians Al Breadwinner and Nat Birchall--including last year's superb African Shores (read my review of it)--have helped to rectify this situation, and Studio 16's reissue of Vin Gordon's masterful 1980 debut album Way Over Yonder (vinyl LP, Studio 16) should seal the deal. Produced by Errol "ET" Thompson (who also was the recording engineer on much of Rico's Rico Jama a few years later), backed by a fantastic band including Lloyd Parks, Sly Dunbar, Winston Wright, Bobby Ellis, and Tommy McCook, and released on Joe Gibbs Music, Way Over Yonder is a brilliant instrumental reggae album that makes judicious use of solos to show off Gordon's incredible chops without overpowering his bandmates' excellent performances. In addition to Jamaican jazz versions of standards like "Easy Living" and Lovable You," this album features two amazing medleys, "Fiddler Rock" (AKA the "Swing Easy" riddim, which is the song "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof) with "Real Rock" (Gordon plays on the original Sound Dimension riddim; ET adds some ocean wave effects that work quite well); and the standards "Summer Time" and "Blue Moon." Gordon also covers one of Don Drummond's greatest compositions "Green Callie" (AKA "Green Island"), as well as his "Confucious"--and there's a lovely original by Errol Thompson, the title track "Way Over Yonder." This album has been out of print for years--original pressings are almost impossible to find, so make sure to grab a copy now. Gordon's Way Over Yonder deserves an honored spot in your collection right next to Rico's Rico Jama and Drummond's The Best of Don Drummond. 

• Anyone who picked up Little Roy's Battle for Seattle--an album of phenomenal roots reggae Nirvana covers produced by Prince Fatty and Mutant Hi-Fi (read my review of it)--knows that since Kurt Cobain and co's songs contain great, enduring melodies at their core, they're ripe for being recast within wildly different musical genres. Japan's Park Rangers' new single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (vinyl single, Parktone Records, 2020; available through Juno Records), which Little Roy didn't cover, is a terrific companion piece to Roy's LP for fans who want more of this. Park Rangers' skinhead reggae version of this grunge-pop staple channels Jackie Mittoo and Winston Wright--so much so that you'd think that the copyright on the label is dated 1969. The flip side is a stripped down reggae take on Kool and the Gang's 1974 hit instrumental "Summer Madness" (one of the most sampled R and B hits of all time) that keeps the original's signature synth washes and multi-octave upward glissandi. There are cool Japanese spoken word bits in the mix, too. On a related note, in 2016 Park Rangers (AKA Inokasira Rangers) released an awesome digital album full of instrumental skinhead reggae covers of classic punk and post-punk cuts called Rangers Patrol 1977​~​1982 UK! Highlights include their versions of The Clash's "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais," Dexys Midnight Runners' "Geno," The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks," The Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get," Ian Dury and the Blockheads' "Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll," The Jams' "The Bitterest Pill," and their extraordinary deconstructed cover of The Damned's "Neat Neat Neat," which is Prince Buster meets James Brown and The Upsetters.

+ + + +

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Rhoda Dakar and Dub Pistols "Stand Together"

Sunday Best Recordings
Digital
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

While it was not intended to address the current worldwide protests against the outrageous police killings of unarmed black people in America triggered by the murder of George Floyd, the seemingly prescient new single from Rhoda Dakar and Dub Pistols "Stand Together" could not be more relevant if it tried.

Released in advance of Dub Pistols' forthcoming album Addict (9/11/20, CD/LP), "Stand Together" is a brilliantly catchy and buoyant 2 Tone track with modern dancehall touches and echoes of Dandy Livingstone's "Rudy, A Message to You" in the horns (and was co-written by Dakar and the Pistols two years ago). In keeping with 2 Tone's fiercely anti-racist ethos (underscored in the video below), "Stand Together" is both a call for ongoing solidarity between black and white people, as well as a plea to continue building upon all of the hard-won legal and moral victories against racial discrimination over the years:

In my lifetime, I've have seen such progress
Changes that I'd never dreamt I would
Marched and challenged 
Even when it's hopeless
Then the law is changed
To vote for love

[Chorus:] No matter what the problem
Unity will get us through it
It's our intent to right wrongs
We'll stand together
We can do it

"Stand Together" offers something good and uplifting for the mind, body, and spirit in these bleak times--and really should be issued as a proper physical single!

[Update: According to Rhoda Dakar, a 7" single of "Stand Together" is in the works!]



+ + + +

Rhoda Dakar also has a fantastic new monthly radio show on Totally Wired Radio called "Pork Pie and Mash Up," which features 2 Tone, reggae, ska, pop, and world (Mondays, 12-2 pm UK time). Her first broadcast is now available on catch up and features an interview with Barry Ashworth of Dub Pistols. Definitely give it a listen!

Also, back in April, Dub Pistols previewed their excellent cover of The Clash's "Bankrobber" with a music video (and Dakar also played it on her radio show). The "Bankrobber" digital and vinyl single will be released on June 30, 2020.

+ + + + 

Duff Guide to Ska: Year of Reviews--2019--Part IV: Vin Gordon

(Review by Steve Shafer)

While Don Drummond and Rico Rodriguez may be more familiar to ska and reggae fans than Vin Gordon (AKA Don D., Jr.), there's no doubt that they've heard Gordon's trombone playing, as he's performed on hundreds of crucial ska, rocksteady, and reggae recordings (that's him on the foundational "Real Rock" riddim with Sound Dimension) and helped establish the classic and enduring Jamaican ska and reggae trombone sound, along with Don Drummond and Rico Rodriguez, who were fellow alum of Kingston, JA's Alpha Boys School's music program under bandmaster Lennie Hibbert. (Gordon's Discogs entry is over 20 pages and includes his work on classic releases for just about every significant reggae artist you can imagine, including Lee "Scratch" Perry (he both performs and has writing credits on Scratch's latest albums, Rainford and Heavy Rain), Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Aswad, Coxsone Dodd (he was Studio One's main trombonist), The Heptones, The Ethiopians, Culture, Big Youth, Horace Andy, Mad Professor, Mighty Diamonds, Bob Andy, Keith Hudson, Augustus Pablo, Max Romeo, King Tubby, The Skatalites, Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, Alton Ellis, The Revolutionaries, and many more--he even recorded a ska LP during the 2 Tone era, which I picked up in the late '80s). Having said that, the number of albums released under Gordon's own name are relatively few, given his talents and the scope of his career.

UK reggae producers/musicians Al Breadwinner and Nat Birchall (a celebrated jazz performer in his own right) had this in mind as they were planning their next Sounds Almighty album of roots reggae instrumentals with Gordon--and decided to turn it into a full-on Vin Gordon album instead. What's wild is how this record came together. Birchall composed the instrumentals for the album, and then he and Breadwinner recorded the rhythm tracks (Birchall on bass, piano, percussion and Breadwinner on drums/percussion, guitar, organ, and piano). Then Vin Gordon joined them in their analogue studio, listened to each cut a few times and came up with his horn lines on the spot (in old school Studio One fashion), which were then recorded in a day--and the horn melodies were added later by David Fullwood (trumpet), Stally (bari sax), and Birchall (tenor sax). The result, Vin Gordon's African Shores (LP/CD/digital, Tradition Disc, 2019), is a phenomenally good and moody roots album that's similar in sound and vibe to King Tubby's and Lee "Scratch" Perry's mid-'70s output--and showcases Gordon's virtuoso, improvisational playing floating over razor sharp riddims. All of these tracks are relatively spare and uncluttered--allowing for ample space between the notes--and feature almost hypnotic bass lines and beats. The majestic "African Shore" and its "Gold Coast Dub" evoke unending, wide screen coastlines of an extraordinary continent that is the ancestral home for the African diaspora and whose resources, natural and human, were wickedly exploited by white Europeans. "Styler Man" is a ringer for a classic Skatalites tune ("Dubbing Style" is its pair), while "Spill Over" is funky reggae like Jackie Mittoo used to do. I have no idea what the mysterious "Gusum Peck" refers to (its companion "Voodoo Man in Dub" suggests something to do with syncretic religion), but it sounds fantastic, in all senses of that word. Like its title suggests, "Sa La Vie" features a gorgeous, laid-back, "come-what-will" melody (and pace) that's the perfect closer to an album that somehow frees the listener to slow down and experience whatever feelings, memories, or dreams this set of songs conjures up whenever they're played. Here's hoping that Birchall and Breadwinner keep on collaborating with Vin Gordon and showcasing the exceptional talents of this true legend of ska and reggae.

+ + + +

Duff Review: Phoenix City All-stars "Clash Version Rockers"

Happy People Records
CD/digital/LP
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Given the depth and variety of The Clash's formidable catalogue, it was probably a shrewd move for the Phoenix City All-stars (led by Pama International/London International Ska Festival's Sean Flowerdew) to crowdsource the selection of tracks they'd cover for their fourth album, Clash Version Rockers (winnowing the choice of all of those magnificent Clash songs down to a manageable number is no easy task). So, they informally polled their followers on Facebook to sort out what the people wanted and simply gave it to them. The resulting album is comprised of bulletproof fan favorites ("White Riot," "Career Opportunities," "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," "Guns of Brixton," etc.), which definitely guarantees the album wide appeal. But if this seems like it was a safe move, the Phoenix City All-stars pulled out all the stops and delivered some fantastic re-imaginings of these Clash cuts, and their versions of the non-reggae originals, in particular, are spectacular. The Clash's beloved, almost sacred songs couldn't be in better hands.

Breaking away a bit from Phoenix City All-stars' previous mission of re-working 2 Tone, Rolling Stones, and Dexy's Midnight Runners tracks as vintage '60s ska songs, these are stripped down, '70s rockers style dub takes on Clash classics--just vocals, keys, bass, and drums (by Jewels Vass, Sean Flowerdew, Ryan Windross, and Bullit, respectively), not one note on guitar is heard on this record!--all of which were deconstructed and reassembled (with all sorts of incredible audio effects liberally applied) by ace dub mixer Al Breadwinner in his analogue studio. Their collective work makes Clash Version Rockers sound very much like it was released in the wake of Sandinista and not a new album that was recorded almost four decades on.

"Tommy Gun Dub" (the original decried terrorism and the killing of innocents, while coming dangerously close to mythologizing the perpetrators) opens just like the original with bursts of machine gun-like drumming (in this case by Bullit!) that quickly shifts into skittering and slippery Jungle-like percussion, as the bass plays the vocal line and the listener forgets the original's rockist trappings. Mick Jones' guitar solo is repurposed here by the keys and used as a marvelously triumphant (and martial-like) means to close the song. Shedding the source's fury, Phoenix City All-stars' haunted and dread-filled version of "London Calling" gives the impression that Vass is broadcasting her illicit message of resistance from a cupboard in the ruins of a building (her vocals fade in and out as if we're losing her signal--or is it being jammed by the authorities?) and drives home how the imagined dystopian/fascist/post-apocalyptic future of the original is closer to being realized than ever before.

I've never felt that "This Is Radio Clash" received as much love and respect as it's due, so it's a real treat to find it included here (its superb Don Letts directed music video--shot in the Big Apple during The Clash's famed 1981 Bond's 17-date residency for the never realized "The Clash on Broadway" documentary--features boomboxes, graffiti, breakdancing, police surveillance, "Live at Five" coverage of their Bond's shows, decaying NYC subways and neighborhoods and beautifully captures a unique time in the city when The Bronx music scene/culture intersected with The Bowery's). In contrast with The Clash's bold funk rock, Phoenix City All-stars' sensational version of "This Is Radio Clash" is more slinky funky reggae and Vass' somewhat muted/restrained vocals (she's an unauthorized voice on pirate satellite, after all) serve to further emphasize the enormous danger that comes from losing our collective hold on the truth without alternatives to the official line (insanely relevant in a time when the White House spews out lies and propaganda on a daily basis; this track was written during the Reagan years, but they have nothing on what's happening with Trump). For all his sometimes strident sloganeering, Joe Strummer knew that freedom of speech is a potent check on authoritarianism. These "Radio Clash" lyrics are particularly striking today:

"Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty

Hands of law have sorted through
My identity
Now this sound is brave
And wants to be free"

Towards the end of the track, Vass repeatedly sings the phrase, "Can we get the world to listen?" The answer--as ever--is far from clear ("everybody hold on tight!").

Despite its winning, ballsy punk bravado, I've always thought the self-mythologizing "Clash City Rockers" was sort of a throwaway track (and unnecessary Who rip-off)--but it's brilliant in this interpretation. As with most of the dubs on this album, the bass takes the vocal line for the verses (you'll find yourself singing along in your head, if not out loud) and gives it a seriously heavy, danceable groove. It's completely stellar!

Even if you're a vinyl purist, spring for the CD in addition to the LP, as the bonus cuts are essential! The killer dub of "This is Radio Clash" has more bite and menace (and sounds like it could have come from Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor's No Protection; check out that viscera rattling atomic blast effect). Vass makes a very persuasive case for forgiving her father's non-violent crimes in "Bankrobber" (no jury would convict). And even though I desperately want to hear her sing the entirety of "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," it's a really interesting choice to have Vass stop her vocals after the "...and if they've got anything to say, there's many black ears here to listen" lyric. In depriving the rest of the song of all of Joe Strummer's pointed commentary about the '78 reggae and punk rock scenes, lack of unity between black and white youth, and soullessness of our fame-obsessed culture, it casts the track in a new light--changing its meaning to make it about black music fans enjoying the performance of and message in reggae music, and then focusing the listener's attention solely on Phoenix City All-stars' deft versioning of Strummer's remarkable music.

Anyone who still fervently holds the belief that The Clash are "the only band that matters" will definitely need--and completely love--this record.

+ + + +

To read more about Phoenix City All-stars, check out The Duff Guide to Ska reviews of their Two Tone Gone Ska, Skatisfaction, and Searching for the Young Ska Rebels albums.

+ + + +