Duff Review: Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra "Tombstone"

Vintage Vault Records
LP/digital
2021

(Review by Steve Shafer)

After releasing two Skatalites tribute albums, the magnificent Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra--an incredibly gifted platoon of ska and jazz musicians led by Eitan Avineri (The Allentons)--have finally recorded an album of their own ska-jazz-big band originals (mostly written by Avineri), plus one Chris Murray cover that's been part of their live set for several years now. And, boy, it's been worth the wait. Tombstone is packed with memorable songs, features impeccable and compelling performances, and is one of the best sounding ska records in recent memory. It's a class album from start to finish.

As its title and cover art suggest, Tombstone has a loose Hollywood Western movie theme to it. Lead track "Monolith Ska" is one of several dramatic widescreen cinematic cuts (also see "Naftuli")--music that can fill the vast expanse of Monument Valley (featured in many of John Ford's Westerns), while "Tombstone" (which sounds a bit like The Specials "Vote for Me" in parts) has some menace to it, which is appropriate, since it was the location of the notorious Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (John Ford made a movie about it, too: My Darling Clementine). "Nostalgic Ska" is bright and chipper; "Grizzly Ska" is majestic; "Fortified" is a lovely jazzy reggae cut that could have come off Ernest Ranglin's Monty Alexander-produced Below the Bassline album; and "Sunrise from the East" is an awesome spaghetti Western ska track via the Far East.

Interestingly enough, the two cuts that don't really fit in with the theme of the album--but are great, nonetheless--are the two vocal cuts. Having said that, they're both about picking yourself up when you're in the dumps and seizing the fleeting day. It's wild to hear Chris Murray as a crooner fronting a big band singing "Moment" from his album Raw (key verse: "Hope and dreams are what we're made of/And those dreams should never die/It was given, this reason for living/Each moment the present no future can buy"). And we veer into Dean Martin/Rat Pack territory with "Habit of Happiness," co-written by The Aggrolites' Jesse Wagner and Avineri. Wagner urges the listener to rewire their brain to help survive this insane ride we're all on:

When the times, they seem tough
And you feel you've had enough
You give up and say there's nothing else that's left
To do
Oh, that ain't you
Let there be
An extraordinarily
Create that habit of happiness!

Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra's Tombstone is one of the best ska albums released in 2021, and will be high up on ska fans' playlists for years to come.

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Duff Review: The Skatalites "Hi Bop Ska" (RSD 2018 Re-Issue)

Jump Up Records
2 x heavyweight LPs
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

When Hi-Bop Ska was originally issued on Shanachie back in 1994, I definitely didn't pay it enough heed, probably because I was unable to imagine a day when so many of these ska originators wouldn't be around. Back then, The Skatalites played in NYC with great frequency; this was their second new album in the 1990s after '93's Ska Voovee; and the so-called Third Wave of ska was blowing up and keeping me busy (I even worked with several band members during my time at Moon Records). Yes, I took them for granted, as ridiculous and callow as it sounds from this vantage point in time.

So, it's fantastic to have another opportunity to rediscover this superb, Grammy-nominated album--and for the first time issued on vinyl (LPs were on the outs in the 1990s). It's a meticulously recorded and produced collection of new tunes (Tommy McCook's "African Freedom," "Nelson's Song," and "Burru Style"; Roland Alphonso's "Everlasting Sound") and Skatalites classics ("Man in the Street" and "Guns of Navarone") with a core of the band (McCook, Alphonso, Lloyd Knibbs, and Lloyd Brevett) in top form and a slew of guest musicians, including ska superstars Toots Hibbert (on "Split Personality"), Prince Buster (on "Ska Ska Ska"), and Doreen Shaeffer (on "You're Wondering Now"), as well as jazz greats Lester Bowie, David Murray, Steve Turre, and Monty Alexander. With so many jazz musicians on board (and contributing arrangements, like Murray's phenomenal ska take on his own 1976 cut "Flowers for Albert" and new songs, such as Alexander's "Renewal"), one might have been concerned that the ska quotient would be diminished, but a wonderful and completely appropriate balance between ska and jazz is struck throughout (and the Skatalites' incredible rhythm section grounds and propels each track with a rock solid ska beat). For fans of traditional Jamaican ska, it doesn't get much better than this. Kudos to Jump Up for re-issuing this truly essential Skatalites release and reminding us all of when we had it so good.

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The Ska Music Yearbook 2014 from Reggae, Steady, Ska!

The amazing ska fans at Reggae, Steady, Ska (lead by The Braces' Joachim Uerschels) have issued The Ska Music Yearbook 2014--an impressive and comprehensive look back at what took place in the ska scene worldwide last year. This 107-page (!) digital yearbook includes an extensive list of ska releases in 2014; a detailed calendar of events and ska festivals; interviews with Derrick Harriott, The Aggrolites, Toulouse Skanking Foundation, Buster Shuffle, Rhoda Dakar, ska author Heather Augustyn, Monty Alexander, The Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Alpha Boys School Radio, Style Scott, Rude Boy George, and The Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra; a feature on the Coventry Music Museum/2 Tone Trail; lots of ska "best of" lists for 2014; and more, all for a little under 3 euros!

The Ska Music Yearbook 2014 is a fantastic resource for the casual ska fan who wants to catch up on what he/she missed in 2014, as well as the ska obsessives amongst us who need to know everything!  Support the ska scene--and this labor of love-like coverage of it--by picking up this yearbook now!