Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: 2019 RSD Releases from Lee "Scratch" Perry, Madness, and The Specials

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

Of course, the unexpected is what one should always expect from Lee "Scratch" Perry and his new 2019 Record Store Day single "Big Ben Rock (Woodie Taylor Remix)" (Translucent green 7" picture sleeve single, Where It's At Is Where You Are, 2019) proves that truism for the billionth time. Drummer-producer-reggae fan Woodie Taylor (Daleks, Meteors, Morrissey) had been invited by Mad Professor to play on a Lee Perry track he was recording at his Ariwa studio and when it became apparent that it wouldn't be completed, Taylor asked if he could have a go at it and this is the pretty spectacular result. Taylor enlisted guitarist/saxophonist Boz Boorer (Polecats, Morrissey), bassist Jonny Bridgwood (Marianne Faithful, Morrissey), and keyboardist Anthony Miller (Data, Friday Club--yes, the soul/jazz band that released one Jerry Dammers-produced single for 2 Tone) to create a phenomenally hard-driving, drag racing, proto-punk, rockabilly, spaghetti Western mash up with Perry exhorting the listener to "Rock, rock/Like a Big Ben clock," amongst other things. Actual Big Ben sounds included. The b side contains the electro-percussive-dub instrumental "Steady" and a deliciously raw cover of Jacques Dutronc's 1967 garage rock single "J'ai Tout Lu" ("I read everything/Saw everything/Drank everything"). This single is hard to find, but completely worth the effort (I ordered mine from a record shop in Italy).

Somehow, I was able to track down a list price copy of Madness' "One Step Beyond" shaped picture disc (Union Square Music/BMG, 2019) and avoid the outrageous second hand market, where copies of this were selling at two to three times its original price (only 1,500 copies were released worldwide for Record Store Day). Of course, I have this track in multiple formats already, but this really is a pretty cool 40th anniversary collector's item. It features the iconic photo of Madness doing their Nutty Train from the cover of their 1979 debut album--and there are four versions of this classic Prince Buster song: the 2009 remastered version, the 7" single cut, a version in Spanish, and another in Italian. Also, it's listed as a 7" single--but it's more the size of a 10" record. It goes without saying that the song sounds just as amazing today as it did when it was released all of those years ago.

Given the very pointed socio-political messages in their new album Encore (read The Duff Guide to Ska review of it), it's hard not to read into the choice of tracks for The Specials' powerful RSD single, "10 Commandments" featuring Saffiyah Khan b/w "You're Wondering Now" with Amy Winehouse, recorded live at the V Festival in 2009 (7" vinyl single, Island/Universal Music Group, 2019). Pairing Khan's fiercely feminist response to Prince Buster's wildly misogynistic original and the warning that retribution/punishment for your sins/offenses is forthcoming on the flip side ("You're wondering how you will pay/For the way you did behave") casts this single as a strong #MeToo movement statement. (It's fantastic how a song's meaning can shift/be open to multiple interpretations; for years, I've thought that the version of this cover on The Specials' debut was directed at British racists/fascists for their despicable abuse of and assaults on black Britons and immigrants from England's former colonies: "Knock, knock, knock/You can't come in.") Bootleg vinyl releases of The Specials/Amy Winehouse cut (and other Specials and Special AKA songs she's covered live) have been circulating for the past decade, so it's about time this received a proper release.

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Suggs Interviewed in MOJO Magazine!

There's a fantastic four-page interview with Madness' Suggs by Ian Harrison in the March 2017 issue of MOJO Magazine with The Kinks' Ray Davies on the cover. The occasion is to help promote Madness' excellent 11th album, Can't Touch Us Now (which The Duff Guide to Ska has reviewed, if you didn't know), but the interview is quite wide-ranging, covering much of the band's--and Suggs'--career.

Here are some choice bits:

Ian Harrison: "Presently, there was Britpop, an arguably Madness-indebted notion."

Suggs: "I was a bit sort of jealous to be honest. 'Cos I remember being around in Camden Town and seeing Oasis and Blur and Menswear and fucking whoever, and thinking, 'Why aren't we in this frame?' Obviously forgetting that we weren't 19 anymore. But I remember Ian Dury being a bit malevolent about us, that we were nicking his shtick. What you should be is flattered."

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Suggs: "With Morrissey, Clive [Langer] was producing him, and he wanted someone to be a bit Cockney and talk about Piccadilly. I think he wanted to meet me and Cathal [Smyth, Madness co-vocalist], especially. So we went up to sing some backing tracks and had a very bizarre weekend at this residential studio. Someone said, 'Oh Morrissey wants to have a word,' so I knock on the door and there's this tap-tap-tap. I open the door and he's walking round with sunglasses and a blind stick. Did he explain himself? Of course not. Never dull with Morrissey!"

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Ian Harrison: "But you are, in the lineage of The Kinks, the Small Faces and Ian Dury, avatars of British pop exceptionalism..."

Suggs: "Yeah--'quintessentially.' I don't mind that we sound like we're from London. I like how the Buena Vista Social Club sound like they come form Havana or Bob Marley sounds like he's from Jamaica. I think the fact that it wasn't intelligentsia-ised resonates with the general public, too--you were either jumping up and down and getting into it or you weren't. I was thinking of the under-cultures--the skinheads, the Mods, and the suedeheads, the Northern soul thing... even John Peel said he'd never heard reggae before the mid-'70s; he just thought it was for yobbos having punch-ups in discos. I felt part of that firmament. It might have had huge social importance, but that wasn't the point."

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In this issue, there's also a great review by David Katz of the reissue of Keith Hudson's Pick A Dub.

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Duff Review: Boy George "This Is What I Do"

Very Me Records
2014
CD/Double LP

(Review by Steve Shafer)

You may be curious as to why The Duff Guide to Ska is reviewing New Wave/80s pop star Boy George's latest album, This is What I Do. Well, last fall, Marc Wasserman (of the Marco on the Bass blog, Bigger Thomas, Rude Boy George) told me that Boy George's forthcoming record contained a fair amount of reggae and so we previewed a couple of tracks earlier this winter while driving to a Rude Boy George gig in New Jersey. What I heard sounded really good, so I recently picked up the album--not that I needed much convincing, as I'd been a teenage fan of Culture Club (you have to admit that "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "Time (Clock of My Heart)" are two pretty incredible reggae-influenced pop gems!). I also had been fascinated by how some of the girls in my high school-era circle of friends and acquaintances went bongo over Boy George's androgynous look, which was incredibly outrageous and provocative for the very conservative Reagan/Thatcher 1980s. And I should note that the band I'm in, Rude Boy George, which does ska and reggae versions of New Wave and post-punk classics, is partially named in his honor (he reflects the New Wave aspect of our band, while the rude boy reference and significance is, well, obvious!).

Stylistically, This Is What I Do, is all over the place, reflecting Boy George's omnivorous love of music in all it's permutations, including pop, soul, dance, and even some country--and most of them are terrific tracks. But what is most unexpected and thrilling is how he shifts from one of his lush pop songs like "My God" (about a real episode in a bar when an evangelical Christian gave him some sort of religious pamphlet, presuming his soul needed "saving" by a right-wing version of God) to a full-on, 70s roots reggae track like "Live Your Life" or the dancehall-sh "My Star" (contrast this with a recent interview with The Quietus, where Boy George freely admits that some of Cultural Club's 80s tracks were cod reggae!). You can almost imagine the cheeky gleam in Boy George's eye, as he shows off his (and his band's) considerable versatility in both songwriting and performance (no doubt, the reggae cuts benefit from the prodigious production talents of Killing Joke's Youth and ace reggae drummer Richie Stevens, who's worked with Linton Kwesi Johnson, Horace Andy, Dennis Bovell, and I Roy). But given Boy George's pop past (and presumed target audience in 2014), you just don't expect that five of the tracks on the album would be legitimate roots reggae or dancehall (in addition to being great songs). So, that's why I'm taking stock of them here.

Like a good portion of this comeback album (from drink, drugs, and depression), the sweetly sad plea for tolerance "Live Your Life" is an autobiographical tune ("Everybody said the boy was strange/They raised him in whispers/Oh, how they prayed/the demons would go away/His daddy was cruel/he tried to make him tough/Always afraid to give him too much love/Too much love...Running, running, running/What a waste of time/No one you can be, but your good self/Bigotry and hatred/and too much lies)." It's sad and frustrating to say that this message is still sorely relevant, as I came across some nasty homophobic crap about this album and Boy George when doing a bit of research online. The strutting dancehall/dubby cut "My Star" (with rap by Unknown MC) is about longing for that idealized, perfect--and, ultimately, unattainable--"dream" lover ("My star, shining sweet, slightly out of reach/In a gangster's teeth, yeah, yeah/On the hand of a bride, getting ready to take that ride/Feel the storms stir up inside...No one will complete you, this is true/So, I won't ever try to change you/If I can't love you the way your are/Then, I'd better walk alway, my star"). There's a strange satisfaction in the act of wanting, but never being able actually to possess something/someone (Morrissey, of course, can sing you several dozen songs in this vein!).

The mournful "Love and Danger" depicts a love triangle between what one would presume to be Boy George, a bi-sexual man, and his girlfriend/wife ("If you're loving us two, who's the lonely one?"), a situation that the singer knows is wrong and potentially explosive ("Love and danger/I know I've lost my soul"), but one that he can't resist. The refreshingly upbeat and winkingly knowing (gotta love the double-ententre here!) reggay sing-along "Nice and Slow" is written from the perspective of someone who's been repeatedly burned by impulsively entering into ill-considered romantic relationships. So, Boy George's bit of wisdom from life experience to impart is, "See, I learnt the hard way love is mundane/Love is just nice and slow." Though the fantastic, loping, and incredibly sensual "Play Me" (with Dennis Bovell, amongst other singers/toasters on some of the vocals and scratching reminiscent of RiceRokit!) is really just about offering up one's self for sex--even if it's couched in a former chart-topper's plea (dig out and spin my hit records!): "Baby, come on and play me/Like an old familiar song/Melts into your heart/Makes you sing along/On the radio night and day/Like the music never went away..."

Ultimately, your love and appreciation of this album may depend on your past relationship with Boy George and Culture Club. For those of us who grew up with him and his music--and who also love ska and reggae--it's a pretty stunning return to the spotlight that doesn't (outright) rely on nostalgia, but showcases his considerable talents as a performer and songwriter moving forward with his sound and vision (and it's always welcome to see your fallen musical heroes claw back from the edge of the abyss and turn in a new album as good as this one!). For ska and reggae newcomers, it might be best just to approach This Is What I Do with an open mind (in all meanings of that expression), without looking up Boy George's previous work on YouTube or Spotify. Let the music speak for itself. Boy George wouldn't want it any other way.

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Check out several of Boy George's reggae cuts off This Is What I Do below...

Julie Hamill Interview with Mark "Bedders" Bedford of Madness/Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra

Thanks to Duff Guide to Ska reader Brian L. for pointing me to this fantastic interview with Madness/Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra bassist Mark "Bedders" Bedford by Morrissey/Smiths blogger Julie Hamill.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but Bedders played bass on Morrissey's Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley produced Kill Uncle album (hence the Morrissey/Madness connection).