Duff Review: Prince Fatty: "Insane in the Brain" b/w "Insane Dub Mix" and "Christopher Columbus" b/w "Dry Your Tears"

Mr. Bongo Recordings
2010
7"

For anyone who hasn't been introduced to Prince Fatty yet, it's a reggae collective that was originally assembled by producer Mike Pelanconi (who, amongst other things, helped engineer Lily Allen's brilliant ska-reggae-pop confection Alright Still--check the credits and you'll find a certain Victor Axelrod on keys!) for recording a single, "Nina's Dance," to promote Stussy's 25th anniversary. Their one-off was a minor hit in the UK, so they decided to make a go of it as a group. Prince Fatty's debut, Survival of the Fattest (Rasa Music, 2008), was one of those left-field surprises that the a-hole, snobby music-nazi in me almost dismissed outright as some sort of pop perversion of reggae (the sticker on the album boasted that "Milk and Honey" had been featured on an episode of the sudsy, doctor make-out fest "Grey's Anatomy"--a definite turn-off).

Survival of the Fattest is full of sprightly and stunningly good original roots reggae that sounds like it's straight outta mid-Seventies JA. Of course, it helps to have incredible Jamaican greats like Winston Francis and Little Roy sharing duties on the mic (plus the fantastic Holly Cook, daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook and member of the reformed Slits). The album is a mix of playful instrumentals like "The Fat Panther" and the Rico-inspired "Switch Blade"; soulfully uplifting, make-you-smile cuts such as "Curious" and "Don't Give Up"; the drop-dead, heart-thumping-in-your-throat sexy "Milk and Honey" with Hollie Cook on vocals; and the stoned and on the prowl "Gin and Juice" with Horseman toasting under the influence. If you don't already have this record in your collection, you really should.

Prince Fatty is now back with a pair of vinyl singles to help promote the new Supersize album (which also features the legendary Dennis Alcapone): "Insane in the Brain" (featuring Horseman) b/w "Insane in the Brain Dub Mix," and "Christopher Columbus" (featuring Little Roy) b/w "Dry Your Tears" (featuring Winston Francis).

"Insane in the Brain" is a maddeningly good cover that betters Cypress Hill's 1993 hip hop original (which was featured in the excellent Warren Beatty liberal political comedy "Bullworth"). Horseman's toasting is fast and furious and top-notch (note the whinnying at the start of the track!). You'll have a hard time knocking this one out of your noggin. The dub is a somewhat reworked version of the A side instrumental track--nice to have, but not essential.

On the bitter and defiant "Christopher Columbus," Little Roy plaintively sings, "Why did he go" to the New World and deliver such misery (enslaving the native peoples he encountered and opening the door for the horrific, genocidal slave trade between Africa and the Americas) and wreak such havoc (plundering the indigenous people of their riches and their land's natural resources): "Him go away and him come again/bring Babylon on ya/Him go away and him come again/but Natty wouldn't give up!" Little Roy originally wrote and recorded this superb track in the 70s--and it can be found on a 1998 collection of his singles compiled by Pressure Sounds on Tafari Earth Uprising, which is definitely worth tracking down. (The companion piece to Little Roy's "Christopher Columbus" might be The Toasters' "History Book," a ska tune written from the point of view of the Old World invaders: "South Devon pirates, buccaneers on the Panama coast/With a cargo of potatoes and Indian princes, but what they want the most/Is to fill that hold with Spanish gold and make proud their boast/That England will smile on their piracy while they drink Elizabeth's toast...Arab traders ply their weapons on the Africa shore/And hapless victims bound in chains on the galleon floor/That their blood may be spilled in the land of Brazil/And they'll see their hopes forlorn/History will be cruel as it uses its tools/To shame the New World more.")

The gorgeous rocksteady track "Dry Your Tears" is an ace cover of "Dry Up Your Tears," originally sung by Bruce Ruffin (of The Techniques). Winston Francis' captivating voice will seal the deal if you desire to seduce someone who's on the rebound ("I know he's done you wrong/It's a good thing I came along/To dry up your tears")--it's powerful stuff.

The Duff Guide to Ska Grade for "Insane in the Brain" b/w "Insane in the Brain Dub Mix": B+

The Duff Guide to Ska Grade for "Christopher Columbus" b/w "Dry Your Tears": A

[These singles can be tracked down at Ernie B's Reggae.]

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(Please note that there is one shot in the fan video for "Insane in the Brain" that is NSFW.)

New Pressure Sounds Release: The Uniques Absolutely Rocksteady

As always, Pressure Sounds continues to drop some of the highest-quality reggae re-issues imaginable. Hot on the heels of the magnificent Sound System Scratch comes Absolutely Rocksteady, a collection of cuts The Uniques recorded with producer Bunny "Striker" Lee in '67-'68. Originally formed out of The Techniques, the version of The Uniques captured here features the vocal stylings of the inimitable Slim Smith (one of the most popular and beloved singers of the rocksteady era), Lloyd Charmers, and Jimmy Riley. The group recorded a string of hits (many of which are included on Absolutely Rocksteady), but disbanded in 1969. (Smith died in 1973 in what appeared to be a freak accident--one night after a party he found himself locked out of his parents' house, so he broke a window to gain entry, but ended up cutting himself so severely on the glass that he bled out before he could be treated--though some have conjectured that he was depressed and let himself bleed to death.)

Absolutely Rocksteady is available on CD and LP through Ernie B's Reggae in the US (I just ordered my copies); the track listing for both formats is listed below:

CD Track Listing:

1. Give Me A Love
2. You Lied To Me
3. Let’s Get Together
4. Stand Up And Fight
5. People Rock Steady
6. Facts Of Life
7. This Feeling
8. Trying Hard To Find A Home
9. Blinded By Love
10. You Don’t Care (You’ll Want Me Back)
11. I’m Lost
12. Love & Devotion
13. Let Me Go Girl
14. I’ll Let You Go (Let Me Go Boy) – Dawn Penn
15. Where Do I Turn
16. Have Pity On Me
17. Build My World
18. The Beatitude (Version Two)

LP Track Listing:

Side One:
1. Give Me A Love
2. You Lied To Me
3. Stand Up And Fight
4. People Rock Steady
5. Facts Of Life
6. This Feeling
7. Trying Hard To Find A Home

Side Two:
1. You Don’t Care (You’ll Want Me Back)
2. I’m Lost
3. Love & Devotion
4. Let Me Go Girl
5. I’ll Let You Go (Let Me Go Boy) – Dawn Penn
6. Where Do I Turn
7. Build My World

Sound System Scratch: Lee Perry’s Dub Plate Mixes 1973-1979

Pressure Sounds
CD and LP (also two vinyl singles)
2010

One probably cannot overstate how brilliant and creative Lee “Scratch” Perry was as a musician, performer, and producer during the height of his mind-blowing powers at his Black Ark studio in the 1970s. Completely unfettered by convention (and the assumed limits of his relatively simple recording equipment) and eager to experiment in directions that others had not dared to dream, Perry’s prolific output at Black Ark far exceeds that of most of his then-rivals (now-classic productions from this studio include Max Romeo’s War ina Babylon, Junior Murvin’s Police & Thieves, his own Super Ape, and his masterpiece, The Congos’ Heart of the Congos).

If you’ll forgive the extremely crude and poor analogy (no disrespect meant here), trying to stay on top of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s extraordinary body of work is a bit like attempting to map out the family tree of roaches inhabiting an apartment—you walk into the kitchen one night, flick on the light, and discover that there is a whole new batch of critters crawling out from under the floorboards that you never knew existed (check out Scratch's maddeningly deep and sometimes confounding discography here, here, and here)! Indeed, the rare dub mixes on Sound System Scratch came to Pressure Sounds from a private stash (accumulated over the years) of one-off, exclusive dub plates—thin aluminum discs covered in lacquer—and tapes that Perry had conjured up and sold to various sound system DJs during the 1970s for some extra cash (his bold experiments were sometimes too far ahead of the curve for the record execs and the public, so money was sometimes an issue). Most of these mixes have not been heard since they were last blasted through a sound system’s speakers, well over three decades ago.

Some tracks on Sound System Scratch may be immediately familiar, though they are deconstructed and re-built in many wild and wonderful ways (Junior Murvin’s “Roots Train Number One” is re-versioned as “Roots Train Number Two,” “Dub Organizer” aka “Cloak a Dagger” off Blackboard Jungle Dub is “The Rightful Organizer,” and the essential Scratch rhythm “Bucky Skank” begets “Jucky Skank”). Others will compel you to root through your collection to try and figure out the source material (angels may fear to tread here). But there are many, many genuine gems to be discovered—I was particularly struck by the rhythmically stark and seductive “Chim Cherie" (listen to a version of it here), as well as “Groove Rider,” “Groovy Dub” and “Living Dub," among others. This CD also includes insightful liner notes by Jeremy Collingwood that provide some crucial context regarding the creation of these mixes.

Sound System Scratch is an unexpected treasure trove for Lee Perry fans and another winner from the peerless Pressure Sounds label.

Duff Guide to Ska Grade: A

Ethnomusicologist Dr. Dan Neely on The Jolly Boys; the (Non) Link Between Mento and Ska; Little Bop's "Oh Carolina" Drum--and the Return of Skavoovie!

Ex-Skavoovie & the Epitones guitarist turned ethnomusicologist Dr. Dan Neely was kind enough to answer The Duff Guide to Ska's numerous questions about mento and how it relates to ska; his involvement in recording the new Jolly Boys album; Skavoovie's impending reunion; and finding a permanent home for a drum that was used on the first ska record ever!

The Duff Guide to Ska: What should the average ska fan know about The Jolly Boys?

Dan Neely: They should know that The Jolly Boys is one of Jamaica's longest-lived and most important mento bands, and that they have a new album coming out called Great Expectation, which will help re-establish mento music's popularity not only in Jamaica, but on the international stage as well.

DGTS: It seems like The Jolly Boys are to mento what The Skatalites are to ska (seminal groups in the development of their genre of music who have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity very late in life). Is this an apt analogy?

DN: Well, it's not a bad analogy. I tend to be very careful comparing mento to ska (see next question), but, like The Skatalites before them, The Jolly Boys are really set up for a very special time in their history.

DGTS: Why is mento relevant to the creation of Jamaican ska—and what is the difference between mento and calypso?

DN: In a way they're linked, but not in the way you might think. You usually read about how mento "influenced" ska and how they're similar musically, but once you get a sense of what mento actually sounds like and how the mento and jazz scenes articulated, you begin to realize that that claim is just misleading. Ska was something of a revolution at the time, a musical reaction against colonialism and in a way a reaction against "calypso," a term used to market mento after WWII (it was erroneously applied to other Anglophone musics around the Caribbean around WWII as well, to better sell "island music" to tourists). The two really aren't that musically related.

The thing is, the guys who were ska musicians tended to come from a jazz background (Tommy [McCook], Roland [Alphonso], Don Drummond...the list goes on, and on, and on) and generally distanced themselves from mento musicians, who would not be confused with jazz musicians, generally speaking. (There are a few exceptions, but they help prove the rule.) Don't get me wrong, jazz groups certainly played mento songs sometimes (you had to in the 1950s if you wanted to get gigs), jazz musicians did mento session spots (Roland Alphonso comes to mind) and, beginning in 1963, ska bands even began recording mento songs (and vice versa-–there was an Independence season fashion for it that year that carried over). But, there's a big difference between the jazz musicians who went and created ska and the mento musicians who typically had little part in it (this musical difference was, in fact, once codified by the Jamaica Federation of Musicians at one point), and this difference is kind of glossed over when folks argue that mento directly influenced ska. Mento had much more to do with reggae, in my humble opinion, than it ever did with ska.

DGTS: Where should someone completely unfamiliar with mento start--which albums should they pick up for their intro to mento?

DN: Well, were I first getting into mento these days I might start with The Jolly Boys' new album because it's really forward-looking, different, and what's happening now in mento music. Then, I'd work backward. Stanley Beckford made a couple of records with the Blue Glaze Mento Band (Stanley Plays Mento and Reggaemento) in the early 2000s that are fabulous (I prefer Stanley Plays because it has most of Stanley's hits). Then, there are the records Delroy Thompson recorded at One Love Studios in Tivoli Garden around the same time. The JCDC's four-band Mento Music in Jamaica (Vol. 1) is great and I am very partial to Blue Glaze's Authentic Mento album as well–-I think Thompson did a particularly good job of capturing mento's livity the way I experienced it out in country in Jamaica in these recordings. Although these CDs are real easy to get in Jamaica (look in the airports!), they seem to be difficult to find in the US.

There are a couple of other really great and underrated/overlooked older albums that are now easy to find. Lord Foodoos did an album for Elektra in the 50s that got reissued a few times and there's some fine music on it (look on eBay). Also, Cook Records recorded a group led by Lord Myrie that features a banjoist named Cecil Mitchell, who is an astonishingly good player. This album [Calypso Jamaica] is available through Smithsonian/Folkways. Then, I'd say go with the older 78rpm reissues. Boogu Yagga Gal has some wonderful stuff on it. Take Me To Jamaica [available from Pressure Sounds!] is great. The compilation of Caribou Records material called Soundman Shots is great (unfortunately, the liner notes are really unreliable). Mento Madness is pretty good too. If you find you like the Chin's material (as a whole, it's my favorite), Ivan Chin's reissued pretty much everything he did and it's all available through CD Baby. Another album that used to be hard to find and is pretty generally overlooked is Lord Flea's Swinging Calypsos. A few really big tunes like "Calypso Be Bop" are on this album and it should be easy to get because it was reissued on the Harry Belafonte: Early Years at Capitol Records CD.

If you have readers who want to go beyond commercial recordings and are willing to really, really dig, there's a recent two CD set called Ettu, Mento, Revival, Kumina: Recordings from the Jamaica Folk Music Collection (Pamap 701-701). It's an amazing selection of field recordings made by Olive Lewin and Marjorie Whylie, taken from the collection of field recordings at Kingston's Edna Manley School for the Visual and Performing Arts. It was produced in collaboration with the African Music Archive at the Department of Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany and although nearly impossible to find, it's pretty much mind-blowing. It presents facets of Jamaican music most never hear, and it's very likely stuff that your favorite artists would have been aware of before s/he made your favorite record! Just fantastic stuff.

DGTS: Jon Baker, the ex-head of Island Jamaica, who now co-owns the exclusive luxury hotel/recording studio Geejam and works with such superstars as the Gorillaz, No Doubt, Amy Winehouse, Santigold and Major Lazer, etc., is the driving force behind the new Jolly Boys record. How did this collaboration then come about? What drew him to these older, somewhat forgotten mento musicians?

DN: I think what happened was that Jon was over visiting friends at a neighboring hotel in Porty, saw The Jolly Boys and was so taken (and rightly so) by their performance–-particularly Albert Minott's as the frontman–-that he wanted them for his hotel, so he hired them away. Jon's a guy who is very taken by Jamaican traditional music and has recorded different kinds of groups in his studio for non-commercial use (just for his own pleasure). I think his original intention was to ask the JBs to do some old mentos for his archives. However, he noticed a similarity between the subject matter of the mentos the JBs were singing and the punk rock songs he grew up with (Jon was a punk in the 1970s, by the way) and thought it an intriguing idea to ask if Albert might like to try a song like "Rehab." Albert liked the song and the idea and worked with The Jolly Boys and Dale Virgo (Geejam's in-house engineer) on a demo. Everyone thought it worked so well that they all sat down and drew out a plan for moving forward with this project.

DGTS: How did you become involved with the recording the new Jolly Boys album “Great Expectation”?

DN: After they'd come up with the plan for this project, they realized that a couple of The Jolly Boys would have a hard time participating. The most challenged of them was Egbert Watson, the group's banjoist. Although still a wonderful player, he has physical and cognitive issues due to old age that make it impossible, really, for him to learn new material (and given his health issues, it would have been unfair to ask). But mento really needs the banjo, so Jon turned to Herbie Miller, a mutual friend who is the Director of Jamaica Music at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston and asked his advice. Herbie's an authority on Jamaican jazz and long involved in the music industry (which is how he knows Jon, I think). He and I are close friends, he knows my work well and suggested Jon contact me. So, Jon called up, we talked about what his vision for the project was and he asked me about playing banjo and being the project's music director. A week later I was in the studio figuring it all out!

DGTS: How did you (or Jon Baker) come to decide which new wave, punk, and alternative songs to cover (and why go that route)?

DN: Jon was the one who came up with the repertory. I think he just chose songs that he liked that seemed to fit the concept.

DGTS: The late movie star Errol Flynn played a hand in The Jolly Boys’ story—his widow Patrice even appears in the video for the cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”—can you describe his involvement?

DN: Errol Flynn was the one who gave the band the name The Jolly Boys. Before that, the group (well, an earlier iteration of the group) was known as the Navy Island Swamp Boys. He liked their Jolly vibe and just branded them. Patrice is a resident of Portland parish and runs a farm. She is extremely elegant and at this point a true Jamaican.

DGTS: There have been rumors of a Skavoovie (and the Epitones) reunion or re-launch of the band. Is this going to happen and are you going to be involved?

DN: The group has been rehearsing new material. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make any of these rehearsals–mostly these have been taking place in Boston and have happened when I've been in the Caribbean. However, the material I've heard so far is really exciting! It's new-sounding stuff that has that familiar Skavoovie vibe.

DGTS: You have a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and specialize in Caribbean music, particularly mento and reggae. What is it about the people, music, and culture from the region that compelled you to make a career out of researching and documenting it?

DN: Well, I think it was the music that really drew me to Jamaica...it's just great stuff. I'd loved ska for quite some time, but really didn't know very much about its history besides what I'd read, mostly. I was really interested in ska right when I started grad school. But then I started looking at mento because everything I'd been reading said, "oh yeah, mento is crucial Jamaican music." The problem was that no one was saying anything of substance about it. Really, it was the same two pages of "history" over and over again. So, I began doing my own research. I tried to find some music, but at the time the only music that was easily available were Jolly Boys records. After a while I was able to get copies of Richard Noblett's excellent mento cassettes and then eBay was just starting up–-I found a bunch of really great things (and important) there. Then, I met Herbie Miller and he began sharing his material with me (and I with him). Then, in 2000, I went to Jamaica and got my first real sense of the people and the culture. I realized that many of my preconceptions about Jamaica bore little relation to what it was actually like there. When I'd tell people there I was studying mento, they'd take an immediate interest and would open up in ways I never expected. People would feed me, new friends would look out for me, strangers would go out of their way to help me–-it was great. Every time I go, it's just fantastic. It's one of the world's great places.

DGTS: What is the best book you’ve come across about the history of ska and reggae?

DN: It's hard to say what the "best" book is, but I think very highly of Michael Veal's "Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae." I think Norman Stolzoff's "Wake the Town and Tell the People" is also an important book. On the more journalistic side of things, I think John Masouri's "Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's 'Wailers'" (the one written in collaboration with Family Man) is great. Someday Ken Bilby (one of my teachers) will publish his research, and when he does I think it'll change the game completely (his book "True Born Maroon" is astonishing work–-if you have readers who are interested in Jamaican Maroons, it's something they should absolutely read). There's just been so much out there...and a lot of it didn't get any real attention. For example, Garth White wrote a couple of great early articles. These days they may seem kind of general and not all that groundbreaking, but at the time he wrote them he was saying things no one else writing about reggae was saying.

DGTS: Jamaica, in particular, has produced an extraordinarily large number of gifted musicians—and their output of recordings from just the 60s and 70s alone is almost mind-boggling. What do you think is it about this small and impoverished nation that has led to such wonderful musical creativity?

DN: I think the thing to remember is how diverse Jamaica's music culture is. Most ska and reggae fans don't realize this...don't realize, for example, how many different styles of drumming there are. Burru is not the same as nyabinghi and kumina, and Maroon drumming styles are totally different still. But there are drummers who are well versed in all of them. Further, there are several different kinds of churchical music styles–-each denomination does what they do differently, musically and from an ecumenical standpoint. If you grew up around different kinds of churches, you'd have some sense of what each did different from the other-–you may also get a chance to see how the different denominations got together at nine nights or whatever. Then, there are idiosyncratic traditional musics that are intensely regional that people grow up with. Then, there are the cosmopolitan styles that you come across on record and on the radio. A wide range of musicking options definitely helps musicians to develop. Sometimes musical training was passed on orally, from musician to musician outside of academic contexts–-many of these musicians who learned this way turned out great. But I've also been very impressed with some of the primary musical education I've come across. There are a lot of very intelligent young musicians who come through primary schooling I think quite well-prepared to be professional musicians–-you saw this with Alpha, but I imagine you would have seen this out in the country parishes as well, just not as well publicized. Put all this together, and in a way it's a wonder Jamaica's not more creative!

DGTS: Over the years, you’ve interviewed a number of Jamaican musicians for your papers, articles, and books. Is there anyone that you’ve wanted to talk with, but the stars haven’t quite aligned to make it happen?

DN: Well, there's a bunch of musicians who died way before I came on the scene who I would have loved to have talked with. Everald Williams–-arguably, Jamaica's greatest songwriter–-would be the one I'd love to have spoken to the most (heck, I'd even love to talk to a family member, but I can't find any!). Count Lasher and Lord Fly would be a couple of others. Moses Deans died just before I got to Jamaica. Moses Booth the sax player another who would have been important to talk to. Sugar Belly's still another. As for people who are still alive, I haven't met Toots in person, but I'd love to. I'd love to chat with Family Man. I'd love to sit down with Robbie Shakespeare (I've spoken with him on the phone, but it'd be nice to chat more substantially). Although I spoke with him once, I'd love to sit down with Edward Seaga again.

DGTS: You made a trip to the Caribbean last winter to purchase instruments on behalf of the Musical Instrument Museum in Arizona. What types of instruments were you looking for and what kind of criteria did they have to meet in order to become part of the museum’s collection? What was the “find” of your trip?

DN: Oh yeah, that was great! They sent me to Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, Carriacou, and Antigua to curate instruments for their collections. My intention was to buy instruments from contemporary builders, but I wound up with some older pieces as well. For example, I got a wonderful gumbe from George Huggins, the drummaker in Accompong, a pair of stunning kumina drums from a maker named Lebert Gordon from St. Thomas parish now based in MoBay. I also tried to find a set of burru drums, but I had no luck–-since they're community drums with spiritual overtones, people don't really have those lying around and I wasn't willing to "take" a set from a community if it was their only one. (Trying to find them, is a long and kind of funny story though!) However, one of the major "finds" was a funde that belonged to Little Bop. Little Bop is a drummer with the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari who was with Count Ossie since the 1950s. Ossie's son Time was helping me find a set of nyabinghi drums and out of nowhere Bop offered his drum and told me it was the one he used on "Oh Carolina." I was totally surprised, but he'd had a new, taller drum built so he wouldn't have to lean so far down to play and didn't need the old drum anymore. He reasoned that his drum wouldn't be taken care of if it didn't go into a museum, so the time to part with it was then. Another major find was an instrument built by Everald Brown–-I just happened upon it out of nowhere. Brother Brown was an important artist and was known for building Star of David-shaped guitars (there's one in the Bob Marley Museum at 56 Hope Road that they say came from Africa, but it didn't–-it's a Brother Brown guitar), but the instrument I found was this enormous multi-instrument piece. They have a matching instrument at Jamaica's National Gallery. It's a majestic piece.

DGTS: For a time you worked for the ARChive of Comtemporary Music, collecting music created by bands in New York state. Were the ska bands of our fair city well-represented?

DN: Not really sure, actually, I haven't been there for a while! I think I remember seeing some of the Moon stuff there, though.

DGTS: Lastly, why do like ice cream truck music so much (does it involved some Pavlovian response from your youth)?

DN: My ice cream truck music research started out as a joke, actually! Once I got my Master's I decided I wanted to take something seriously that most people don't. Ice cream truck music seemed like an interesting and unique subject in sound studies (which at the time was an emergent field in ethnomusicology) so I pursued it–and to my surprise, it got a bunch of attention!

MOJO: Scratch, Spear, and Godfather of Ska! Plus the Return of The Jolly Boys!

Much respect, as always, to MOJO Magazine in the UK for their ongoing coverage of (some) things ska and reggae. While there still may be a lot taking place under their radar, what they are writing about (reunited 2 Tone-era bands; ska and reggae reissues; Lee "Scratch" Perry; Island Records; and, of course, Marley) is done well, and it deserves repeated mention since they are pretty much the only mainstream music publication that is doing so on a regular basis.

Case in point, see the September 2010 issue (with Robert Plant on the cover). There is news about a fire at Ghana's Studio 1 (a state-of-the-art recording complex built by Rita Marley for use by Marley family and friends) which destroyed an "unknown quantity of original Bob Marley and The Wailers master tapes" that were housed there.

This issue also includes reviews of: Lee "Scratch" Perry's new album (Revelation) and an AMAZING collection of rare dub tracks (Sound System Scratch) from the always superb Pressure Sounds label; a 35th anniversary re-mastering/restoring of Burning Spear's essential and stunning Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost albums (ex-Toasters frontman Jack Ruby, Jr.'s dad produced these, yo!); and yet another reissue of Desmond Dekker's hits (King of Ska).

For ages, I've been meaning to do some sort of review/overview of Pressure Drop's excellent reissues of Laurel Aitken's incredibly deep and rich back-catalogue of singles. The task is daunting, to say the least. However, MOJO has published an insightful piece on two collections of his singles from the late 50s (Boogie in My Bones, which is more on the mento, R&B, and rock 'n' roll tip) and early 60s (You Got Me Rockin', that has his pre-ska and early ska hits).

Here's where I have to admit that I'm much more of a (mega) fan of Laurel's skinhead reggae output. If you are too, make sure to pick up Laurel Aitken Says Fire, The High Priest of Reggae, Scandal in a Brixton Market, and The Fantastic Laurel Aitken (I bought most of these through Amazon or their third-party sellers). There is some overlap between these albums (which are, in themselves, collections of this singles that were originally packaged as such--could it be that his first album recorded as such was Ringo the Gringo for Unicorn Records in 1989?). It should be noted that a fair portion of these songs have appeared on the Unicorn reissues Rise and Fall and It's Too Late in the late 80s/early 90s--but there are loads of rare tracks on each new reissue that I've never heard!

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Apologies to ex-Skavoovie & the Epitones guitarist and ethnomusicologist Dr. Dan Neely for not noting this earlier. Last month, MOJO ran a piece (which I had, but can't find in my apartment at the moment) on one of the seminal mento bands, The Jolly Boys. They are releasing a new album this September, Great Expectation (on Geejam Recordings), that is comprised of rock, punk, and alternative tunes (Iggy Pop's "The Passenger," Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone," Grace Jones' "Nightclubbing," Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," New Order's "Blue Monday," The Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want," The Clash's/Bobby Fuller's/Sonny Curtis' "I Fought the Law," and more) done in a mento style. Dan served as the music director for this project and played tenor banjo on all the tracks (read more about the project on Dan's blog and there is a great article about it in The Telegraph). Unfortunately, he will not be able to tour with the Boys in support of the album due to some (happy) family commitments.

Here are The Jolly Boys performing an awesome version of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab":



And here is a video of The Jolly Boys performing New Order's "Blue Monday" (!) at the Big Chill Festival this August in the UK:



Long live The Jolly Boys!

New Pressure Sounds Releases: King Tubby, Jah Wobble

The good folks at Pressure Sounds (UK) have two new releases coming out of their pipeline:

King Tubby & The Dynamites: Sound System International
(PSCD/LP65) - Available September 7th (NOW!)

A fifteen track CD and a ten track single album. Ten early King Tubby dubs from Clancy Eccles productions that are as rare as they come. This is truly a very obscure album--check out streaming tracks from this album on the Pressure Sounds website. (Of note, if you purchase this LP or CD directly from the Pressure Sounds website, they will include three free, limited-edition postcards printed in Japan of King Tubby from the 60s, courtesy of his estate, which will be packaged in a custom printed paper bag.)

Jah Wobble: Get Carter
(PST1006 10’ Vinyl) - Available Late September

Two new heavyweight versions of the ‘Get Carter’ movie theme. Thunderous new recordings by one of the best bass players around.

The past few Pressure Sounds releases/re-issues that I have picked up in the last year or so have been stellar, including Jimmy Radway & The Fe Me Time All Stars' Dub I; DJ Kentaro's Tuff Cuts; the Micron label com Every Mouth Must Be Fed; and Joe Higgs' Life of Contradiction. All of these are highly recommended! (If you are looking to order any of these releases in the US, I've bought all of the aforementioned titles through Ernie B's Reggae in California and J&R Music World in NYC.)

I Love Vinyl

I was at J&R Music World in Lower Manhattan yesterday--I haven't had the chance to stop by there in months--and was surprised by how much their new vinyl section has expanded (if you have the time, they also have dozens of crates with used and cut-out LPs). The new LP bins are so tightly packed that you can barely flip through the records. While rummaging through the stacks, I discovered that Capitol/EMI has just reissued the debut Specials record on 180 gram vinyl (for $19.99...a little steep, if you ask me--most LPs there cost $14.99-$16.99). Nitpickers take note, the sleeve features the UK artwork, but the US track listing (i.e.: "Gangsters" is included here). I didn't buy it, since I already have a few copies of this LP (US and UK versions from way back), but then again, if I spot it for less somewhere else...

J&R also has a great selection of reggae and ska CDs upstairs--I spotted the new Laurel Aitken reissues of Says Fire and Ska with Laurel, both of which I am going to review soon, and picked up a copy of RiceRokit's Hang Loose for $9.99 as a gift for my son's piano teacher, since he likes Sublime. I also saw Prince Buster's King of Ska and Sings His Hit Song Ten Commandments and they carry all of the Pressure Sounds, Blood and Fire, and Megalith releases. Their reggae LP selection is minimal, though. You'll do much, much better at Jammyland, where ever it ends up (I just found out that their 3rd Street shop closed last year--thanks, Jon--their website states that they will reopen somewhere else soon).

BTW, J&R is the last large record store left in Manhattan (the Union Square Virgin Records just closed last week) and it is independently owned, to boot!

Joe Higgs: "Life of Contradiction"

Pressure Sounds
2008

Originally recorded in 1972 for Island Records, Joe Higgs' Life of Contradiction languished in that label's vaults for three years, while Chris Blackwell tried to figure out how to market Higgs since, at the time, he was considered more of a Jamaican folk singer than a reggae artist (and, no doubt, Blackwell was also busy tending to the ascendant Bob Marley & the Wailers). When the rights reverted back to Higgs, the LP finally saw the light of day in 1975 on the Grounation label, and regardless of the sheer brilliance of the album, Life of Contradiction was very considered to be very much out of step with the reggae of that period--though it immediately strikes the modern listener as the early '70s roots reggae classic that it is. Indeed, several of the tracks had orginally been recorded during the ska era (such as "There's a Reward"); the influence of soul and R&B is powerful on several cuts (particulary on the title track and "Who Brought Down the Curtains"); and some of the arrangements, rhythms, and jazz-inflected performances were definitely atypical of reggae of that period.

Of note, Joe Higgs (who was already a hit recording artist with Roy Wilson in the duo Higgs and Wilson) was the vocal coach to The Wailers (Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Livingstone) in 1963 when they were just starting off--and he hooked them up with Coxsone Dodd, who produced their first single, "Simmer Down," which went to the top of the Jamaican charts in 1964 and set them on their long journey to eventual superstardom in the '70s. Like Bob Marley, Higgs has incredible command of his instrument (clearly he knew what he was doing when he taught The Wailers how to harmonize); his singing is wonderfully expressive and nakedly honest. Almost more importantly, he has an extraordinary gift for writing a catchy melody (my son, who tends to dislike reggae in favor of Green Day and the Beatles, was singing along to several of the songs as I played this record--which proves the adage that a good tune is a simply good tune, no matter the genre). All of the tracks on the LP are winners--no chaff here.

Nothing keeps Higgs down, despite the mess of life--the hardships of poverty, oppression, and heartbreak, you name it; his lyrics are doggedly hopeful: "Hard times don't bother me/life is so glorious/sticks and stones may brake my bones/faith and soul--can't cut it off" (from "Hard Times Don't Bother Me," one of my new favorite songs ever); "Everyday my heart is sore/seein' that I'm so poor/but I shall not give up so easily/no, no, no, cause there's a reward for me..." and "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child/you don't know, no one cares for me/I've never known sympathy/Sometimes I look to the world with a smile/can you hear what I say?" (from "There's a Reward"); to a wayward girlfriend/wife, he offers unconditional forgiveness: "Don't let me cross your mind/if I must stay behind/ but if you love me true/all you've got to do/is come on home" (from "Come on Home"). There is so much to enjoy and discover on Life of Contradiction, musically and lyrically. This rich, magnificent record is going to live with me for a long, long time. (A/A+)

(The LP contains the original album tracks; the CD adds two 1972 singles: "Let Us Do Something" and "Freedom Journey," both of which are availble as 7" singles from Pressure Sounds.)