Duff Guide to Ska: Year of Reviews--2019!

Editor's note: Here's a recap of all of the music and books I reviewed this year (click through the links to read 'em)--and I still have a big pile of records to write-up over the next few weeks. So, look for more posts, each containing a bunch of short reviews of releases deserving of your attention and support!

(All reviews by Steve Shafer)

Laurel Aitken and The Skatalites: Ska Titans (LP, Black Butcher Classics, 2019)

Barbicide: Fresh Cuts (Digital EP, Pass the Virgin Music, 2019)

The Beat Featuring Ranking Roger: Public Confidential (CD/LP, DMF Records, 2019)

Dennis Bovell: Babylon: The Original Score (Digital, Old School, 2019)

Susan Cadogan: "Breakfast in Bed" b/w "Don't Burn Your Bridges Behind You" (Digital, self-released, 2019)

The Captivators: Need a Lift? (Digital EP, self-released, 2018)

Catbite: "Amphetamine Delight" (7" flexi disc, Bad Time Records, 2019)

Danny Rebel and the KGB: "Spacebound" (Digital, self-released, 2019)

Daytoner: "Feel Like Jumping" b/w "Perfidia" (7" vinyl single, Friday's Funky 45/Cabin Pressure, 2019)

Kevin Flowerdew: Memoirs of a Ska Librarian: The History of Rude Skazine (5 zines printed on glossy paper, Do The Dog Music, 2019)

Flying Vipers: Nervous Breakdub (Digital, Music ADD Records, 2018)

The Frightners: "Make Up Your Mind" b/w "Make Up Dub" (7" vinyl single, Mad Decent, 2019)

The Frightnrs: "Never Answer" b/w "Questions" (7" vinyl single, Daptone Records, 2019)

Le Grand Miércoles: "Lone Gunman Theory" b/w "I've Got to Surf Away" (7" vinyl single, Liquidator Music, 2019)

JonnyGo Figure: Crucial Showcase (12" vinyl/digital, Bent Backs Records, 2019)

K-Man and The 45s: Stand with the Youth (CD/digital/LP, Stomp Records, 2019)

King Kong 4: Songs for Olly (Digital EP, self-released, 2019)

King Zepha: King Zepha's Northern Sound (CD/digital/LP, Happy People Records, 2019)

Zara McFarlane with Dennis Bovell: East of the River Nile (12" vinyl EP/digital, Brownswood Recordings, 2019)

The Mad Geezers: "The Donkey" b/w "The Snake Charmer" (7" vinyl single/digital, Swing-A-Ling/Names You Can Trust, 2019)

Madness: "The Bullingdon Boys" (Digital, self-released, 2019)

Madness: "One Step Beyond" (Shaped 7" picture disc, Union Square Music/BMG, 2019)

NY Ska Jazz Ensemble: Break Thru (CD/digital, Brixton Records/Ska Jazz Productions, 2019)

Pama International: Stop the War on the Poor (CD/digital/LP, Happy People Records, 2019)

Lee "Scratch" Perry: "Big Ben Rock (Woodie Taylor Remix)" b/w "Steady" and "J'ai Tout Lu" (7" vinyl single, Where It's At Is Where You Are, 2019)

Lee "Scratch" Perry: Rainford (CD/LP/digital, On-U Sound, 2019)

Lee "Scratch" Perry" with Peaking Lights and Ivan Lee: Life of the Plants (12" vinyl EP, Stones Throw Records, 2019)

Prince Fatty with Big Youth and George Dekker: "Everything Crash" (Digital, Evergreen Recordings, 2019)

Prince Fatty with Big Youth and George Dekker: "Get Ready" b/w "Get Ready Dub" (7" vinyl single/digital, Evergreen Recordings, 2019)

Prince Fatty with Earl 16: "Be Thankful for What You've Got" b/w "Be Thankful Dub" (7" vinyl single, Evergreen Recordings, 2019)

Prince Fatty Presenting Monkey Jhayam: The Rolê of Monkey Man (Digital/LP, Delicious Vinyl/Island, 2018)

The Prizefighters: Firewalk (CD/cassette/digital/LP, Jump Up Records/Prizefighter Sound System, 2019)

The Prizefighters: "Stop Them" (Digital single, self-released, 2019)

Ranking Roger with Daniel Rachel: "I Just Can't Stop It: My Life in The Beat" (Paperback book, Omnibus Press, 2019)

Reggae Roast: "Sensi Skank Reloaded" (10" vinyl EP, Trojan Reloaded, 2019)

The Seattle-ites: The Thing (10" vinyl/digital, Ready to Launch Records, 2019)

Ska Jazz Messengers: "Mil Veces No" b/w "Mil Veces Dub" (7" vinyl picture sleeve single, Liquidator Music, 2019)

The Specials: Encore (CD/2xCD/LP, Island Records/UMG, 2019)

The Specials: "10 Commandments" with Saffiyah Khan b/w "You're Wondering Now" with Amy Winehouse (7" vinyl single, Island/UMG, 2019)

David Storey: "80s Iconic Music Posters" (Booklet)

Subject A: Writers Eyes (CD/digital, Pop-A-Top Records, 2019)

The Twilights* Hear What I Say (CD/digital, self-released, 2018)

UB40: For the Many (CD/2xCD/LP, Universal/Sony, 2019)

Various Artists: Check One-2: Spirit of '79 (4xCD, Specialized Records, 2019)

Various Artists: Max's SKAnsas City (LP, Jungle Records/Max's Kansas City Records, 2019)

Various Artists: The Shape of Ska Punk to Come (CD/digital/LP, Bad Time Records, 2019)

Various Artists: Sock It To Me: Boss Reggae Rarities In The Spirit Of 69 (CD/LP, Trojan Records, 2019)

Various Artists: Step Forward Youth (2xCD/digital/LP, Greensleeves/VP Records, 2018)

Well Charged: Lift Up Sessions EP (CD EP/digital, self-released, 2018)

Willie Williams: "Armagideon Time (Discomix Vocal)" b/w "Armagideon Time (Discomix Version)" (12" vinyl single, Soul Jazz Records, 2019)

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And here are some other pieces and gig reviews that may be of interest, if you didn't catch them first time around:

In Memory of Ranking Roger of The Beat

The Selecter and Rhoda Dakar at The Gramercy Theatre (9/11/19)

The Surprising Musical Roots of The Specials' "Ghost Town"

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra at Sony Hall on 10/22/19

UB40 at Sony Hall (9/26/19)

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And these are the latest updates with late-breaking reviews of key 2019 releases:

Duff Guide to Ska: Year of Reviews--2019--Part II: Isaac Green and The Skalars, Top Shotta Band featuring Screechy Dan, and The Void Union!

Duff Guide to Ska: Year of Reviews--2019--Part III: Babylove and the van Dangos, Catbite!

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

Duff Guide to Ska: Year of Reviews--2019--Part V: Mark Foggo's Skasters, Lee "Scratch" Perry!

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Lee "Scratch" Perry "Rainford"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

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."

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Singles Going Skanking: Susan Cadogan's "Breakfast in Bed," Danny Rebel and the KGB's "Spacebound"

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

Danny Rebel and the KGB's most recent album, 2017's Lovehaus, was a phenomenal ska-reggae-soul-pop gem packed with incredibly catchy and evocative songs, so it's great to finally see a new release (even if it's only one track) from this spectacular band. The beautiful but melancholy "Spacebound"  is a "Space Oddity" of sorts for our times (with a little "Man Who Fell to Earth" mixed in) and sequel to their apocalyptic track "When the Lights Go Out" from Lovehaus. Instead of tentatively reaching out to explore the final frontier, it's concerned with escaping the goddamn mess humanity's made of everything here below: "With this clock here going in reverse...When I'm fed up and wanna quit/I'll shimmy on down to my rocket ship/All the madness on this Earth just makes me sick." (Danny, how much room do you have on that ship? 'Cause there are a whole lot of people who want to join you on this ride...)

Over the past few years, legendary reggae singer Susan Cadogan has issued a string of consistency  amazing new releases in conjunction with producer-songwriter-musician-King Kong 4 man Mitch Girio (see The Duff Guide to Ska reviews of Mitch and the King Kong 4 here)--and her latest digital single ("Breakfast in Bed" b/w "Don't Burn Your Bridges Behind You," digital, 2019) does not fail to impress. This time out, she covers Dusty Springfield's classic "Breakfast in Bed" (written by Eddie Hinton and Donnie Fritts), which also has been recorded by Hortense Ellis, Lorna Bennett, Scotty, Bongo Herman and the Harry J Allstars, Sheila Hylton, and UB40 with Chrissy Hynde, amongst others over the years. This terrific rocksteady version of this song--about being the "other woman" comforting someone else's boyfriend/husband--is joyful, playful, and lusty, where Dusty's is tinged with heartache that their time together can only be sporadic and fleeting. I was completely unfamiliar with "Don't Burn Your Bridges Behind You" by 1970s, NYC-based soul/disco band Ecstasy, Passion and Pain, which apparently was a huge hit in Jamaica in 1974. While the original is offered as an admonishment (to someone who's going to light the matches, anyway), Cadogan's sprightly take is more like good advice from a trusted friend.

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Duff Review: "Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc" (plus Trojan Reloaded)!

Trojan Records/Sanctuary Records Group/BMG
Heavyweight vinyl picture disc LP
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Of all the This Is Trojan 50! releases coming out this year celebrating the label's golden anniversary, the Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc seemed like the most sensible one to pick up, since I felt compelled to partake in this significant milestone somehow ("The Story of Trojan Records" book by Laurence Cane-Honeysett comes out in October and I'll probably buy that, too). I've been collecting Trojan comps--the vast majority of them nothing short of excellent--since the early 1990s (some of my favorites include The Trojan Story, The Trojan Story Volume II, The Story of Trojan Records, Rebel Music, Reggae Chartbusters, Club Reggae, Blow Mr. Hornsman, Freedom Sounds, Music Is My Occupation, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd - Musical Fever 1967-1968, and Clancy Eccles And Friends - Fatty Fatty 1967 - 1970). Having said that, the downside of being along for the ride for several of Trojan's five decades has been seeing many of the same classic cuts packaged, go out of print, and then be repackaged over and over and over again.

The Trojan 50 box set (priced at $135 in the USA and containing six CDs, four LPs, two 7" singles, and some label merch) is quite beautifully designed and contains a veritable treasure trove of Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae; but unless you're new to the genre (and if you are, by all means buy this, since you'll own some of the greatest music ever recorded) or an obsessive Trojan collector that has to have everything, you already possess the majority of these songs. Being a sucker for vinyl and picture discs (and Trojan vinyl can be hard to come by in the states--on a recent trip to New Orleans, I picked up a pretty beat up copy of the phenomenal 1969 Reggae Chartbusters comp because it was the first copy I'd ever seen in all my many decades of crate digging and it contains Dandy Livingstone's awesome "Reggae in Your Jeggae"; fortunately, the surface noise doesn't distract too much and I paid less than $10 for it!), I'm pretty pleased with my purchase.

The selection of tracks on the Trojan 50th Anniversary Picture Disc--all UK top 10 chart hits back in the day--is unquestionably spectacular. Of all the late '60s/early '70s Trojan classics here (Desmond Dekker and The Aces' "Israelites," The Pioneers' "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah," Harry J All Stars' "Liquidator," Ken Boothe's "Everything I Own," The Upsetter's "Dollar In The Teeth," John Holt's Kris Kristofferson cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night," Althea and Donna's "Uptown Ranking," Susan Cadogan's "Hurt So Good," Dave and Ansel Collins' "Double Barrel," Bob and Marcia's "To Be Young Gifted and Black," and Nicky Thomas' "Love of the Common People"), the only cut I was unfamiliar with (and am glad to have) is Sophia George's relatively late (1985) but great top #7 UK hit, "Girlie Girlie." This is a record you can put on at house party and just let it play.

As part of its celebrations, Trojan is releasing new music again through its new imprint Trojan Reloaded (the first 7" dancehall single on this label is "Real Reggae Music" from Reggae Roast Soundsystem, featuring Tippa Irie, which is available in the US on August 10, 2018--and their excellent digital Murder EP is out now). Here's hoping that this move creates lots of opportunities for some new reggae classics to be born...

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: King Kong Girio, Boomtown United

(Reviews by Steve Shafer)

Before releasing two new, forthcoming EPs he's produced for Susan Cadogan and his own King Kong Four, King Kong Girio (ex-King Apparatus) has issued a sensational new single "When The Needle Drops" (digital, Bandcamp, 2018) that shouldn't be missed. Originally penned for another artist (who passed on it) and then shelved until Girio recently rediscovered it, the track is a slightly melancholy ("But time abandons/and leaves us here/Where we don't want to stay") but thoroughly nostalgic and heartfelt homage to the 1960s JA ska originators: "Was it the best of what you are/on a scratched up 45?/Because when that needle drops/Your music comes alive/When we look back/We can see where it all began/So long ago/You're not forgotten." Maybe it all was better then, but I'm pretty happy in the here and now with songs like this. Keep 'em coming!

St. Louis, MO's Boomtown United recently popped up on my radar through their contribution of "Work It Out" to the excellent Jump Up/Ska Brewing compilation Drink the Ska (read The Duff Guide to Ska review here). Their new, five-track, self-titled EP (digital, iTunes/Amazon, 2018) is full of extremely catchy and must-sing-along modern/post-2 Tone ska tracks. The urgent, slightly desperate (and shades of "English Civil War") "Outside" is fantastic rebel music: "Times are often tumultuous/A condition in the way in which we live/Searching for hope/Lost in the shadows/And the chances are rail thin/Down and out/That's how they found us/And they never really count us in...Oh, it may seem kind of ugly/That's just the way it is/We may seem kind of dangerous/From the outside looking in!" (An anthem for the resistance? You decide.) The unquenchable desire/lust in "Love Like Fire" (which boils down to: "Hot to the touch/I can't get enough") is conveyed in the dissonant trills of the sax, which are the aural equivalent of flames of fire. "Too Many Chances" lays out the inevitable after it's all gone bad ("The seeds of separation are starting to grow/Now time will tell us what we already know"), while "The Calling" is a soulful lament for musicians and their partners--I love you, but I've got to hit the road. Fans of bands like The Crombies and The Dirty Notion will be instant converts to Boomtown United (the Midwest ska scene has got it going on!). This is a band to keep an eye on...

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Duff Review: Susan Cadogan "The Girl Who Cried Over You" Single!

Stonyhill Records
Digital (vinyl 7" single to come from Jump Up Records)
2018

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The first day of 2018 brings two new shimmering ska tracks from Susan Cadogan (who, lucky for us, continues her incredibly fruitful long-distance collaboration with the wonderfully gifted producer, songwriter, and musician Mitch "King Kong" Girio). "I Don't Want Anybody But You" (co-written by Girio and Michelle McKibbon) is about coming to the surprising but profound realization that you've found the person to spend the rest of your life with ("When the TV’s barking the news and bringing me down/And I’m stuck at the bottom/You pick me up just to carry around/Saying you’re not forgotten/My heart is telling me something.../I don’t want anybody, but you"). "The Girl Who Cried Over You"--where the singer is devastated over a relationship gone bad but won't let go--is borrowed from the 2015 Fabulous Lolo (AKA Lorraine Muller of The Kingpins, etc.) Meets King Kong Girio My Favourite Heart to Break album. Few singers express the highs and lows of romantic love so well as Cadogan. One listen to these tracks and you'll already have heard some of the best ska that will be released in 2018.

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The Duff Guide to Ska Year in Ska Reviews 2017, Part 3!

From The Duff Guide to Ska sticker collection
(click on image to enlarge)!

(All reviews by Steve Shafer)

Bad Manners Return of the Ugly (LP, Black Butcher Classics, 2017 reissue; originally released in 1989 on Blue Beat Records): Read The Duff Guide to Ska appreciation here.

Erin Bardwell Collective vs. Friends, Guests, and Studio Stars Great Western Reggae Soundclash (CD, Pop-A-Top Records, 2017): The Erin Bardwell Collective makes great, laid-back old school rocksteady and early reggae with a bit of worldbeat in the mix--think of The Trojans--and are joined here by a number of high profile friends, including Neol Davies (The Selecter), Dave Clifton (Hotknives), Pat Powell (Melbourne Ska Orchestra), Matty Bane (Neville Staple Band), and London's Nostalgia Steel Band. The connective tissue of this album is a Western reggae vibe coursing through many of the tracks, but it's really all about great songs/performances (check out "Best News of The Year," "Edith New," It's No Lie," "Dominica," "Waiting for the Conversation," or "Night Bus to Highworth"). This one may take a few listens to reveal its offbeat charms, but once it clicks--damn, it's good!

Buster's All Stars Skinhead Luv-a-fair (LP, Black Butcher Classics, 2014 reissue; originally released in 1989 on Blue Beat Records): Read The Duff Guide to Ska appreciation here.

The Busters "Hunky-Dory" b/w "Ska Bang 87" (red or clear yellow vinyl 7" single, Jump Up Records, 2017): This single off The Busters' eighteenth album (if I'm counting right) Straight Ahead features two awesome Richie Alexander penned tunes (Dr. Ring Ding has been a member of The Busters since 2013, if you're not up on the German ska scene). Side A is a great swinging-jazzy-ska tune about looking good, feeling fine, luck shining down on you, and being in love. The flip "Ska Bang 87" is a cracking instrumental that swipes a bit of the riff from The Rolling Stones' "Miss You."

Susan Cadogan "Don't Know Why" (Three track digital single, Stonyhill Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Hollie Cook "Superstar" b/w "Superdub" (free Record Store Day 7"/digital download, Merge Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

The Dirty Notion The Dirty EP (CD/digital, Abbey Productions, 2016): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

The Georgetown Orbits "Keep Your Chin Up" b/w "Picture on the Wall" (7" vinyl picture sleeve single/digital, Simmerdown Productions, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Napoleon Solo Early Recordings: First Demos - 1984/1985 (Six-track, limited-edition vinyl EP, Jump Up Records, 2017): Ska old-timers will remember this fantastic Danish ska-soul act from the late 1980s--their How to Rule the World EP and Shot! LP are very much worth tracking down, and they contributed really winning tracks like "I Don't Believe You" to Skankin' 'Round the World, Volume II, "Drive Me Wild" to Live in London: The London International Ska Festival, and "Go Home" to Ska United. This new EP features the band's early cassette-only demos which contain some very catchy material that probably should have turned up later on proper releases. "0059," "Nobody Told Me," the "Ghost Town-ish" "What Comes After Spring," and the South African anti-apartheid cut "Victory" ("ANC is going to make them free/ANC is going to lead to victory") are particularly good.

NST and The Soul Sauce Back When Tigers Smoked (CD/digital, Eastern Standard Sounds, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Pama International Love and Austerity (Heavyweight LP/CD/digital, Happy People Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Pama International "Man Next Door" b/w "Austerity Skank" (clear vinyl 7" single/digital download, Record Kicks, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

The Red Stripes In the Ska East (CD, Mod Sound Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Smiley and The Underclass Rebels Out There (CD/LP/digital, Bredda Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Neville Staple Return of Judge Roughneck (CD/2 x LP, Cleopatra Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

The Stiff Joints First Proper Album (CD/digital, self-released, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra Paradise Has No Borders (CD/LP/digital, Nacional Records, 2017): Read The Duff Guide to Ska review here.

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Read The Duff Guide to Ska Year in Ska Reviews 2017, Part 1.

Read The Duff Guide to Ska Year in Ska Reviews 2017, Part 2.

(Part 4 to come soon!)

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Duff Review: Susan Cadogan: "Don't Know Why" Single

Three-track digital single/Stonyhill Records
7" single (the flip side is "I Don't Want to Play Around")/Parking Lot Sounds (Japan)
2017

(Review by Steve Shafer)

Masterfully produced by Mitch "King Kong" Girio and backed by the superb King Kong 4, Susan Cadogan's "Don't Know Why" is a phenomenal re-recording of her 1982 Lovers Rock single (written by her brother Paul Cadogan and released in Jamaica during an early 1980s resurgence in her career when she scored a series of hit singles, including "Tracks of My Tears," "Piece of My Heart," "Love Me" and two duets with Ruddy Thomas, "(You Know How to Make Me) Feel So Good," and "Only Heaven Can Wait"). This track and its two versions (my favorite is the "Don't Know Why Not Mix") are heartbreakingly beautiful ("I touch your body with my mind/A sad affair with a sweet memory")--Cadogan's voice is as resplendent and expressive as ever. According to Girio, despite having collaborated on several (excellent) releases now, the Toronto-based producer and JA-residing Cadogan have never met, but what incredible music they make!

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For more on Susan Cadogan, read The Duff Guide to Ska review of her Take Me Back EP (also produced by Girio and featuring King Kong 4).

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Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: King Kong 4 "You Like Awake"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

King Kong 4 You Lie Awake (digital single, self-released/Bandcamp, 2017): If you mention that Mitch "King Kong" Girio was a key member of early '90s Canadian ska act King Apparatus (which, of course, featured Chris Murray), most ska fans would know the reference, but some might not be aware that he's been the go-to songwriter and producer for a slew of mostly Canadian bands including The Planet Smashers, The Kingpins, One Night Band, Prince Perry, and more. His most recent work has been in service of Susan Cadogan (check out our review of her incredible Take Me Back EP; Girio co-wrote all the tunes, as well as performed, recorded, and produced them), but now he's just released a great digital single for his own Toronto-based group, King Kong 4 (which includes Brendan Bauer on bass, Andrew McMullen on drums, Ronald Poon on Hammond organ, King Kong Girio on vocals and guitar).

King Kong 4's sound is a cross between the late '70s New Wave angry young man songwriters Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson (both of whom recorded ska/reggae tracks early on in their careers) and the 2 Tone of The Specials, but this kind of sells Girio's songwriting short--he's got his own thing going and can compose hooks like mad. "Breaking My Heart" is about love from a distance--the singer with a crush on a girl in the audience who he can't quite compel to dance to his band's music, which would be kind of like them being together (but she's with her "dead weight of a boyfriend"): "So get your ass onto the floor, girl/You better shake those hips/So what you think we play this shit for?/Can’t you read my lips?/It’s time to make a move, so act now/You can do the Twist /Just a little bit of dancing/Then you can’t be wrong /Just a little bit of dancing/Dancing all night long." "Annabelle" might be about a girl losing herself on an LSD trip ("Your world has come undone/Quickly dissolving on your tongue") or to growing paranoia/mental illness ("With no one to absolve you/Because the problem still revolves around the fear/That’s floating in the atmosphere/That’s coming oh so near"). Whatever the issue is, she's worried about being forgotten: "When half the world is slumbering/You lie awake half-wondering/Who will leave something here for Annabelle?" Both songs have an undercurrent of longing and melancholy, but the music is wonderfully catchy and upbeat.

Don't let this terrific release from King Kong 4 pass you by!

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Duff Review: Susan Cadogan's "Take Me Back" EP!

(By Steve Shafer)

Susan Cadogan Take Me Back (digital EP and CD, Stonyhill Records, 2016): While she is best known for her Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced 1975 hit "Hurt So Good" (#4 on the UK charts) and her classic self-titled 1976 album of "romantic reggae" for Trojan (which was also produced by Perry and is being re-issued on heavyweight vinyl in late October in celebration of Scratch's 80th birthday this year), reggae singer Susan Cadogan has been fairly active in the 2000s (for example, see her recent single with Ken Boothe on Jump Up) and her voice is still in absolutely gorgeous shape. Having said that, it was still a wonderful surprise to find that she's released an EP's worth of really fantastic new tracks on her Stonyhill Records label--all co-written by Mitch "King Kong" Girio of King Apparatus and Prince Perry fame, who also performed on, recorded, and produced these tracks. (It's very much worth mentioning that Take Me Back was recorded in Jamaica, Canada, and Germany by an all star team including “Lucky” Pete Lambert of The Trojans on drums, Jammal Tarkington and Rodney Teague of Keyser Soze on horns, Ryan Chopik of The Harmonauts on organ, Meher Steinberg of Prince Perry/King Apparatus on keys, and Girio on guitars and bass--they've done Cadogan proud.)

As might be expected, Take Me Back is full of damaged love songs--all exploring the Venn diagram of ecstasy and agony delineated in "Hurt So Good." The EP opens with a sultry and ethereal version of One Night Band's "Crazy" (co-written with Girio and Lorraine Muller of The Kingpins, Fabulous Lolo, etc.), which is a stellar rocksteady track about taking stock of a relationship after it's done and one's head is clear: "I must have been crazy to beg you to stay/Crazy enough to take you in anyway... Standing by the open door/Waiting for you to hurt me once more." Things shift quickly to the irrepressibly optimistic "Take Me Back"--see if you can resist singing along with the backup singers during the chorus--a song full of eager anticipation for the good things that could come if all is forgiven. "I Don't Want to Play Around" sounds like it could be a recently unearthed 2 Tone single (that would have hit it big!). Cadogan's heartbreaking performance on the dark "Leaving" is simply devastating ("The hardest part of leaving you/Is knowing that you'll move on, too/Holding somebody's hand/Instead of mine"). And even though the subject matter is kind of bleak ("The neighbors still talk/My best friends ask/It's the worst it could be/But when you left this home/You also took the best from me"), the EP ends with "The Best of Me," a sprightly and crazy catchy early/skinhead reggae cut.

I am in no way exaggerating when I state that this is one of the best ska/rocksteady releases I've heard this year.

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