Duff Review: The Equators "Nice to Be Nice"

Self-released
Digital single
2020

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The Equators, of course, are the all-Black Birmingham-based ska band that pre-dated The Beat, opted to sign with Stiff Records rather than 2 Tone, backed Desmond Dekker on some of his 1980 Black and Dekker album, inspired The Untouchables to form, and released one incredible album (Hot) in 1981, just as 2 Tone was flaming out.

The Bailey brothers (Don, Rocky, and Leo) reformed the band with several new members in 2017 and released the digital single "Bed of Roses" (about the difficult experience of immigrating from the Caribbean to the UK in the 1960s). The Equators' excellent new single "Nice to Be Nice" is much more upbeat--they're pitching it as this summer's anthem and certainly have made a strong case for it. It's a sweet, crisp, and brisk ska track that's about nothing more than the minor miracle (particularly these days) of how a beautiful day can make you happy: "Feeling nice/Feeling really good/As I walk through my neighborhood/No dark clouds in the sky/Make everybody feel so nice." Put this on if your mood needs a boost.

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Stiff Records' Fortieth Anniversary and Their Support of Ska

Forty years ago yesterday, August 14, 1976, Stiff Records issued their first release, Nick Lowe's single "So It Goes" b/w "Heart of the City," and launched one of the most successful independent punk and new wave labels known to humanity. Stiff, of course, was home to several notable ska acts, including Madness, Desmond Dekker, The Untouchables, and The Equators.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the Stiff-ska connection, might want to check out the following Duff Guide to Ska posts:

• Our review of "Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story" by Richard Balls, which includes some terrific tales related to Madness, Desmond Dekker, and The Equators


• Our in-depth look back at Desmond Dekker's 1980 Stiff Records release, Black and Dekker


• Our overview of all of The Untouchables' releases, which includes their essential 1985 Stiff release, Wild Child

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The Duff Guide to The Untouchables!

(By Steve Shafer)

The recent passing of The Untouchables' founding member, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Clyde Grimes, Jr. (pictured in an iconic publicity shot at right), led me to revisit all of their releases, as The Untouchables were unbelievably influential on a whole generation of ska fans and bands in the 1980s. For all of us in the USA who had fallen in love with 2 Tone at a distance (many of us even after it had flamed out), we finally had a ska band of our very own that had hit it big! (I was in my freshman year in college in Ohio when Wild Child was released and remember listening to Cleveland's top commercial rock station WMMS play the hell out of "Wild Child" and "What's Gone Wrong"--and my Wild Child cassette--which I still have and treasure over 30 years later!--was in heavy rotation in my personal playlist for the next several years.)

Since there's very little information about The Untouchables and their releases on the internet (with the exception of the Marco on the Bass blog, which has posted several great interviews with various members of the band), I thought it might be a good idea to put together an overview of their releases to honor Grimes' and The Untouchables' considerable musical legacy. So, below for your consideration, please find The Duff Guide to The Untouchables.

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Live and Let Dance (EP, Twist/Enigma Records, 1984): After releasing two DIY singles ("Dance Beat," b/w "Twist 'n Shake" in 1982 and "Tropical Bird" b/w "The General" in 1983), honing their chops and building up a massive LA-area following, and going through some personnel changes, The UTs borrowed $15k and recorded an EP's worth of material released on their own Twist imprint (which was picked up for distribution by Enigma). But things didn't take off until they scrounged up an additional $7k to make an incredibly creative and dynamic video for their could-have-been-a-2-Tone-hit "Free Yourself." This grabbed the attention of Stiff Records label head Dave Robinson in the UK, who flew in for one of their LA gigs and signed the band (which then garnered them a deal with a major label in the US, as MCA licensed Stiff releases at the time)--and won them a Billboard award for best independent music video of 1984. The EP also includes the first version of "What's Gone Wrong" and their phenomenal live cover of The Monkees' "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone." Of note: "Free Yourself" wasn't re-recorded for their debut album Wild Child. There was no need to--it's perfect.

Wild Child (LP, Stiff/MCA Records, 1985): Even though there were two other domestic ska releases that year which would eventually prove to be as wildly influential on the development of the US ska scene--Fishbone's self-titled debut EP on Columbia (a few years earlier, members of that band were in the crowd at The UT's shows at the O.N. Klub in Silver Lake, Los Angeles), and The Toasters' self-titled debut EP on Moon Records (subsequently reissued as Recriminations)--it was The Untouchables' debut album Wild Child that had the biggest and most immediate and significant impact. While The UTs had been heavily influenced by 2 Tone and everything mod after seeing Quadrophenia, they also had been blown away by the all-black Birmingham ska band The Equators (they formed before fellow Brummies The Beat!), who had performed in LA in 1981 (UT singer Jerry Miller said, "We were very big fans of 2 Tone, but with The Equators, that’s where it was at with us because it was so groovin’ and soulful. Their recordings were sacred to us."). So, whereas The Specials and Selecter injected their ska with punk fury and The Equators incorporated elements of rock and reggae to their sound, The Untouchables largely went for American '60s soul in their ska mix (perhaps best represented by The Specials' Jerry Dammers producing The UT's cover of Jamo Thomas' 1966 soul track, "I Spy (for the FBI)"--a big mod/Northern Soul hit in the UK in 1969), which certainly broadened their appeal far beyond the ska scene in the US and beyond. "Wild Child," "I Spy (for the FBI)," "What's Gone Wrong," and "Free Yourself" are unequivocal American ska classics and the rest of the album is pretty fantastic, too--not a bum track among them.

Dance Party (EP, MCA/Stiff Records, 1986): Not absolutely essential, but there are extended, remixed versions (ubiquitous in the 1980s!) of key tracks from Wild Child ("I Spy (for the FBI) National Security Mix-Up" and "What's Gone Wrong Lover's Rock Mix" are both excellent and hardcore UTs fans should have them) and live cuts from Spring Break at Daytona Beach (another take of their fantastic cover of The Monkees' "(I'm Not Your") Stepping Stone"--also on Live and Let Dance--and the funky "Hey UTs"). Of course, the ska cuts are relegated to side two. One suspects that this is a bit of a stopgap release, as a follow-up to Wild Child wasn't immediately in the pipeline, but the quality control remains pretty high here.

Agent OO Soul (CD/LP, Twist/Restless Records, 1988): Like Fishbone's incredible Truth and Soul (also released that year), this album was seriously hobbled by poor sequencing that buried most of the really ace ska material on side two ("Cold City," "Shama Lama," "Sudden Attack") in favor of less compelling soul and funk up front (with the exception of "Airplay" and "World Gone Crazy," and maybe "Let's Get Together"). Having said that, I caught the UT's Agent OO Soul tour in NYC at Joey Ramone's Downtown Club in April of '89 and all of the songs they played off this album--including the title track--sounded completely amazing live (decades later, this gig still stands out as one of the best shows I've ever experienced). Fun facts: LP copies of this album came with a poster and UT comic/lyric book--and this was their first release on compact disc!

A Decade of Dance Live (CD, Restless Records, 1990): Recorded at the height of their powers before a hometown LA crowd at the Roxy in December 1989, The UTs ripped through a career-spanning set that documented just how incredible they were in performance (this is also one of the best sounding/produced concert albums I've ever heard). Great renditions of all their well-known hits are captured here--plus "Twist and Shake" (their 1982 debut single) and "The General" (from their second single in 1983)--as well as excellent previously unrecorded tracks like "Live and Let Dance," "Amateurs Ranking," and "Johnny." Of all The Untouchables releases, this one deserves the deluxe reissue treatment on vinyl! It's simply brilliant.

Cool Beginnings: Rare and Unreleased, 1981-1983 (CD, Stellar Records, 1992): A collection of studio and live recordings from when the band was finding their footing and figuring out their sound (they then considered themselves mods who played ska), which gains power as it moves forward in time. Some of the early material is a bit rough, but there are some really promising songs here, like the ska tracks "Gov't Don't Need Nobody" and "Overcrowded Hell," the moody reggae/dub cut "Who Do They Think They're Fooling?," and the cool mod throwbacks "Cuz She's Mine" and "Motion Like Hers." Best of all, of course, are the gems from their first two singles, "Dance Beat," b/w "Twist 'n Shake" and "Tropical Bird" b/w "The General." This comp was never widely released, so the few existing used copies are expensive, but it's a must for UT completists.

Greatest and Latest: Ghetto Stout (CD, Cleopatra, 2000): By the early '90s, The Untouchables had gone dark (missing out on the massive ska revival in the USA later that decade--d'oh!), so it was a shock when I stumbled upon this album at the Virgin Records store in Union Square in 2000 on a lunch break (was there any promotional push for this?). New songs like "Be Alright," "Jade," "Bond, "Keep on Pushing," and "Movin' 'N' Groovin'" are good to great additions to The UT's repertoire, but the rest of the album consists of fine, but unnecessary re-recordings of many of their popular tracks from the '80s. One wishes that they hadn't split the difference between forging ahead and the pull of nostalgia, but gone with all new tunes (or songs that were never recorded in the studio, but were part of their live set, like "Live and Let Dance"). Still, there's good stuff here for the diehard UT fan. Note: Cleopatra re-released this album on green vinyl and CD in 2015 as Free Yourself Ska Hits.

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Duff Review: Sonic Boom Six "The F-Bomb"

Phoenix City Records/Cherry Red Records
2016
CD

(Review by Steve Shafer)

In these strange, terrible days when the forces of ignorance and fear are on the rise in so many supposedly civilized nations and baldfaced xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism, and sexism are increasingly (re-)mainstreamed, it's quite fantastic to behold Sonic Boom Six's singer Laila K. (a British woman of Pakistani descent) wearing a traditional Muslim niqab and staring out at you (with a glint in her eyes) from the cover of their fifth album, The F-Bomb.

The imagery, of course, is meant to provoke and challenge any overt or hidden biases you may hold regarding women, Muslims, ethnicity, or otherness. But, like the brilliant, joyful songs contained within, it's also about being fully empowered and unequivocally expressing support for gender equality, finding empathy for our fellow human beings (no matter how they're packaged), and fully embracing the wonderful diversity of people. The trick that the Sonic Boom Six so artfully pull off is that they address these issues without being preachy or resorting to polemics. These aren't dour songs of liberal indoctrination. The band aims to change hearts and minds with progressive social messages delivered in fantastic, hook-filled music that will make everyone want to dance (though one should be asking the question why advocating for true equality for everyone--no matter what their color, religion, gender, orientation, disability, or background--is solely seen as a liberal/left-wing cause). It's the tried-and-true 2 Tone formula that helped promote racial unity (along with other bands aligned with Rock Against Racism) during a time of great social and economic turmoil in England, when racist and fascist ideologues and groups like the National Front (which was making a play for real political power) were fomenting racial violence with incendiary language blaming all of the country's ills on non-white Britons and recent immigrants.

All of this is to say that for people who like their music to have a message, as I do, this extraordinary record is the mother-lode. In fact, Sonic Boom Six's The F-Bomb may just be the best ska album of the year.

The F-Bomb--I suppose it's up to the listener to decide if the F stands for female or feminist, though the implication is that these words are associated with an obscenity--roars out of the starting gate with the powerful and insistent "No Man, No Right," a gleefully unapologetic women's rights manifesto set to a brisk ska beat:

"No man, no right
To tell me what I should wear
Or what I put inside my body
While pretending to care
They've no right
And we can live our life with way we like
No man, no right

No man, no right
To put himself in my head
Judge the company I keep
Or what I do in my bed
They've no right
And we can live our life the way that we like
No man, no right

No man, no right
To define a sexuality
By a tattoo on the base of a back
No man, no right
They blame the victim, 'cause she chose that skirt
Not the animal who chose to attack

No man, no right
To decide it is a liberty
If I choose to take my own control
No man, no right
'Cause this is my body and I have my choice
And I pop it out and swallow it whole.

No man, no right
No man, no right to
Call the woman bitch 'cause she don’t want you boy

No man no right
No man no right to
What a foolish thing to do"



The final strains of "Rule, Britannia!" (one of Britain's unofficial anthems, closely associated with the Victorian era, when England's Empire consisted of great, colonized swaths of Africa and Southern Asia, which placed about a fifth of the planet's land mass and a quarter of the world's population under her rule) introduce "From The Fire to The Frying Pan" (check out the video here!), the tale of a young, disaffected, white Briton who comes under the influence of those who want to radicalize him to hate perceived foreigners like Laila K., who supposedly want to take over the country.

""See them coming over here to take what's yours"
Johnny nodded, but he wasn't really sure
"Won't be happy till we're living by their laws
--every time we give an inch they just want more!"

Johnny just take it easy, easy
Take a step back and see me, here I stand
Out of the fire to the frying pan
Well, if you want to hate me, here I am

He just a boy in an angry mob
Might throw a punch, but he ain't no yob
Proud of defending his own country
Blissfully blind of his history

"See them coming over here to take what's yours"
Johnny found a cause worth fighting for
"Some of them are gonna start a holy war
--how to tell the ones apart, I'm still not sure."

The irony, of course, is that a) she's as British as he is, and b) he's completely ignorant of England's imperialistic past, which forcibly brought many non-white people (living in their own countries, mind you) into the British Empire (many of whom emigrated to the "mother" country after WWII and helped rebuild its economy and enrich its culture). And then there's the personal connection between Johnny and the singer--she represents "those people," the object of their hate (refer to the album cover). But he knows her and should be aware that she doesn't represent what the nationalistic racists accuse the people who happen to look like her of wanting/plotting/being. It's the personal connections to people in the "other" group that always disprove the ridiculous racial stereotypes--they're firsthand evidence of how the supposedly true stereotype is false and a great example of why we all need to live in diverse communities. The song ends on an ominous note, though, quoting The Specials' "Why?" ("With a Nazi salute and a steel-capped boot/You follow like sheep inna wolf clothes"). Lynval Golding, of course, wrote this song after being severely beaten in a brutal racially-motivated attack in 1980 (his "offense" was walking down the street with two white women).

Sonic Boom Six

The ska/dubstep cut "Do What You Wanna Do" nicks the opening horn and bass lines from Dexys Midnight Runners' "Geno" (and towards the end there's a bit of The Specials' "Nite Klub" mixed in!) for a song about not conforming to societal norms or giving into other people's expectations of you (particularly, if you're a woman):

"Lead your life your way
After the middle of the night
Is a brand new day
Don't wait around, lady
Hesitate or stall
'Cause if you don't get on it now
Then you won't at all

Do what you want to
Not what they told you to

Your history is behind you
The sun is rising on a brand new day
Don't let their limits define you
It's doesn't matter what the neighbors say"

While this song is pitched to women specifically, it's sure to give encouragement to all the self-doubters who hear it, no matter what their gender.

With its references/allusions to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi ("An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."), Martin Luther King, Jr. ("Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”), Jesus ("But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"), even The Beatles (do I really need to provide the reference here?), "L.O.V.E" is an incredible ska-pop clarion call for using this still radical emotion/expression/philosophy to counter all the hate and violence in the world.

"All the boys on the left
Want to shoot down
All the boys on the right
at their own town
There's a bomb going off in the background
Everybody's suffering

Angeline puts her faith in religion
Sits alone as she cries in the kitchen
At the scenes on her own television
Everybody's struggling

I don't know just what we need to do
All I have are just the words I sing to you
Please excuse my simple point of view
But if I stand for love
Will you stand there, too?

We've got to stand for something
It's all or nothing
If I stand for love
Will you stand there, too?
Because the way we're living
Is just not working
If we stand for love
Maybe they will, too

There's a war going on and we don't mind
There's a death on the screen and we rewind
Take an eye for an eye and we're all blind
Everybody's murdering

Now the town it'll drown in the bloodshed
or the god with a gun to his own head
Take a life for a life and we're all dead
It's time for something new

We've got to stand for something
It's all or nothing
If I stand for love
Will you stand there, too?
But the road we're taking
We just can't make it
And my heart is breaking...

Stand
'Cause if there's a chance to make
This for the human race
It's only love that can make amends
Now, that's why I'm standing for you
You've got to stand for something, my friend

L-O-V-E"

The song doesn't pretend to present specific solutions, but it's on the money for where we need to be in order to find ways to stop inflicting all of this pain and death on each other. (A little off the topic side note: I love the computer-y sound effects in the song, including one that seems like it's sampled from one of the blasters in "Star Wars.")

"Joanna"--a vibrant track that sounds like it could have been written by The Equators or The Beat--may be the first ska song about the experience of knowing someone who is transgendered. And it's a really great one.

"Joanna, I know it shouldn't matter
In this day and age
That you slipped into a dress
And you stepped out your cage
How can we deny her
When you're shining like a diamond
With a guitar, singing on the stage?

Oh, irony, irony
I get on my knees, ashamed
I thought everything was over
'Cause you changed your name
And then I saw a photograph
It still was you, but looking like you wanted to
I'll never see the world the same

Joanna, I don't care what the people say
'Cause we need you to guide the way
Shine you light for the world today
And we can follow your lead, I say

Joanna, light the way and we can take it together
Waiting for the day when all the world will see
That you never should have had to hide
All the beauty that you have inside
How could anybody miss it?
Joanna, you shine so bright

Growing up is never easy, but it had to be
So confusing when you're losing your identity
Your gender is a riddle when you're swimming in the middle
Of a world that sees in binary

Only she led a life of desperation and torn
Between the life you envision and the way you're born
I really hope that you can have the patience to illuminate the way
It's always darkest just before the dawn"

This song makes the case that the best way to overcome one's fears/prejudices/misconceptions is through our connections to people who are different that you are. And, again, that's why it's so vital that we live, go to school, work, and socialize in diverse communities, so we come into regular, close contact with all sorts of people and have a greater understanding, acceptance, and love of other people's differences. (Racism and discrimination are learned behaviors; if kids are growing up amidst tolerance and diversity, it's likely that they won't turn out to be racist, homophobic, fearful adults.)

Other tracks on the album are concerned with boasting about making incredible dance music ("Drop The Bass (And Pick It Up)," which quotes The Skatalites' opening riff of their cover of "Guns of Navarone"); a sweet reggae-pop break-up ballad ("Train Leaves Tomorrow"--with guest vocals by Coolie Ranx!); ensuring that you take care of/respect yourself so other people can't abuse you ("Worship Yourself": "Don't doubt, worship yourself/Don't let him bring you down/Get out, break up, and stand your ground"); and trying to be aware of how the standards of seemingly effortless beauty that we're bombarded with via all of our screens are manufactured and fake, with no connection to reality ("All The Same To Me": "Do I look as thin as they do?/Is it too good to be true?").

"Echoes In The Dark," the final track on the album, is both harrowing and inspiring. It's about a woman who was sexually abused when she was barely in her teens, but who has the resilience to survive and eventually reclaim her life: "You, without a care in the world/Took everything and left me broken/Then did your best to avoid the little girl you destroyed/Was it all a dream?/A memory of that scene/A girl of age fourteen/A shadow in the park/And as I strengthen here/Through every passing year/The fears disappear/Like echoes in the dark...Was it all a dream?/Waking up from an endless night/With the shadows fading in the light/Was it all a dream?"

The Sonic Boom Six's The F-Bomb is brimming with immensely relevant, optimistic, and hopefully useful ska/dubstep/pop songs that are meant to inspire us to think about our own behavior and attitudes towards each other--and alter them for the better. They recognize that individual change ultimately can bring about societal change--and they want to be part of the catalyst that advances this type of progress that we all so desperately need.

These songs should be broadcast far and wide...

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Duff Review: Sammy Buzz "The Buzzman Cometh"

Self-released
CD
2016

(Review by Steve Shafer)

King Hammond musical collaborator Sammy Buzz (nee Wilson), who should be familiar to devoted readers of The Duff Guide to Ska (I reviewed his I'm Buzzin' EP in late 2012--and two of those tracks, "Cigarettes" and "I'm Buzzin'" are reprised here), has just released his truly marvelous debut album, The Buzzman Cometh, which features some seriously fun and memorable tracks about himself, women, ska-related matters, and just trying to make your way through life with your body and spirit intact.

Buzz's modern ska reminds this reviewer of the brilliant sounds created in the late 80s UK ska scene (Laurel Aitken, Bad Manners, The Trojans, Potato 5, Maroon Town, The Loafers, King Hammond, The Riffs, The Deltones, etc.)--definitely post-2 Tone and greatly influenced by those bands (particularly The Beat and--even though they weren't 2 Tone--The Equators), but not quite classifiably Third Wave (or whatever has come to pass in the years since). However you categorize his ska, Sammy Buzz writes some exceptionally good tunes (which are expertly produced by Steve Crittal) that should not be missed.

The album begins ominously (a bell tolls for you) with the excellent, melodramatic, spaghetti Western-flavored "The Buzzman Cometh." "Maaga Gal" (maaga is Jamaican patois for skinny--I had to look it up) is the catchiest ska song you've ever heard about a singer's concern and love for his underweight (anorexic?) girlfriend ("She may be skin and bone/but she's my very own...She may be lacking in flesh/But she's the very best!"). "Ruff Ride Ruff" borrows Prince Buster's instantly recognizable "Rough Rider" bass line, but isn't the expected lewd track--it's about a good-for-nothing being thrown out of the house by his strict mom ("She's rougher that the carpet in me room/Tougher than the bristles pon the broom/She's rougher than my pet hedgehog/Rough like a flea-bitten dog...").

"Rude Boys and Rude Girls" is a fantastic earworm of ska tune that essentially asks that the ongoing battle of the sexes be left at the door--the gig is all about dancing and pleasure. "We 'ave Fe Flex" is another lovely catchy track that reiterates the perennial plea for love, peace, and understanding: "Love thy neighbor/And love thy enemy/Give thanks and blessings/that we were born free/Keep out of trouble/and live healthy/Just look at the world and see that/Time so hard/We have Fe Flex..." The gentle and hilarious tweak of the nose of ska record collectors who like to boast that, whatever the title, "I Got It On Vinyl" hits this vinyl-obsessive reviewer close to home, but it makes me love it all the more, since it's so on the money (the taunting "la, la, la, la, las" between all of the "I got it on vinyl" refrains is a nice touch!).

The singer is almost mowed down while trying to cross the street by a driver being chased by the police in the dubby "Mad Traffick." "I Need a Holiday," a frantic dancehall cut, describes the singer trying to soak up as much relaxation as possible on vacation, only to find it immediately dissipate upon return to reality. "Cigarettes" is a public service announcement with a ska beat, coughs, and cheesy, 70s-sounding keyboard lines, urging listeners to quit this pernicious, addictive habit before it's too late ("Cigarette, cigarette/It can cause your death"), and Sammy offers a few hair-raising examples of why one should quit: "I had a friend called Bernadette/who was addicted to a cigarette/She smoked all day/and in bed at night/until her bedroom, it catch alight/She's not with us anymore/Now's she's knocking on Heaven's door/A big fat lesson to all of you/give up the cigarette, it's overdue!"

"Boss Skinhead" is another great self-referential song in a musical genre full of them (Laurel Aitken, amongst others, is name-checked here), while "I'm Buzzin'" spells out Sammy Buzz's let-the-good-times-roll, can't-change-fate approach to life ("I'm buzzing'/but I'm not out of my mind/Don't need no complication/An easy life for me/Don't work, no botheration/Yeah, what will be will be"). It's a very nice slice of upbeat ska for when your troubles might be grinding you down. The future's not so bright in the cold, New Wave-ish, "1984"-type tale "Urban Citizen," which denounces governmental surveillance of its people.

In addition to the 12 songs on the album, there are two cool bonus tracks, the lost and broken-hearted "Standing Here Alone" (which says it all, really) and a sunny, unnamed instrumental track ("Nice It Up"?) that's guaranteed to improve your outlook, even on the darkest of days.

Sammy Buzz's The Buzzman Cometh is one of the best new ska albums I've listened to and enjoyed this year. You should make sure to hear it, too!

Shots in the Dark: Desmond Dekker "Black and Dekker"

Editor's note: Shots in the Dark spotlights ska releases that should have been massive hits on the scene but, due to bad timing, poor luck, or a fickle record-buying public, were lost in the fray. 

(By Steve Shafer)

The Release: Desmond Dekker's Black and Dekker (Stiff Records and Stiff America, 1980)

The Band: The UK-based Desmond Dekker was backed by an array of top musicians, including The Pioneers (which included Dekker's half brother, George Agard), Jackie Mitoo, The Rumour (who often backed pub rocker Graham Parker), The Equators, and The Akrylykz (featuring a certain Roland Gift on sax, who would later join Andy Cox and David Steele of The Beat to form Fine Young Cannibals).

The Sound: Black and Dekker contains many of Dekker's instantly recognizable rocksteady and skinhead reggae hits of the late 60s and early 70s (plus some really fine new tunes)--all dusted off, revved-up, and purposefully fashioned to appeal to the 2 Tone ska fans of 1980. 

The Album: As the first batch of 2 Tone singles commandeered the UK charts in 1979 (The Specials' "Gangsters" b/w The Selecter's "The Selecter" reached #6; Madness' "The Prince" b/w "Madness" topped out at #16; The Selecter's "On My Radio" b/w "Too Much Pressure" rose to #8; The Specials' "A Message to You, Rudy" b/w "Nite Klub" made it to #9; and The Beat's "Tears of a Clown" b/w "Ranking Full Stop" grabbed the #6 spot), other labels were left scrambling trying to figure out how to capitalize on the 2 Tone craze that had so swiftly captivated Britain's youth. Dave Robinson, the maverick head of gonzo indie Stiff Records--who had already signed Madness and was starting to reap the rewards of that hit single-generating act (which would help keep the label afloat for years to come), as well as the Birmingham-based Equators, who were playing 2 Tone-like ska before The Beat and The Specials (and ended up heavily influencing LA's The Untouchables--another Stiff signing a few years later--when The Equators performed in California in 1981)--wanted a bigger piece of the action and was willing to bet that Desmond Dekker's great popularity with the late 1960s/early 1970s mods, skins, and pop fans (in 1967, "007 (Shanty Town)" hit #14 on the UK charts; in 1969, "Israelites" hit #1 in the UK and #9 in the USA; in 1969, "It Mek" reached #7 in the UK; and his cover of Jimmy Cliff's "You Can Get It If You Really Want" went to #2 in 1970, two years before The Harder They Come film soundtrack was released) could be fairly easily replicated in the 2 Tone-era. The climate was certainly right. 

(Robinson wasn't the only label head interested in promoting an authentic 1960s ska star during the 2 Tone years. Secret Affair's Ian Page signed Laurel "Godfather of Ska" Aitken, another artist very popular with late 1960s/early 1970s mods and skins, to his I-Spy label soon after Dekker went with Stiff; Aitken, backed by The Ruts, toured the UK and enjoyed his one 2 Tone-era hit, "Rudi Got Married"--#60 on the UK charts--in 1980.)

After all, the late 70s ska revival was steeped in overt references to 60s ska and skinhead reggae, even though 2 Tone was clearly an organic evolution of the genre's sound/attitude--a hybrid of the rebel music cousins of reggae and punk. The 60s references gave the late 70s' ska scene a foundation and context--acknowledging 2 Tone's roots and close connection to the Jamaican immigrant community in the UK, while tacitly--and later, explicitly--endorsing racial/cultural diversity and tolerance. The 2 Tone bands clearly revered the 60s ska originators (and Dekker was Jamaica's first international ska/early reggae star, well before Jimmy Cliff or Bob Marley) and had grown up hearing their songs (many of which had topped the UK charts) alongside the sons and daughters of Jamaican immigrants, and felt a deep connection to the artists (leading The Specials to collaborate with Rico Rodriguez, who had worked with The Skatalites, and The Beat to ask Saxa, who had played with Prince Buster, to join their band). 

In tribute to--and to honor the legacy of--their musical forefathers/mothers, The Specials, Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers all performed and recorded ska and early reggae hits of yesteryear (the 60s JA ska musicians often covered contemporary pop songs themselves, sometimes renaming them in the process--see The Skatalites' "Independence Anniversary Ska" AKA The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" or Prince Buster's/Yusef Ali's "Uganda" AKA Don Drummond's "Green Island," etc.). One suspects that, at times, this compensated for a dearth of original material (indeed, that was one of the great criticisms of the late 70s ska revival), though the 2 Tone bands often redeemed themselves by repurposing the covers--imbuing them with new meaning for the present day and following the tradition of 60s ska of decrying social/political injustice. Lloyd Charmers' naughty "Birth Control" was transformed by The Specials into "Too Much Too Young," which disparaged teen motherhood and advocated the use of diaphragms and, one would assume, condoms; The Selecter borrowed The Pioneers' "Time Hard," renaming it as "Everyday" ("...thing are getting worse"), to comment on Thatcherite England; and Andy and Joey's "You're Wondering Now" in The Specials' hands became an ominous warning to the racists and National Front supporters lurking in Britain's shadows: "You're wondering how/You will pay/For the way you did behave..." 

Co-produced by Coxsone Dodd's cousin Syd Bucknor (who learned his trade at Studio 1), Black and Dekker starts out promisingly (and safe) enough with a brisk and jaunty--if, um, a little stiff--ska version of Dekker's "Israelites." Stiff also released this song as a single, paired with the phenomenal new track "Why Fight?," which marked the third time "Israelites" was issued as a single. In 1969, it hit #1 on the UK charts and was the first Jamaican reggae single to crack the Top Ten in America, and when it was re-released in 1975, made it back into the UK Top Ten. The 1980 ska version of "Israelites" failed to chart in the UK, though it made it to #15 in Belgium, according to Richard Balls' "Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story" (what a punk rock name: Dick Balls!). Dekker's unmistakable and incredibly sweet falsetto is in terrific shape on the album and The Pioneers provide gorgeous and impeccable backing vocals and harmonies (as they do throughout). It also should be noted that The Pioneers were a favorite of The Specials, who covered "Long Shot Kick De Bucket"--The Pioneers' 1969 best-seller produced by Leslie Kong (who also was Dekker's sure-fire hit producer, until Kong's early death in 1971)--during their "Skinhead Symphony" on The Special AKA Live! EP, which was a #1 single in the UK in 1980.

"Israelites" is a potent sufferer's lament with an explicit reference to Rastafarianism (Rastas believe that they are one of the lost tribes of ancient Israel, something that I can't imagine most Americans in 1969 were aware of when they snatched up that single). Since the lyrics are often misheard, they're worth printing here:

"Get up in the morning, slaving for breads, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me, Israelite

Wife an' ma kids, dem pack up and a-leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to receive
Poor me, Israelite

Shirt dem a-tear up, trousers a go
I don't wan' to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
Poor me, Israelite

After a storm, there mus' be a calming
You catch me in ya palm, you sound ya alarm
Poor me, Israelite

I'm wandering I'm working hard, too
A poor, a poor, a poor
Me, Israelite
I look a-down on a-me, sir"

Of all the new tracks, "Why Fight?" (with Jackie Mittoo on piano!) is the obvious hit to this listener--and one has the feeling that Stiff knew this too, but hedged its bets by pushing "Israelites" as the first single from the album and appending "Why Fight?" to its b-side. For all of Stiff's eagerness to reach the 2 Tone fan base, they seem to have been completely oblivious to how "Why Fight's" message was very much in line with what The Specials, The Beat, The Selecter, et al were propagating--that the racial hatred, violence, and discriminatory political/social/economic policies directed at Britain's non-white population had to end--and had the track been given Stiff's promotional push, it would have been well-received by the late 70s ska fans, who appreciated the very relevant messages that often came with the music:

"People all over the world
Why fight?
When we should unite

Right from the start
We're part of creation
So, why can't we all
be one nation?

Why fight?
People all over the world
Why fight?
When we should unite
When we should unite...
we fight
People all over the world

It's a shame to know
That we are the most intelligent
of all animals
And it hurts so bad
to know that we are acting
like cannibals

This a world is a beautiful world
Nothing all wrong with it
But a man know a try
to change it and rearrange it

I know that we understand
how to make peace upon this land
And we can
Peace
And we can
Yes

Why fight?
People all over the world..."

After "Israelites" failed to chart and became the albatross around "Why Fight's" neck, Stiff chose the undeniably catchy and lighthearted "Please Don't Bend" (backed with the terrific new tune "Work Out") as the follow-up single (another in a string of Dekker's songs to admonish women for their dress or behavior): "Girl, the dress you are a wearing/Is a bit too short/Don't misunderstand me/I'm not an astronaut/Girl, whatever you do/I said, please don't bend/Girl, if you do/We're gonna see rear end!"

Stiff records had been producing promotional films for their bands years before the advent of MTV in 1981 (according to Ball's book, Robinson had always believed "pop music and short films as being complementary"). By the time Black and Dekker was released, Stiff had shot short films for The Damned's "New Rose," Ian Dury and the Blockheads' "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll," Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number," Madness' "One Step Beyond," and many others, in addition to live footage of the Stiff package tours. Instead of a funny or subversive take on the lyrics, the video for "Please Don't Bend" is dunderheadedly and embarrassingly sexist--full of leering men ogling a woman in a very short dress, with multiple shots of her derriere. The video makes it plain that Dekker doth protest too much: Please bend away, ladies!



Despite its theme of corporeal punishment (the singer begs his mother to intervene with his father, who has been beating him so severely that he's developed some sort of nervous hiccup), "Lickin' Stick" becomes an incredibly upbeat (and almost joyful) song in The Equators' hands--they help transform this track and "Hippo"--two of Dekker's skinhead reggae-era favorites--into modern, 2 Tone ska songs (and make one wonder why the powers that be just didn't have The Equators back Dekker for the whole album, instead of this rotating cast of dozens of musicians--though The Rumour do a very good job on "Problems" and "Rude Boy Train").

In fact, most of Dekker's reworked hits for the 2 Tone era on Black and Dekker--"It Mek," "Hippo," "007," "Problems," "Rude Boy Train," "Pickney Gal," and even his soulful cover of Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" (which was released as the third Stiff single, backed with "Pickney Gal")--sound good to pretty great. But from the consistent high quality of new material on the album ("Why Fight?," "Work Out," "Please Don't Bend," and the US-only "Juliet"), it's clearly evident that Dekker's songwriting was as strong as ever and makes one wish that there were additional new tunes (and fewer re-worked ones). And with the ready availability of the beloved original versions of Dekker's late 60s/early 70s hits (on Trojan compilations like 1978's Dekker's Sweet 16 Hits)--and their treasured place in the hearts of ska and reggae fans everywhere--it's questionable as to why they were re-recorded in the first place.

The Ugly Reality: It's a sticky proposition to tinker with one's own legacy. Dekker's late 60s/early 70s skinhead reggae hit singles were practically sacrosanct to legions of mods and skinheads--and still very well-known to many 2 Tone fans of all ages in the UK. By re-recording his hits, Dekker and Stiff risked alienating the very same crowd they intended to reach. Stiff and Dekker hoped that the perceived nostalgia/demand for 60s ska during 2 Tone would carry the day for Black and Dekker (instead of trusting Dekker's prodigious songwriting skills to produce new hits). But it was such a weird approach for such a renegade label--trying to have Dekker recapture past glories instead of creating new ones (which may have struck some as inauthentic and a calculated grab for cash).

It also suggests that Stiff and Dekker didn't really grasp why the old ska covers were being re-worked and incorporated into the 2 Tone bands' sets and recordings. It wasn't about nostalgia. The original ska and skinhead reggae songs were being appropriated in order to lend context and connection to what The Specials et al were doing with the ska genre in the late 70s/early 80s. The covers usually were supplementing/secondary to the incredible original material that the 2 Tone acts were creating and promoting. And, unlike Dekker, the 2 Tone artists' covers weren't retreads of their own material.

On balance, Black and Dekker remains a great album and it certainly deserved the love and attention of ska fans in 1980 (indeed, listening to it many decades later, much of it holds up quite well and makes one wonder why it wasn't a bigger success). According to the liner notes by John Reed for the 2013 Cherry Red/Pressure Drop reissue, sales of Black and Dekker were decent enough for Stiff to have reason to bankroll a second album (this time, of all new Dekker material), to be recorded at Island Records label head Chris Blackwell's studio in the Bahamas with Robert "Addicted to Love" Palmer producing (and Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare on rhythm section). Unfortunately, this pairing of producer and artist/genre was disastrous (according to Jo-Ann Greene's review in the All Music Guide, Dekker's material is great, but virtually every production choice Palmer made was flat-out wrong and killed the album in the studio) and, apart from a few so-so albums of reggae covers for Trojan in the 1990s (including one with several members of The Specials), Compass Point marked the ignoble end of Dekker's mostly stunning recording career.

"Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story"

As someone who worked at a pretty unconventional indie record label in the 1990s and is completely obsessed with 1980s new wave music, I gleefully devoured Richard Balls' (how's that for a punk rock name, intentional or not?) terrific "Be Stiff: The Stiff Records Story."  This book recounts the rise and fall (1976-1985) of this boldly unorthodox label founded by pub act managers Jake Rivera and Dave Robinson, both of whom were motivated to start Stiff by their frustration at the majors' maddening refusal/inability to recognize and develop some of the amazing talent in the nascent punk and new wave scenes. Stiff's roster included The Damned ("New Rose" is considered to be the first punk single ever released), Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, The Adverts, The Belle Stars, Tenpole Tudor, Tracey Ullman, The Pogues, Devo, Kirsty MacColl, Dave Edmunds, Graham Parker and the Rumor, The Members, Motorhead, Dirty Looks (power pop from Staten Island, NY!), Rachel Sweet, the Plasmatics, Yello, and many more. And the label was celebrated for its innovative and cheeky marketing campaigns for releases and package tours; releases aimed at collectors (several versions of a single issued on different colored wax; the use of picture sleeves; and limited-edition runs of 45s); pre-MTV music videos; as well as often extraordinary graphic design, the bar set very high by the incredible Barney Bubbles (who also has a big ska connection--he directed video for The Specials' "Ghost Town").

What should be of great interest to ska fans is that Stiff was also home to Madness (whose incredible string of fourteen UK top ten singles helped keep the label afloat in some lean times), Desmond Dekker, The Equators, and The Untouchables. While there's some great info about Madness' and Desmond Dekker's experience with Stiff in these pages, The Equators and The Untouchables, in particular, get disappointingly short shrift here (not much more than a mention that The Untouchables' Stiff releases came out just as the label was failing). Admittedly, "Be Stiff" has a lot of territory to cover--the label released hundreds of singles, mostly one-off deals, and a little over a hundred albums, including the brilliant The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan (released just before the Gipper's election in 1980), which consisted of 40 minutes of complete silence and sold 40,000 copies--but The Untouchables hit it big in both the UK and Europe and I would have loved to learn more about how their classic Wild Child album came about...

Here are some choice bits and pieces from "Be Stiff" for the ska crowd:

Dave Robinson hired Madness to perform at his wedding essentially as an audition for the label, since he had heard a lot of great things about the band--who had only played their first gig a few months earlier--but had been unable to arrange to see them live. What helped seal the deal--according to Madness bassist Mark "Bedders" Bedford--was Elvis Costello's reaction to Madness' set: "...Dave [Robinson] said, 'I couldn't believe it. If Elvis Costello is dancing then you must be doing something right.'" Madness' dressing room at Robinson's wedding featured black and white square carpeting--something they noted at the time and returned to for the "Bed and Breakfast Man" video shoot after they had signed to Stiff.

The Equators--an all-black Birmingham ska band that formed in 1977, two years before 2 Tone--were featured on the 1980 "Son of Stiff" package tour in the UK and released the truly excellent Hot in 1981, which did not have much chart success (the album came out just as 2 Tone was flaming out and The Equators' sound may have been a bit too polished and rock/jazz/pop influenced for what was expected by 2 Tone fans at the time; though give it a listen now and you'll be left scratching your head to as why it wasn't a massive hit). Soon after forming The Beat, Dave Wakeling is quoted in "Be Stiff" as saying, "...just when we thought we'd discovered something new, we discovered The Equators right in our home town of Birmingham, who had already come up with a similar formation..."  As for why The Equators went with Stiff instead of the more natural fit of 2 Tone, Equators' singer Donald Bailey stated, "We thought, 'Hey, we were playing this music before the 2 Tone thing came out. Why give it to 2 Tone?'"

Hoping to capitalize on 2 Tone's enormous success--and Desmond Dekker's previous UK chart hits from 1967 to 1970 with "007," the #1 hit "Israelites," "It Mek," and "You Can Get It If You Really Want It"--Robinson arranged for the King of Ska to release two albums, Black and Dekker (recorded with Graham Parker's Rumours, The Equators, and the Akrylykz backing him and featuring good-to-great new recordings of many of his previous hits; 1980) and Compass Point (produced by Robert "Addicted to Love" Palmer and apparently a complete mess; released in 1981). Neither of these albums nor a slew of singles managed to return Dekker to the charts (last summer, I picked up his cover of The Heptones' "Book of Rules," released in 1982 on Stiff and it's pretty fantastic).

Lastly, if you check out Stiff's discography in the back of the book, you'll note that Stiff licensed and released The Potato 5's first 7" single ("Western Special" b/w "Big City") from Gaz's Rockin' Records (but Stiff's closing shop prevented further deals, forcing Gaz to get his label up-and-running on his own).