Monty Neysmith and The BishopsMonty Neysmith Meets The Bishops (CD/LP, Jump Up Records, 2017): Symarip's Monty Neysmith is backed by Omaha, Nebraska's Bishops on this winning album full of Neysmith's new ska and skinhead originals ("Jump," a sly tribute to a certain label; "My Girl," a hilarious song about unabashedly loving someone outside the traditional definitions of beauty; and "Love Rock," which is about digging how your lady looks and feels dancing--amongst other things--with you); versions of a few of his beloved Symarip tunes with Roy Ellis ("Fung Shu" and "Skin Flint," released as singles earlier this year and reviewed by us), and some undeniably great selections of covers (Mongo Santamaria/The Skatalites' "El Pussycat," Sam Cooke's "Dancing the Night Away," and the truly inspired adaptation of Ed and Patsy Bruce's classic country tune popularized by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys," which is reimagined as "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Skinheads"--"....Don't let them wear boots/And ride them old scoots/Make them be doctors and lawyers and such"). Don't miss this one!
I knew I probably was going to like Smiley and the Underclass' LP when my mail ordered copy arrived in NYC from the UK with the following request on the back of the mailer: "Dear Mailman, if you pass Trump Tower, stick a middle finger up for me." (Hopefully, he or she complied!)
London's Smiley and the Underclass occupy the same fantastic punk 'n' reggae space as The Clash, The Ruts, and Citizen Fish--and are equally as outspoken in the face of injustice as those aforementioned bands. Their fiercely good debut album Rebels Out There (engineered by Nick Manasseh) is filled with indelible songs of outrage and lament over our thoroughly screwed up world--societal breakdown ("Babylon is Spiraling Out of Control") and environmental apocalypse ("Another Kind of Human") loom on the horizon throughout the course of these songs--but the band often posits that the solutions to these myriad issues will only come about if the listener becomes involved and takes action. However bad it is out there, it's not hopeless (yet).
Indeed, on the anti-conformist title track, Smiley repeatedly wails "Are there any rebels out there?" and then urges the listener, "Don't pay your mortgage, don't pay your tax/Take your money out of their banks/Know your neighbours, secret town halls/People means us, politics means wars/Real rebels grow food, don't eat that shit/from a pale faced clown who wants to kill off the kids/Mother nature's dying while we're running this race/Can we look our grandkids in the face?" Likewise, in the brilliant "Want Stuff/Make Stuff," Smiley and the Underclass want to shake you out of apathy/complacency to actively lead your life, no matter what your station or circumstance: "We're living and swimming within a time that's getting harder/No money, austerity, predatory while the rich hide in the larder/But I love ya, I love ya, no matter where you're heads at today/So I say/Want stuff? Make stuff/Want love? Make love/Want truth? Make truth in the booth..." (presumably both the voting and recording booths). And there's a great environmental plea wrapped within ("So, all I really got to say in case the Earth should pass away/Please be kind and use your mind and plant a zillion trees a day!"). Do be sure to check out all of their song lyrics on their Bandcamp page (they're not included with the LP).
Other standout tracks include "It's All England" (featuring Vin Gordon on trombone), which is about feeling and being disenfranchised in your own, completely familiar land ("When I think of England I don't think of black cabs and cops/I think of chain links and locks/Dirty looks and chicken shops, tower blocks/and a wrap of weed in my socks"); the skabilly "Machiavelli Blues" (what you get when you live in a society that values duplicity and self-interest above all else); the Jim Morrison referencing "No-One's Getting Out," a song from the perspective of life itself (as if it were a character in "The Seventh Seal"); their powerful cover of Johnny Osbourne's "Truth and Rights"; and the gleeful, you-have-to-sing-along anthem of empowerment and rebellion, "Jump the Barrier."
People looking for potent protest music for the Trump/May era need look no further than Smiley and the Underclass' dynamite Rebels Out There.
I've been listening to Pama International's ninth album for weeks now, ruminating about whether or not this is a political concept record of sorts (read on to find out!). However, during that time, what's never been in question is the sheer excellence of all of the ska-reggae-soul songs contained on Pama International's Love and Austerity. The LP is anchored by two incredible covers that kick off each side: Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" and John Holt's "Man Next Door." The former could be read as a metaphor for climate change, while the latter might be interpreted as being about societal breakdown ("I've got to get away from here/This is not a place for me to stay/I've got to take my family/And find a quiet place"). Even the one catchy instrumental on the album is named "Gasoline" (the literal fuel of our planet's destruction and a prime example of humankind's extreme folly). To this mix, add their original "Austerity Skank," which tries to shake off the gray of the punishing Cameron--and now Theresa May/Brexit--years through PMA: "Hard times have come/Now, hard times be gone/No more illusions/System delusions/Our hard times are done...I'm stepping out to a better place/Tired of all of the lies getting in the way/I just want to be free/With no austerity..."
Even most of the lush love songs on this album (with the exception of "Skies Are Blue"--for now!) are filled with friction, dysfunction, and entropy. Life is passing by a man sleepwalking through his relationship in "Wake Up" ("We spend hours/Worrying about the business/Just to go and miss the sunset...Wake up, my darling/For you are the reason why/I celebrate life every time you smile"). Another couple is on the verge of breaking up in "I Cried Until I Stopped"--she's heartbroken over what must happen (but even her tears have limits)--though by the end of the song she defiantly sings that she'll "never stop loving you." The last track on the LP is a soulful cover of John Loudermilk's 1962 tune "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," which on its face is hopeful about a couple's future together, but can't quite push away the reality that not everything lasts ("Kiss me each morning for a million years/Hold me each evening by your side/Tell me you'll love me for a million years/Then if it don't work out/Then if it don't work out/Then you can tell me goodbye").
On Love and Austerity, Pama International's lyrics may be downbeat, but the exquisite music and wonderful performances pack a staggering emotional wollop. This is the music to help get you through the rough days that most likely lay ahead...
The August 2017 issue of MOJO magazine (which is taking longer and longer to find its way over to the USA each month; my newsagent told me that he heard that the distributor might start bringing the bulk of each month's issues over by boat and only have some copies airmailed--and the consumer would pay more for the airmailed copies if they want to receive them more quickly!) features a fantastic warts-and-all four-page history of The Selecter by Lois Wilson, as well as an obit for The Beat's late and truly amazing saxophonist, Saxa (compare it to our remembrance of the man).
The Selecter feature hews fairly closely to what I've read about the band previously (particularly via Pauline Black's autobiography "Black by Design"), though I don't think it's been ever stated so clearly that Black (according to Neol Davies) was the one to break up the Celebrate the Bullet-era Selecter--and I had no idea how the early 90s revival of The Selecter, which included both Davies and Black (and was quite good live--see Out on the Streets), managed to lose Davies fairly early on. This piece does give short shrift to the recent Black/Hendrickson/Pyzer version of The Selecter; they've released a series of undeniably great albums full of new material and have extensively toured in support of them (and they're playing in the USA again this August). Oh, and it seems that The Selecter's forthcoming album was originally titled Human Too.
When I was writing my obit for Saxa, I found it pretty difficult to find any reliable info about Saxa's goings on in the UK in the 1960s--he claimed to have played with The Beatles and Elvis during that time (I did track down Malu Halasa's "Twist and Crawl," an entertaining Wha'ppen-era biography of The Beat, but even that didn't have a lot of solid facts on Saxa's background). So, it was interesting to see that MOJO's Ian Harrison had similar challenges. All in all, MOJO did Saxa proud.
You can now pre-orderThe Selecter's new album Daylight (the fourth from this iteration of the band), which will be released on October 6, 2017 on CD, heavyweight vinyl, and digital download. As we previously noted, the band already has issued the first digital single off the record, "Frontline" (see the official music video below).
The quality control of The Selecter's recent albums has been undeniably high (see our review of Subculture), so my gut feeling (reinforced by the amazing "Frontline") is that this one will be a keeper, as well. (I've pre-ordered the vinyl, which will may be hard to find in the US...)
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The Selecter with Pauline Black and Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson have just released the winning new digital single "Frontline" to promote their upcoming album Daylight, which will be issued on October 6, 2017.
Picking up where the powerful "Ghost Town"-like "Breakdown" left off (which is from their recent Subculture album, read The Duff Guide to Ska review here), the wildly catchy "Frontline" is critical of our smartphone/social media addicted society, where we have significantly more access to information and each other than ever before in the history of humanity, but actually seem to be increasingly disconnected, numb, and apathetic as a result. "Frontline's" reference to the extrajudicial/racial police killing of Eric Garner makes it also a call for real, in-person protesting and organizing for social justice and change--not Facebook posts that float without impact in the ether of cyberspace.
"Frontline, out on the street
Frontline, out on the street
Don't get me started
I'm all in a rush
You want to push me
Under a bus
I'm feeling restless
I need to believe
In something more
Than I want to stay free
My mind is full
My heart is empty
It's hard to live
In a world of plenty
The more I see
The less I feel
You sell me dreams
But they're not real
Frontline, out on the street
Frontline, out on the street
I feel a hunger
A hunger in me
I saw a man
Pushed off his feet
He tried to be
All he could be
He shouted out
"Now, I can't breathe!"
My mind is full
My heart is empty
It's hard to live
In a world of plenty
The more I see
The less I feel
You sell me dreams
But they're not real
Frontline, out on the street
Frontline, out on the street
I'm nobody's, nobody's hashtag
Ever the mighty shall fall
I'm nobody's, nobody's hashtag
Nobody's hashtag at all"
+ + + +
The Selecter's "Frontline" is available from these digital retailers (and it would make a great 7" vinyl single...):
The Selecter will be touring the USA and Canada this August (see dates and venues above in the image). The NYC show also features openers Rude Boy George (who also are playing the Fairfield, CT date) and The Pandemics. If The Selecter are coming anywhere near you, make sure to catch their performance--they're amazingly good these days (here's my write-up of their show in NYC last fall as proof).
What They're Saying About My Book "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone"
“An essential read…Stephen's eye for detail is incredible and his love for 2 Tone oozes from each page.” — Kevin Flowerdew, Do the Dog Skazine
“Written with a personal touch and with great passion about the bands and releases while giving a lot of emphasis to the lyrics, Stephen’s book is a great guiding hand to navigating your way to some great new music.” — Peter Walsh, 2-Tone.info
“It's some of the finest Madness analysis I've ever read.” —Donald Trull, Stateside Madness
“Steve's own story would make a great book, but instead he's written The Duff Guide to 2 Tone, a 250+ page collection of 2 Tone-related pieces from his blog. There are reviews of original pieces, but the book's real purpose is to show how the 2 Tone sound and—more importantly its ideals—carry on today...Get this book right away!" — Charles Benoit, Reggae Steady Ska
"...Shafer has definitely not forgotten how socially conscious issues were at the root of Ska even from the beginning. He makes certain to thread the political issues that motivated the development of Ska throughout his narrative; painting a picture that took both the oppressive political environments and the often ecstatic musical content into account. And in that, he nails down for me what the enduring pull of Ska was to its many fans. Was there ever a more upbeat dance music that combined its boundless energy with a push for progressive social values and calling truth to power?" —Post-Punk Monk
"...[The Duff Guide to 2 Tone is a] chatty, informative and knowledgeable work, one that you can either sit down and read or use as a reference source..." —Nik Skeat, Scootering Magazine
"During the reading of the book it is dangerous to have a screen open next to you with Discogs. I have found lots of ‘new music’ via the stories in The Duff Guide to 2 Tone which I must have." -- Peter Vrakking, Blue Beat & Ska
In the mail today, I received the first copy of my new paperback book The Duff Guide to 2 Tone --and am thrilled to announce that it is now...
About Your Duff Guide
Steve Shafer/The Duff Guide to Ska For most of the 1990s, I was the promotions, marketing, production guy for Moon Records (RIP). It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Seriously, I miss it badly. During 1999/2000, I ran 7 Wonders of the World Music, the first digital download-only ska label that was too ahead of the curve for its own good (RIP).
I filmed and edited this Toasters video for $2,500, which made its debut on MTV's 120 Minutes. I also put together these compilations for Moon: the first three Skarmageddons; Ska United: A Global Ska Sampler; Skank Down Under; This Are Moon Ska I, II, and III; and Moonshot!
Here's an old interview with Adam Monkey from Read Magazine that covers my days at Moon and 7 Wonders. I also did a somewhat more recent interview with Read Junk.
I've been interviewed about ska music and Moon Records for The New York Times, Heather Augustyn's "Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation," Aaron Carnes' "In Defense of Ska," Kenneth Partridge's "Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing," and Marc Wasserman's "Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History" (I also wrote the introductory chapter "1985: The Year American Ska Broke" for Wasserman's book).
And I'm the author of "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone," which can be ordered from Amazon--and is available in the US from Jump Up Records, and in Europe from the 2 Tone Village Shop (Coventry, UK), Champion Sound Records (Hull, UK), Aggroshop (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and Copasetic Mailorder (Hamburg, Germany). Plus, my book was on sale in the museum shop for the "2 Tone: Lives & Legacies" exhibition (May 28 - September 12, 2021), curated by Simon Reynolds, Cory Barrett, Pete Chambers, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike and Daniel Rachel, at the Herbert Art Gallery Museum in Coventry, UK.
I'm now working on my next book, "Calling All the Rude Boys: The Duff Guide to The Toasters, 1981-1992," to be published in 2023.
If you have a ska or reggae release that you'd like me to consider reviewing, please send an e-mail to Steve at duffguidetoska@gmail.com. You should know that I am old school and prefer music in tangible formats (plus I might use your music when I DJ ska events). I'd also appreciate any news or tips you may have about bands.
All reviews and interviews posted on The Duff Guide to Ska are copyrighted and are the sole property of Steve Shafer. Please contact me for permission to reproduce anything on this blog.
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Visit The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel!
Check out The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel for footage of ska bands in action in clubs around NYC, as well as unusual and rare ska videos from the 90s! Bands featured include The Toasters, The Bluebeats, The Forthrights, Across the Aisle, The Caroloregians, The Moon Invaders, The Rudie Crew, Tip the Van, Hey Stranger, Beat Brigade, Bigger Thomas, King Chango, The Scofflaws, UB40, The Hard Times, Jah Love and the Valentinians, The Shifters, Rudies Don't Care, Big Audio Dynamite, Stranger Cole and Patsy with Crazy Baldhead, Queen P of Ocean 11, King Hammond, The Snails, King Django, Doomsday! The Ultimate Tribute to Mephiskapheles Consisting of Former Members of Mephiskapheles, Destroy Babylon, The Frightnrs, The Pandemics, Los Skarroneros, The Bullbuckers, The Scofflaws, The Reggay Lords, The Copacetics, Rude Boy George, Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, The Specials, Roddy Radiation and Lynval Golding, The Ladrones, Chris Murray, Radio Riddler, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro, and Mickey Virtue, Barbicide, The Twilights, Bim Skala Bim featuring John Bunkley (Gangster Fun), The Pomps, and more!
Saturday, August 26, 2017 @ 9:00 pm
