Lady Di Meets Ghost Town Riots

Thanks to ska archivist John at Hoi Polloi Skazine for forwarding this very relevant historic clipping (click on the image to enlarge it) from the 1997 "square" reissue of George Marshall's "The 2Tone Story."

Love that the skins could be swept up in the Di-mania. Sad that this time 'round we're the ones with so many people on the dole (though will we ever riot over the increasingly outrageous divide between the haves and have nots?!)...

US Reps: Bim Skala Bim at the London International Ska Festival

At the 2011 London International Ska Festival, the US ska scene was ably represented by Boston's mighty Bim Skala Bim (sorry, Dave Wakeling's US-based version of The Beat doesn't count!)--who also happened to be one of the featured acts at the very first London Ska Fest that Sean Flowerdew organized back in 1988!

Here's Bim in action performing a scorching version of their "Pretty Flowers" (from their Eyes & Ears album):

Dave & Ansel Collins + The Caroloregians = Reggae Magic!

Here is your moment of skinhead reggae zen (courtesy of the 2011 London International Ska Festival): the legendary duo of Dave and Ansel Collins backed by The Caroloregians (one of my favorite bands) performing "Double Barrel"!

King Hammond: Free Download, LP on Jump Up, New Record Coming!

It's a new season (though it's kind of hard to know if spring is really here in NYC, what with all the rain lately), so it must be time for the next King Hammond album to roll out, right?

Yeppers. It's called Showbiz! (More details to come.) Seriously now, does the King ever sleep?

While we're waiting for the new record to drop, we suggest that you ignore the other royal hullabaloo and bask in King Hammond's munificence--namely a free download of the new cut "Easy Lovin,'" which may be found here. (The "Easy Lovin'" video is below.) Plus, in this here post you can check out his new cut "Rockin' on Ridley Road" (a tribute to the Orange Street of his youth) and an advert for Floorshaker.

What's Floorshaker you ask? It's an LP (on orange/yellow vinyl from Jump Up Records) that collects all of the best tracks off of King Hammond's The King and I and Jacuzzi albums (the video previews all of the tracks)! A must for ska/skinhead reggae vinyl collectors and King Hammond fans alike!

Reviews of the 2011 London International Ska Festival

For we poor bastards that were unable to make it to the 2011 London International Ska Festival for lack of money and/or time, there are reviews in The Music Fix (accompanied by fantastic photos!), The Standard London Evening, and The Other Side to give us a little taste of what we missed. Plus, Kevin Flowerdew's Ska Vids Facebook page has a few live videos up right now.

Here's the money quote from the intro paragraph of The Standard London Evening review:

In a room full of Doc Martens, tartan-lined Harrington jackets, pork-pie hats, braces and buttoned up Fred Perrys one would be forgiven for thinking they had done a Doctor Who and ended up in 1979 Coventry at the heart of the English 2 Tone ska revival.

Hope to see many more LISF reviews and videos up on the internet soon! (I'm waiting for Jason Lawless' report in particular!)

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(Update)

Reggaeville has an excellent write up of LISF--plus a twenty minute video of Ken Boothe's performance.

Duff Gig Review: Big Audio Dynamite at the Roseland Ballroom (4/19/11)

While some of the New York music critics were less than impressed with Big Audio Dynamite's show at the Roseland Ballroom on April 19, 2011 (read Jon Pareles' review in The New York Times here and an even more curmudgeonly one from Dan "Headphones" Aquilante in the NY Post here), it really all depended on what your expectations were going in to the concert. I'd wager that the majority of those present were BAD fans from back in the day and wanted one more shot at seeing the original line-up in action (and quite honestly, how many more times are we going to have the opportunity to see Mick Jones from the Only Band That Matters performing on stage?!)

Likewise, I don't think Jonesy had any illusions about what the people wanted (to hear BAD's hits) and why (nostalgia for the music of their youth--that's why I was there). This re-union tour was not about deconstructing and re-imagining BAD's canon from a 2011 musical perspective. It was about authenticity--faithfully recreating BAD's sound and vibe from a couple of decades ago that the fans love and cherish. (According to MOJO, for this tour BAD performed using their original 1980's gear and samples--can it get any more real than that?!)

In 1985, when BAD unleashed This is Big Audio Dynamite and its even better follow-up a year later with No. 10, Upping Street (Trouser Press has spot-on write-ups of each release), its mash up of post-punk, reggae, hip-hop, funk, spaghetti Westerns, and B-movie audio samples was not exactly revolutionary (the distance between "This is Radio Clash" and anything off This is Big Audio Dynamite isn't as far as you'd think). Blondie, Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club, Afrika Bambaataa's and John Lydon's Time Zone, and dozens of other bands that fell under the New Wave umbrella had all ventured into this territory to a certain degree, and the first generation of underground hip-hop artists were reverse engineering their sound by sampling from everywhere and everyone else. However, there was still a major color divide in pop music at the time--the seismic crossover between "black" music and "white" mainstream rock audiences didn't come until 1986 with Run-D.M.C.'s classic rawk Aerosmith cover "Walk This Way" and the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill album. Yet BAD had created a fresher sound that was still on the outer limits of underground-alternative-New Wave scene and would end up significantly influencing countless bands to come. (Compared to the Bernie Rhodes' mad scientist attempt to reanimate/exploit The Clash's corpse--the disastrous Cut the Crap, which was released almost simultaneously with BAD's debut--This is Big Audio Dynamite sounded all the more brilliant and cutting-edge.)

However, a quarter of a century later--long after BAD's mutant DNA has been absorbed by the constantly and rapidly evolving beast known as alternative music (one of their most recognizable descendants has to be the Gorillaz, no?)--BAD's cuts now come across more like great pop tracks. Indeed, at the end of the Roseland show, my friend Marc Wasserman (Marco on the Bass) commented that BAD was really an "arena rock" act, which struck me as both odd (when considered in their original, 1980s context), yet completely accurate! We weren't meant to experience the reunited BAD in an illegal loft space in Bushwick, but in the weirdly decadent airplane hangar that is the Roseland Ballroom. In doing so, we lose the intricacies and layering of the rhythms and samples (I'm not sure if the sound mix was muddy or if Roseland's acoustics just make it so), but in The Clash, Mick Jones was always most concerned about them becoming the greatest rock band ever (and relentlessly seeking out and assimilating the newest underground sounds), while Joe Strummer wanted to cure all social injustice through the power and conviction of The Clash's music and lyrics.

At BAD's Roseland show, most of the cuts were almost exact reproductions of their recorded versions, which worked well with the songs that had relatively fast tempos ("The Bottom Line," "C'mon Every Beatbox," "Rush," and "Just Play Music") or an intensity to them ("Bad" and "E=MC2"). But other tracks (that I happen to love like "V. Thirteen" and "Beyond the Pale") kind of plodded along and would have been more compelling at faster speeds. Yes, there were few surprises (apart for a backing tape screw up on "E=MC2" which forced them to re-set everything and start the song over), but the mere fact that the show was happening in the first place was the pleasant shocker that sent the fans (me amongst them) out into the night sated and happy (days later, I still have passages from "E=MC2" and "The Bottom Line" running through my head).

Below are the videos I shot with my (now sadly outdated) Flip. Sorry that some of them are a little shaky. We were towards the back of the dance floor and I had to hold my arm straight up to shoot over the heads of all the tall people in front of us. Just to orient you, Don Letts is at the keyboard on the left hand of the stage; Mick Jones is next to him on guitar; Leo "EZ Kill" Williams is on bass; Dan Donovan is on the keys at the right of the stage; and you can sometimes spot Greg Roberts at the drum kit in back.





















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For another (positive) take on the show, check out the Brooklyn Vegan review, which includes some great pix and the complete set list for the night (which seems to be the same for any gig on their tour).

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Lastly, my son, who is a big Clash fan, was kind of bummed that he couldn't go to the BAD show to see Mick Jones (the tix were mad expensive, yo!). After watching some of BAD's videos on YouTube, he had spotted the BAD hip-hop styled baseball caps that the band sported on the cover of No. 10, Upping Street and asked me to pick up one at the merch table as sort of a consolation prize. I told him that I would, but warned him that I didn't think it was likely that they'd have them all these years later.

So whaddaya know, when I walked into Roseland they were selling BAD caps (for a reasonable $20)--I picked up one in black corduroy with BAD spelled out in red letters. Needless to say, he was psyched when I got home and presented it to him. He's got to be one of the few 13 year-olds in NYC with a BAD hat, but I'm proud to say that's just the kind of kid he is.

DGTS Update

Sorry to be a bit MIA, Duff Guide to Ska readers. Last week, I was battling either severe allergies or a really bad cold--could have been either. All I know is that I felt like crap--and I barely made it through the bare minimum obligations of work and family. And now work has picked up significantly (which my wallet likes very much, thank you).

So here are a few bits and pieces to read--and I promise to grind up the writing machine that is I and I--and pump out some new album reviews, etc. soon!

- I had a very early and short window of time to hit Record Store Day on Saturday, so I hopped the express train to J&R Music and ended up being kind of repulsed by my fellow record-obsessed people. It was barely after the store had opened, and hordes of anxious middle-aged, pasty, C.H.U.D.-type people (plus a few indie-rock hipsters) were knocking over and stepping on merch to get their mitts on the limited-edition RSD vinyl. There was a giant crowd around a small bin in a cramped aisle that held the jumbled pile (yes, pile) of RSD vinyl singles. People who couldn't force their way to front were shouting out requests for different singles--and if someone found one (and didn't want it), they'd hand it out to the person. Part of my mission was to pick up the split Green Day/Husker Du orange single for my son (a rabid Green Day fan) and, through some miracle, someone found the last three and handed one to me (thank you, stranger!). The one ska/reggae Record Store Day release to be had was the Peter Tosh "Legalize It" b/w "Equal Rights" red vinyl single, which I bought (it sounds brilliant)--and I picked up new singles by The Cars and New York Dolls (never did see the split Ramones/Red Hot Chili Peppers single--those must have been snatched up within seconds).

- I'm psyched to see Big Audio Dynamite tonight with a crew that remembers them from the first time around (Marc Wasserman of Bigger Thomas, Roy Radics of The Rudie Crew, Sid Reitzfeld of the A-Kings/Thick as Thieves, and Mike D. of Sgt. Scagnetti). BAD received some terrific press from their Coachella performance in the LA Times (which notes that BAD was really quite groundbreaking--but strangely overlooked) and Huffington Post. Plus, Marco on the Bass has an excellent post up about the Mick Jones-Beat/General Public connection (Mick played guitar on GP's debut album, but then moved on to form Big Audio Dynamite).

Gotta run!

Support Your Local Musicslinger!

This Saturday (4/16/11) is the international Record Store Day, so I'm urging (if not begging) you to go out to support your local recorded music shop (if you're lucky enough to have one left near you). I'm taking my son (there is a new, RSD limited-edition Green Day/Husker Du vinyl single that I'm dangling in front of him to get him out the door)...gotta teach them well, they say.

It happens that there are a few releases of direct interest to the ska/reggae fan (though, of course, the overall list of RSD releases in the UK is much cooler that here in the US of A):

US:

- Peter Tosh, "Legalize It" b/w "Equal Rights," (7-inch)

(Here is the complete list of US RSD releases--I'll be picking up singles from The Cars, DBs, Ramones/Red Hot Chili Peppers, NY Dolls, and Bad Brains.)

UK:

- Big Audio Dynamite, limited-edition numbered single (7-inch)

- The Clash, “The Magnificent Seven,” on red vinyl and CD with different B-sides (7-inch, CD)

- Toots & The Maytals, "Do The Boogaloo" b/w "Bim Today, Bam Tomorrow," on heavyweight vinyl (7-inch, Trojan)

(Find the complete list of UK Record Store Day releases here.)

If somebody in the mother country could pick up the RSD releases by The Clash, BAD, Toots, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Smiths (The Queen is Dead on 10" vinyl!) for me, I'd sure appreciate it! Drop me a line!

Duff MOJO Watch: Ramones, Rocksteady Movie, Big Youth, Bad Manners

Compared to this month's Vive Le Rock!, the May 2011 MOJO has scant ska or reggae coverage to offer, even though there are plenty of worthy releases coming out/bands touring, etc. (Hmmm...the 2011 London International Ska Festival doesn't rate at least some sort of preview?!) However, MOJO cover boys The Ramones give me the opportunity to recount two minor Joey Ramone-ska connections. For a brief time in the late 80s, Joey Ramone owned a small club called Downtown that was located in the basement of a building that was just off Broadway on Bond Street. In 1989 or 1990, I caught a show there with the newly-minted, Django-led ska act Skinnerbox--my brother's best friend Steve Abrams was their guitarist at the time--and NYC Oi band The Press; afterwards, Steve invited me backstage to hang out. As it turns out, it was Joey Ramones' birthday (May 19) and they were holding a little celebration for him. So, fortified by all of the beer sloshing around in my belly, I went up to the punk legend that towered over me (even as hunched over as he was), thrust my hand into his and wished him a happy birthday. Joey said something like, "Thanks, man!" and offered me some of his cake, which I gobbled down when not smiling ear to ear. It was a great New York moment--the kind that reinforced the notion that you lived in the greatest city in the world. (Even though he wouldn't have known me from Adam, I passed by him many times in the East/West Village throughout the 90s...he'd just be walking around with a friend as I was on my way to work or a record shop.)

The other ska gig I caught at Downtown was an ultra-rare NYC appearance by The Untouchables (which must have been sometime in the winter or spring of 1989). Even though the album that they were touring in support of (Double OO Soul) was less than stellar (my friend Andy was reluctant to see the show, since he'd heard bad things about the record), The Untouchables unleashed one of most brilliant and energetic live performances I've ever seen (Black Rock Coaltion funk-metal rockers 24-7 Spyz were also on the bill and were extraordinarily good). Most of The Untouchables' set that night was comprised of cuts from Wild Child, their debut album, which is a must for every self-respecting ska fan's collection (and my compatriot Marco on the Bass has a great appreciation of the band and this record here).

Even though this is a little off topic, it should be noted that the articles in MOJO about The Ramones are excellent, including one that reveals that Joey's pretty severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder--which had afflicted him since he was a kid--led to his demise ten years ago (on April 15, 2001 at the shockingly young age of 49). Joey had been convinced that he had not closed his chiropractor's door properly--he'd already gone uptown earlier in the night to check it once--but decided to go check again at 6:00 am on December 31, 2000. He slipped on some ice outside his Village apartment and ended up breaking his hip--he'd had lymphatic cancer since 1994 and the medication he'd been taking to treat it caused his bones to become very brittle and fragile. To fix the hip, he had to go off the cancer drugs, which gave the cancer the opening it needed to complete its terrible work. Earlier that year, Joey had become friends with Bono, who offered to take care of his medical bills when he found out that Joey was in the hospital--and Bono was one of the last people to talk to Joey on the phone when he was in intensive care (when they unplug Joey from the respirator, U2's "In a Little While" from All That You Can't Leave Behind is playing on the boombox). It's heartbreaking stuff.

As for this month's attention to ska, there is a short, positive review of the Pressure Drop expanded reissue of Bad Manners' debut Ska'n'B (they should also have mentioned the reissues of Loonee Tunes, Gosh It's... and Forging Ahead while they were at it). Ian Harrison praises the reissue of Big Youth's awesome Screaming Target LP on Sunspot in his "Vinyl Countdown" column. There is also a double review of Looking Back: The Jamaican Chart Hits of 1958 and 1959 and Easy Snapping: The Jamaican Chart Hits of 1960 (Sunrise Records), which documents the roots and rise of the Jamaican music industry as reflected in the island's record sales charts for each of these years. In '58 and '59, the R&B pumping out of New Orleans dominated (with artists like Louis Jordan, Fats Domino, Louis Prima, Perez Prado, The Platters, The Drifters, and Nat King Cole), but by 1960 Laurel Aitken, Owen Gray, and Jackie Edwards were making this style their own. Then things started shifting away from the American sounds towards something closer to Jamaican ska with the involvement of sound system owners Duke Reid, Clement Dodd and others. Reviewer Lloyd Bradley gives both comps (compiled and with liner notes by Laurence Cane-Honeysett) four stars.

Lastly, David Katz reviews the documentary "Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae," directed by Stascha Bader. The original plan for the movie was to have guitarist Lynn Taitt return to JA for a concert and to re-record rocksteady hits with their 60s-era vocalists. But Taitt had to drop out to undergo cancer treatment (he died earlier this year of cardiac arrest after being hospitalized for pneumonia--read Brian Keyo's extraordinary tribute to Lynn Taitt here). Despite this major setback, the filmmaker was able to connect with and record performances by many in the rocksteady firmament (including Ken Boothe, Hopeton Lewis, Judy Mowatt, Dawn Penn, Derrick Morgan, Leroy Sibbles, The Tamlins, Stranger Cole, Ernest Ranglin, and Marcia Griffiths). Katz gives "Rocksteady" four stars, so I think I'd better track this one down and give it a look...(indeed, the trailer looks amazing and the newly recorded cuts sound out of this world).

Duff Guide Vive Le Rock! Ska Watch

On a quick lunch break from one of my freelance gigs where I'm writing grant applications for an arts and crafts-type museum(!), I stumbled across the completely unexpected. While looking for a copy of the latest MOJO (with The Ramones on the cover!) at the dying Borders Books near Columbus Circle, I discovered a new UK music mag called Vive Le Rock! (I would have liked to have been in the conference room when they were batting around names for the publication if this is the winner) that is blatantly gunning for the MOJO readership--focusing on the punk, New Wave, alternative, and rock scenes past and present. (Adam Ant is their cover man--and "Vive Le Rock" is an Adam Ant track/album--which gives you an idea of the demographic they're seeking: middle age music fans like me who were teens during the height of post-punk/New Wave and actually still buy print media and music in tangible formats.) Vive Le Rock!'s writing isn't as consistently strong as MOJO's and the design/layout is pretty bland for a mag that aspires to be on the cutting-edge of alternative music, but, in all fairness, this is their second issue and they haven't fully gained their sea legs yet.

Whatever Vive Le Rock!'s shortcomings, it made its way to the cashier with me after I flipped through the first couple of pages and came across a feature on the 2011 London International Ska Festival and an accompanying interview with Dave Wakeling. Plus ska record reviews! Sold!

Assistant editor Andy Peart provides almost all of the ska coverage, interviewing Sean Flowerdew for the feature on the 2011 London International Ska Festival (check out the rad photo of t-boner Vinnie Nobile from Bim Skala Bim at the 1988 London Ska Fest that accompanies the article!). Peart also talks to Dave Wakeling (who always has something interesting to say), since his version of The Beat (versus Ranking Roger's UK edition of the band) is one of the key groups at the LISF. (Fun facts: Dave is open to any of his former Beat mates joining him on-stage for any of his UK dates; and he finds that Americans take everything too literally--Dave: "I miss how [in the UK] someone could say the exact opposite of what they meant, and everyone got it from the face being pulled. Irony, nuance and sarcasm: the condiments of life.")

Peart also reviews Maroon Town's new Urban Myths album (Rockers Revolt), giving it an 8 out of 10; the 30th anniversary reissue of UB40's groundbreaking, should-have-been 2 Tone-released Signing Off album (7 out of 10); the Pressure Drop Laurel Aitken collections Everybody Ska: Rudi Got Married 1980-1992 (8 out of 10) and Voodoo Woman (7 out of 10); and writes up glowing appraisals of recent live gigs (though doesn't note the dates) by UB40, The Selecter (the Pauline Black and Gaps Hendrickson version), and Madness.

Lastly, Lee Catterell raves about The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983 comp--which Jump Up is carrying in the USA--dubbing it worthy of a 9 out of 10. Don't know much about the history of this scene, but I'm going to make a point of picking up this collection after reading this...

Here's hoping that Vive le Rock! continues to develop and flourish--especially if they're going to continue to devote significant column inches to ska music!