Gig Review: Dennis Bovell @ Meow, Wellington, 21 October 2023

I had no idea what to expect when I rocked up to Meow on Saturday night for the Dennis Bovell gig. Would it be a simple DJ set, or a performance set from the prolific UK dub producer? I was not fussed either way, and as it happened, it turned out to be a little bit of both.

The truth is, as an MBE-toting 70-year-old master of his craft, Bovell can do whatever the hell he wants. He has nothing left to prove. The man’s a legend within dub and reggae circles, and the vast majority of us present - the venue was around seventy percent full - were there simply to share the same rarified air as Dennis Bovell. To be in the same room. And to bask in the privilege of it.

So we got Bovell the selecta, Bovell the toaster, Bovell the performer, and morsels of Bovell the man, especially on those almost stream-of-consciousness moments when - often mid-track - he decided to share a short anecdote or memory with us. Which was more than occasional, and this gig was easily one of the more artist-chat-friendly interactive sets I’ve attended.

Musically it was mostly about Bovell playing selected tracks he’s been associated with across his long and fruitful career. Whether that involvement was as a vocalist, as a guitarist/musician, or more commonly, as a producer. He’d play those tracks, toast over the top, freestyling along, spontaneously singing the intro to one tune, or joining in on another song mid-chorus or part way through. It appeared random and unplanned, carefree and unproduced, which very much added to its charm.

As a selector, Bovell has impeccable taste. A taste honed by years of grassroots involvement with his genre of choice. His set was a hybrid concoction of reggae, rocksteady, ska, soul, and dub.

You know the drill: a selection of big bottom-heavy bass-driven tunes that at times had the venue shaking at its structural core. The best of which, for me, included tunes from Toots, Sly & Robbie, Gregory Isaacs, and Dennis Brown. But there was plenty for everyone.

There was a cool story about how Bovell had beefed up and reggae-fied a Sade track from the artist’s Soldier of Love album, after Sade herself had requested it upon sending Bovell the vocal stems. And there was some high praise for a kindred spirit of sorts, Linton Kwesi-Johnson, when offering up an LKJ gem he’d collaborated on.

We even got the odd Matumbi track, with Matumbi of course being the UK-based 1970s reggae act which gave Bovell his initial exposure.

The dub production and technical side of Bovell’s wider skillset was far less obvious - mostly only identifiable with the odd tempo or pitch change, and there wasn’t much in the way of the extra effects or wizardry Bovell would otherwise have at his fingertip disposal inside a studio.

I was later informed Bovell played for “three hours” or more, but my own lethargy and relative sobriety meant I managed only around two hours of the set, happy enough just to have experienced Bovell up close and personal, even if only briefly.

 

Classic Album Review: Junior Murvin - Muggers in the Street (1984)

We welcome back the bard of Montrose, as Craig Stephen explores a lost Jamaican “gem” for our classic album files …

Seven years after The Clash picked up on Junior Murvin’s stunning ‘Police and Thieves’ for their debut album, turning it into a worldwide anthem, could Murvin now be dismissed as a one-hit wonder? Not a chance. 

While lacking the apocalyptic dread of the 1977 album, also called Police and Thieves, Murvin’s Muggers in the Street is an overlooked gem at a time when roots reggae was somewhat unfashionable in Jamaica following Bob Marley’s death and the popularity of dancehall. 

On what was only Murvin’s third album in seven years he was backed by the Roots Radics Band and produced by Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes, who was considered to be one of dancehall’s most successful producers. 

But that doesn’t mean Murvin had radically changed his style in line with the day’s fad. Muggers in the Street is ostensibly a reggae album in the mould of the great 70s Jamaican workings, including Police and Thieves.

There is a link to that particular work in the title track which is little more than a reworking of ‘Police and Thieves’ the single. It’s not clear why Murvin redid this, there was nothing wrong with the original after all, and the lyrics on the original were far more potent. So, where we once had “Police and thieves in the streets (oh yeah)/ Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition/ From genesis to revelation, yeah/ The next generation will be hear me”, we now have: “Muggers in the street/ Rob everybody that they meet/ In the street where the criminal acts/ They don’t care who they rob.”

The original is about the gang war and police brutality that was rampant in the streets of Kingston in the 70s; the remake appears to concerned only with the muggers as criminals, and not part of a rotten state that fed the criminality.

There’s no harm in it being included, in fact I would proffer that at least a couple of tracks on the second side could have been cut loose ahead of any others. 

All of the wholesome meals are on the first half, and the standout is undoubtedly ‘Strikes and Demonstrations’, a cutting diatribe on the failed economic policy of the times: “Worldwide crisis is at large/ At home and abroad.” Murvin doesn’t necessarily support such actions, he just feels it’s a consequence of a world that doesn’t care anymore.

In 1984 Murvin fretted about his personal safety, imploring the working classes to ‘Stop the Crime’ and ‘Think Twice’ about their actions. Sensible advice, perhaps, but it’s doubtful if the poor would be moved by a record when the landlord is threatening eviction. 

If it sounds like too much doom and gloom then there’s time for upbeat moments with ‘Jamaican Girls’ (“Jamaican girls are really nice/ Jamaican girls are sugar and spice”) and ‘Champagne and Wine’ (“I’ve got the money/you’ve got the time/C’mon let’s drink champagne and wine”) with the latter definitely signalling that the roots-heavy feel of a few years previous was now out the window, as the influence of Lawes began to show. 

Murvin would continue recording until about 2007 (died 2013), but that period included only four studio albums. Of those, Apartheid, released two years after Muggers in the Street, shows a devotion to exposing injustice. 

Muggers in the Street was recently given a vinyl reissue; it can only be hoped that Police and Thieves and Apartheid are given the same treatment soon. 

EP Review: Art-X & The Roots Addict - Polarity (2020)

Issued on the Original Dub Gathering imprint, Polarity is another fine mini album or EP-length release from French melodica maestro Art-X, and another collaboration with the Roots Addict. It follows on from their equally impressive Under Mi Kulcha joint release of a few years back. 

Polarity consists of six tracks, all being instrumental (voiceover samples aside), and all being resplendent in a skanky roots reggae style. Which means copious amounts of melodica, bass, vintage keys, and earthy guitar tones. 

The best tracks are opener 'Origin', plus 'The Smoke of Hell', and the super rootsy closer 'Moonlight', but they’re all decent, and you can pick up a hard-to-resist free download direct from the Original Dub Gathering website (here). 

Or you can stream the entire release below:

A Double Dose of Scratch: Rainford and The Black Album

Producer, artist, and all-round reggae superstar Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry isn’t one to live on his weighty legacy. Now well into his 80s, Perry has produced two studio albums in less than two years as he continues his journey into the new sounds of Jamaica. Craig Stephen takes a closer look: 

Rainford (2019)

Perry’s umpteenth studio album was co-produced with dub reggae producer extraordinaire Adrian Sherwood. Perry as ever provides the vocals, sounding, yes, like an elderly man, but a man with fire still burning in his belly. 

Some tracks have a freestyle, go-with-the-flow format, with Biblical allusions that veer into babbling chants, snarls and shrieks. 

The final track, perhaps ominously but appropriately, is ‘Autobiography of the Upsetter’, and while I expect Perry to continue for a few more years yet there will naturally be a point at which the book is closed. This feels like some sort of career-capping memoir as Perry reminisces on his life in music. 

Unfortunately, the vocals ebb and flow and there are words that are hard to comprehend. He begins by saying he was born Rainford Henry Perry in Jamaica in 1936, informing the listener that his father was a freemason, his mother an Eto Queen (no, I don’t know either) … “They shared a drink together, they then go on to make a Godly being/ Just look at me.” 

Among his reminisces are how, he says, he made the Wailers, and in particular its frontman: 

“Bob Marley come to me saying ‘my cup is overflow, my cup is overflow, and I don’t know what to do. Can you help Mister Perry?’ Yes I can, I give you Punky Reggae Party.” 

He later reminds listeners of his work with Susan Cadogan, who had a number of big reggae hits in the UK including the Perry-produced ‘Hurt So Good’. 

A couple of tracks, if we are honest, don’t quite continue the quality but ‘Makumba Rock’ partially makes up for such slackness – it is an unhinged jam where Perry alternately cries like a baby, bleats like a goat, and whines “I want my mommy, I want my daddy” as heraldic horns blast forth and a hardcore dub rhythm transports the listener back to 1974 and near the end warns Britons: “Prince Charles will not be King.” 

The Black Album (2018)

The Beatles released The White Album; Metallica released a self-titled album that became known as The Black Album. Both colours completely dominated the respective covers. The difference with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s work is that it reflects his skin colour, and the blackness of the cover is his wrinkly, ageing hand. 

This is the artwork, but it suggests a theme. Or a statement. 

With Robbie Lyn and former Perry producer Daniel Boyle in tow, Perry has created an album that harks back to the 1970s halcyon days of reggae and dub. To add to the retro feel each track is followed by its dub version, which means that the vinyl version spills over on to two disks. Some of these versions are as good as, or perhaps even better, than its daddy.

The opening track, ‘Mr Brown In Town’, includes Perry’s declaration that “I'm still alive, refuse to die”. You can’t argue with that.

Continuing with the colour theme, let’s skip to ‘Your Shadow Is Black’, a track that has that roots reggae feel as Scratch and background harmonies mingle in true 1975 fashion with obscure, repetitive lyrics rattling off frenetically. Then hold on for the dub version with the beautiful amalgam of flute and melodica brought to the forefront with a minimal amount of lyrics.

The Beatles reference at the beginning wasn’t merely a clutch at an album with similar tones of colour. The Black Album includes ‘Dub at Abbey Road’, which is not a version but the original track, that sees the apparently mad Jamaican recall The Beatles’ heyday and their LSD consumption. 

Furthermore, the vocal sessions for this album were held in the famous Abbey Road studio where the Scousers recorded the eponymous album half a century ago. 

I immediately struck up a rapport with ‘Captain Perry’ in which the gaffer transposes himself “on the high seas .. on the moonbeam .. on the mother ship …”. He doesn’t miss a trick, so the female backing singers would have us believe.

Those vocal harmonies lend a contrast to Perry’s limited range, a clear flaw in the album but it would also appear, if I listen really intently, that this is a trick to deliver some risqué statements. Stripped of the mumblings, the dub version, with its focus on the chorus is a superior, minimalist beast. 

Clearly, Perry will keep going until his body stops, and even as I write I see there’s a new album with Brian Eno (yes, that Eno) which we’ll endeavour to get to as well.

The Vinyl Files Part 9 ... UB40 - Signing Off (1980)

Signing Off is one of the very few albums I’ve owned a copy of in every format - vinyl, cassette, CD, and digital. That’s no mere coincidence, it has been with me every step of the way on this journey through life as a music consumer/hoarder. I’ve checked the blog archives and I can scarcely believe I haven’t published anything about it before today.

But one of the problems with writing about the music of UB40 is the notion that they became so deeply unfashionable and hard to endure it seems almost pointless trying to convince any reader of the band’s critical worth. Long before the now well-publicised family bust-up that hastened the band’s demise, and the creation of several new half-arsed UB40 entities, the original collective had long since “sold out”. From about album four or five onwards - let’s say the start of the Labour of Love series of cover albums in order to put a stake in the ground - the band’s music became utterly devoid of any real creative integrity and merely a vehicle for some of the worst lightweight reggae fluff ever inflicted upon mankind. 

The music was/is simply unbearable, even if they had - by then - completely won over less discerning sections of the record-buying public. By the mid-90s, they were unrecognisable as the band that made Signing Off in 1980, one of the greatest and most utterly compelling debut reggae albums of all-time. The follow-up, Present Arms, was also quite special. 

Prior to the seismic shift in the band’s direction, UB40 were serious reggae artists first and foremost, a multicultural Birmingham-based collective with something important to say about an increasingly restless UK enduring its first outbreak of rampant Thatcherism and life-changing Tory rule. The opening handful of tracks more than hint at the band’s prevailing social conscience, with unguarded references to racism and colonialism in particular. 

On the opening track ‘Tyler’ - the true tale of Gary Tyler, a black teenager wrongfully convicted of the 1974 murder of a white teenager in smalltown Louisiana - the target is clear: 

“Tyler is guilty, the white judge has said so, what right do we have to say it’s not so … testify under pressure, a racist jury, government lawyers, it’s all for show; with rows of white faces, false accusations, he’s framed up for murder, they won’t let him go” … 

(Gary Tyler spent time on death row, before serving a life sentence, eventually being released in 2016 after serving 42 years) 

Then on ‘King’ … with reference to Martin Luther King: 

“You had a dream of a promised land, people of all nations walking hand in hand, but they’re not ready to accept that dream situation, yet … King, where are your people now? … chained and pacified, tried in vain to show them how, and for that you died” … 

And this from the brooding ‘Burden of Shame’ (still just four tracks in): 

“There are murders that we must account for, bloody deeds have been done in my name, criminal acts we must pay for, and our children will shoulder the blame … I’m a British subject, not proud of it, while I carry the burden of shame” … 

All of that contained within an opening 20-minute thrust; politically aware lyrics underpinned by the laidback grooves of the now signature UB40 sax, layers of percussion, a gentle probing bass, some clever and quite beautiful floaty synth excerpts, and vocalist Ali Campbell sounding for all the world like a repressed black man doomed to remain trapped in a white man’s body. It’s a simple enough formula, but one which produces quite exceptional (and timeless) results. 

After the brief instrumental interlude that is ‘Adella’, we then come to one of the album’s genuine highlights - and an eventual single lifted from the album - ‘I Think It's Going to Rain Today’. The dubby sax-infused ‘25%’ then provides for another brief instrumental break, before the band’s breakthrough single and the album’s masterpiece ‘Food For Thought’ reminds us that UB40 need not have compromised to the extent they eventually did in order to achieve commercial success. ‘Food For Thought’ was, of course, a major global smash with its infectious skank and silky smooth crossover leanings. The mournful ‘Little By Little’ and the upbeat instrumental title-track then close out the album with understated aplomb.

But it doesn’t quite end there. Signing Off also comes with a bonus EP - a separate 12-inch pressing with the vinyl edition; all three tracks as equally rewarding as the album proper, including the majestic 12-minute-plus opus ‘Madam Medusa’, an epic track which showcases some extraordinary percussion, before “Astro” Wilson adds a touch of old-school-style toasting as the sweet cherry on top. Throw in a soulful version of the dark standard ‘Strange Fruit’ and another riveting ska-paced instrumental in ‘Reefer Madness’ (does exactly what it says on the box) and you end up with one of the very best collections of UK reggae you’re ever likely to find. 

UB40 would never again scale such heights, and Signing Off presents the picture of a band positively bursting with fresh ideas. They clearly had something to say and despite possessing an undoubted hunger to attain mainstream success, something that ultimately destroyed the band, the message gets through undiluted and without compromise on this wonderful debut. 

Signing Off is, without question, an everythingsgonegreen Desert Island Disc. 

(The Vinyl Files is a short series of posts covering the best items in your blogger’s not very extensive vinyl collection) 

Introducing ... Black Market

Black Market is a US-based dub producer who caught my attention a few years back when he started releasing top notch name-your-price dub downloads on Bandcamp. I say he’s “US-based” because he’s more than a little mysterious and relatively low profile. His Twitter profile suggests he’s working out of Los Angeles, while his Bandcamp page suggests he’s based in that bastion of hardcore dub vibes, Nashville, Tennessee.

Let’s just say he flies well beneath the mainstream radar, and his location is probably not all that important anyway given that he’s easily enough found on the internet. In fact, you can find all of his Bandcamp releases here and his Facebook page here.

What’s most important is the music, with his latest work – Complete Clash – offering five dubby remixes of tunes by The Clash. What I like most about this one is the fact that we get less obvious Clash numbers, and these edits reek of someone who is a genuine fan of the band.

Being honest, I’ve been less impressed with his reworking of the Beach Boys and Michael Jackson, although his Bowie stuff stacks up well enough.

Best of all though are his themed releases on the X-Files, Twin Peaks, Star Trek, and the Twilight Zone, where he cuts up narrative from those shows to create whole new dimensions of his own. Anyway, enough from me, this blurb from his Bandcamp page pretty much covers it:

What would happen if The Beach Boys had The Wailers as their backing band instead of The Wrecking Crew? What if David Bowie spent the summer of 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica with King Tubby instead of Philadelphia? Michael Jackson meets Lee Scratch Perry? These questions are the basic thesis of Black Market. Listen loud, dance, enjoy, and share. I make these albums for free but accept donations at blackmarketdub.bandcamp.com 

Album Review: On-U Sound - Pay It All Back Volume 7 (2019)

I’ve got to be honest: I’m generally such a committed fanboy of just about everything the On-U Sound label releases, I fear I can’t really review this album objectively. I’m concerned that my love for the work of (producer) Adrian Sherwood - across something close to four decades now - will blind me to anything other than its most obvious flaws or shortcomings. But I’ll do my best ... and if I can’t be totally objective, then at the very least I can offer some information about what you can expect from Pay It All Back Volume 7.

The main thing you need to know that it’s the latest release in a long-running series of sampler compilations for the On-U Sound label. It was released in late March, some 23 years after the release of Pay It All Back Volume 6. 

Yet, even after such a lengthy period, many of the same artists who graced the first six volumes - which covered work from the early 80s to the mid 90s - feature again on Volume 7. See, for example, offerings here from label stalwarts like African Head Charge, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Mark Stewart, Little Axe, Doug Wimbish, and Sherwood himself. 

But it’s far from retro-centric; it’s not a nostalgia document. It’s a sampler to showcase new, recent, or forthcoming On-U Sound releases, Sherwood mixes of material not exclusive to the label, and/or previously unreleased stuff that never found a home elsewhere. 

As such we get a genuine hybrid of musical styles (except generic rock and pop) with the one common denominator being that everything here has, to one degree or another, been touched by the hand of Sherwood. That’s the glue that binds. 

Highlights include: the Play-Rub-A-Dub mix of Horace Andy’s classic ‘Mr Bassie’, Neyssatou and Likkle Mai’s version of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ (see clip below), Denise Sherwood’s ‘Ghost High’, Congo Natty’s ‘UK All Stars in Dub’, Sherwood & Pinch’s ‘Fake Days’ (featuring LSK), Little Axe’s ‘Deep River’, Ghetto Priest’s ‘Slave State’, plus the Coldcut/Roots Manuva collab, ‘Beat Your Chest’, which closes the album … and of course, there’s the understated magnificence of ‘African Starship’, which is a typically eccentric taster from the now 83-year-old Lee Perry’s 2019 album, Rainford ... climb aboard with “Pilot Perry” if you dare! 

The aforementioned flaws and shortcomings are few. Only a couple of tracks (of 18) leave me feeling a little cold, but I guess that’s the nature of sampler compilations. And, in my experience, so far as On-U Sound compilations are concerned, those tracks are just as likely the ones I’ll be listening to most this time next year. 

My own purchase was a rare foray back into the world of the compact disc - my OCD preventing me from deviating from the format I collected the first six volumes in. The supplementary booklet not only offers a plethora of information about the tracks included on the album, it also provides a comprehensive year-by-year guide to the label’s entire back catalogue.

More Melodica Heaven with Art-X

Blog regulars will know of my obsession with the melodica, and I’ve written a little bit in the past about the work of French dude Art-X, who has become rather prolific over the past few years when it comes to releasing music with melodica right at its core. His latest work, released earlier this month, is a nine-track album called Nomad, and it features a variety of guest collaborators. Once again, it’s blessed with a very rootsy vibe, and I reckon it might just about be his best work yet. It’s available as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp …

Gig Review: Radikal Guru, Laundry, Wellington, 26 October 2018

This is a not-particularly-complete review of Radikal Guru’s gig at Wellington’s Laundry last Friday night as I missed (maybe) half of it, but I still want to share a few words about the event given that I’d waited the best part of a decade to see the artist perform live. 

With the last train to the wilds of the Kapiti Coast locked in at just after 1am, and with the only later option being a $150-odd taxi fare, I was desperate for the main act to begin his set as soon as possible so I could make that train. That meant sitting through three or four local DJs before Radikal Guru announced his presence to a packed bar around midnight.

The build up was an enjoyable enough excursion into all facets of bass music - heavy dub, one drop, glitchy dubstep, some higher bpm stuff - with Ras Stone’s set of mostly rootsy material, plus some voiceover/toasting, being the best of a pretty good support bunch. 

Radikal Guru opened with a tribute to King Tubby, which seemed like an appropriate way to kick off a set which was, for the not-quite-hour or so I was there, drenched in the roots reggae flavours championed by the late great Jamaican producer. 

From there, non-original material was mashed together with original Radikal Guru stuff, and tunes like ‘Warning’ (off his Subconscious album) went down a treat with a crowd that was generally much younger than I had anticipated. 

You never know quite what you’re going to get when it comes to DJ “gigs”, but the Polish producer was in top form, which was an achievement in itself given his gruelling touring schedule. It also won’t have been particularly easy translating a lot of his original material into a live setting, especially at a small venue like Laundry, reliant as that work surely is on exploring space and sonic possibilities with all manner of in-house studio technology. 

But it was all too brief, all over in a flash really, and the bar was absolutely heaving by the time I was tasked with flying out the door to make that last god-forsaken train. 

No complaints, at just $10 on the door, as brief as it was, I felt a little humbled to be sharing the same rarefied air as an artist I’ve long admired from a distance. Thanks to Nice Up, Laundry, and the man himself.

Porky Post ... Classic Album Review: Max Romeo - War Ina Babylon (1976)

Another guest post from Porky, looking back at a genuine roots reggae classic:

1976 was a pivotal year in music: reggae was its peak and punk was an obscure art school sub-genre just about to be turned into a commercial anti-art dogma.

While punk flared up on the streets of London, Manchester and New York, Jamaica’s capital Kingston was literally on fire, with uncontrolled violence and gang warfare occurring during much of the decade. Political divisions and tribal loyalty were fuelling the economic distress afflicting the island.

Reggae reacted by getting proactive and putting down a roots agenda. 1976 alone saw some exceptional albums from Peter Tosh, Johnny Clarke, Linval Thompson, Burning Spear, the Mighty Diamonds, Tapper Zukie, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, King Tubby, and the genre’s sole superstar, Bob Marley and the Wailers, with Rastaman Vibration.

So it was a tough time to release a record with the danger of any record falling between the cracks, but among all of the above, please add this: War Ina Babylon by Max Romeo and the Upsetters (but commonly just attributed to Romeo), with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry at the controls.

Romeo had experienced a burst of Warhol-esque fame/infamy in 1968 with a worldwide hit in Wet Dream, a song that really, like really, does not require any explanation. Then he grew up, became a Rasta, and saw the shit hitting the fan.
The music reflects the cover: a distraught woman holding her head in her hands with a handkerchief to cry into.

The magnificently roots reggae One Step Forward is a call to reject a narrow road to despair and urges politicians to take the “narrow” road to righteousness.

It opens side one, which contains the four heavyweight tracks that tie War Ina Babylon together. As we’re digesting the demagoguery of this, Romeo tears into Uptown Babies, a more accessible track, feathering the traditional pop modus operandi of musicians in other parts of the Americas, with a dissection of the class divide. For some, life isn’t a chore if you have a network of people to look after you.

“Uptown babies don't cry/ They don't know what hungry is like/ Uptown babies don't cry/ They don't know what suffering is like/ They have mummies and daddies/ Lots of toys to play with/ Nannies and grannies/ Lots of friends to stay with.”

How nice it is in Pleasantville.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks …

“Hear that little baby crying?/ Yes she's crying, she's crying/ She's crying because she's hungry/ You can hear her mama saying/ It ain't easy, ain't easy/ Ain't easy when you're poor, you see/ And speaking of life in the ghetto/ Where survival is the motto/ And putting it to you/ Poverty is a sin.”

Chase the Devil (later sampled by The Prodigy) begins with Romeo bellowing: “Lucifer son of the morning, I'm gonna chase you out of earth”, before it turns into this magnificent spiel on the righteousness of Rastafarianism and the dangers of turning to the ‘other side’.

Playing into the run-out groove is the title track, a spectacular, foreboding track that is up there amongst the best things Perry has produced – and this during a period in which he was positively hallucinating with ideas which he provided to Marley et al.

The second side seems almost an after-thought in comparison but neglect it at your peril. Stealin' (in the Name of Jah), is a gospel-style condemnation on the corruption of the clergy with an easy, swinging chorus.

“My father's house of worship/ Has become a den of thieves/ Stealing in the name of the lord,” and bemoaning the fact the clergy makes everyday sacrifices while the reverend drives a fancy car and “buys everything tax free”.

“Strike the hammer of justice/ And set my people free,” demands Romeo.

Tan and See sounds very much like the Wailers at their peak, with female backing singers; Smile Out A Style is back to Romeo’s late 60s early reggae sound, sans the smut, and the penultimate track, Smokey Room, is an infectious track with a hook line spitting out ‘riddim’ over and over.

War Ina Babylon is in many ways a snapshot of reggae; it harks back to the early almost soulful days of the mid to late 60s, to the movement to the political mourning; an expression of the anger of the Rasta people and also a nod to the movement towards the rockier sound of roots reggae at the time that Marley and his rump Wailers used to such effect after the ’73 split.

It was just the beginning of a tremendously fertile period for Perry. In under two years he would produce an impressive batch of albums, several of which remain classics, such as Junior Murvins’ Police and Thieves and the Congos’ Heart of the Congos. War Ina Babylon can measure up to those and many others and is an essential piece of the roots reggae canon.

Romeo and Perry fell out over this record (the singer apparently felt he didn’t get remunerated properly) and while he recorded for many more years (including working with the Rolling Stones), nothing quite touched on War Ina Babylon. I would also suggest seeking out Fire Fe the Vatican, an immense single that didn’t – but should have – appeared on this album despite coming out in the same year.

Porky Post ... Album Review: Scotch Bonnet Presents Puffer's Choice (2016)

Welcoming back Porky, in a guest post capacity …

Reggae and Scotland haven’t had a great deal of history together. Thankfully, the Glasgow-based Mungo’s Hi-Fi has been doing its level-best to rectify that anomaly, on its own, and through the Scotch Bonnet label.

The label is largely a vehicle for Mungo’s but has also furnished a slew of choice reggae, dancehall and dub acts. Puffer’s Choice highlights many of those releases.

Being of Scottish stock myself, and a connoisseur of sounds that have originated from Jamaica, this compilation was a natural choice to buy from an Auckland store last year. There was a touch of the pot luck about the purchase; I was only aware of some of the acts, but given the roster it was clearly going to be a stab in the dark that hit the centre of the heart.

It begins with a rather unusual cover, Kraftwerk’s potty electro hit, ‘The Model’, performed by Prince Fatty; it’s the only track that doesn’t credit a sidekick, though Hollie Cook is the one adding the feminine vocals in place of the Teutonic timbre. This radically alters the nature of the original, making it sound more human and reversing the lyrics from “she’s a model” to “I’m a model”. You have to assume it met with the mercurial Germans’ approval, as permission would have needed to be sought from the writers to change the lyrics.

Rolling back the vibes, The Hempolics’ ‘Love To Sing’ is reworked by Mungo’s Hi Fi into a dancefloor heavyweight, with multiple verses from Solo Banton, complete with an early reggae intro.

Parly B’s contribution, with the assistance of Viktorious, ‘What A Ting’, rails against ethnic cleansing, calling out hypocrites and parasites alike, with a very 80s dancehall background.

There’s some booming bass and rapid-fire lyrics on Zeb & Scotty’s joint effort with Disrupt on the excellent ‘Jah Run Tings’. The first side wraps up with a remix of ‘Dub Invasion’ by the Led Piperz. Keeping the horn sample lifted from the classic King Tubby/Niney The Observer track, ‘Dubbing With the Observer’ which pilots the original version, this remix strips down the riddim to a simpler shuffle. “I know the kind of music that you want us to play, I know the kind of words you want me say… it’s a dub invasion, don’t take it lightly,” sings Solo Banton.

So far so good.

The second half kicks off with a collaboration between veterans Sugar Minott and Daddy Freddy for the appropriately-titled ‘Raggamuffin Rock’. The boys trade verses and it comes out like a good cop/ bad cop interrogation; Minott’s lighter tones make you feel at home, lying on a comfortable sofa with a glass of Islay single malt to hand (or something a little mellower – Ed), but Freddy drags you out into the rain-soaked alley and hits you where it hurts. Strangely, it works.

‘Golden Rule’ gets together Naram behind the boards and Tenor Youthman on vocal duties. It’s a retro-infused ragga cut with a fat bass, and when Youthman sings “if you trouble trouble, trouble will trouble you,” it invokes the genius of 1970s Jamaican star Linval Thompson, who, to this writer, is up there with a certain Mr Marley.  

Mungo’s Hi Fi feature on one of the undoubted standouts, ‘Give Thanks To Jah’ with Mr Williamz spitting rhyme after rhyme on a song that fuses Smiley Culture with Alexei Sayle: “whether you drive Mitsubishi or you drive Honda, whether you drive Mercedes or you drive dem Beamer, and it don’t really matter you a bus passenger, whether you work 9 to 5 or you an entertainer, whether you a MC or selectah.”

The album winds up with Bim One’s collaboration with Macka B, ‘Don’t Stop The Sound’ which uses a thick, wobbling future roots vibe over frantic, auction-paced toasting, and the eerie ‘Dub Controller’ by OBM, which isn’t for the feint-hearted.

Puffer’s Choice is a neat compilation of great dancehall, dub, ragga, old school reggae: and there’s not a bagpipe or bodhran in earshot.

Want more Porky? ... go here

Classic Album Review: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus (1977)

When people think of reggae, Bob Marley is usually the first artist they think of. And with good reason – Marley and his supporting cast have been at the very forefront of the genre for the best part of 45 years, even today, more than 35 years after Marley’s premature death in 1981.

Such was the quality of The Wailers’ output throughout the Seventies, with a succession of fine albums, Marley left a mark on popular culture that can never be denied. Without having the documentary evidence to support such a claim, obviously, I reckon Bob Marley is singularly responsible for turning more people on to reggae than any other artist.

Exodus is the album many believe to be The Wailers’ finest moment (Kaya just shades it in my view, but I know that’s only a personal thing), conceived and mostly recorded in London in 1977 following an attempt on Marley’s life back in Jamaica.

In 2017, Exodus celebrates its 40^th anniversary, with deluxe packages of the original coming in a variety of different formats, depending on the amount of discretionary cash you’re prepared to part with. I’m fairly certain there’s double, triple, and quadruple LP options for this year’s deluxe-fest, all including live versions and alternate mixes.

This is the Wailers in its post-Peter Tosh, post-Bunny Wailer form, but the famous I-Threes remain a crucial ingredient, and there simply isn’t a dud moment on Exodus. All of the expected political and social references points are covered and it features many of Marley’s best known tracks.

Highlights: the title track itself is often too readily overlooked but it was surely one of Marley’s peaks, from both a song-writing and performance perspective. The best of the rest include: the beautifully crafted ‘Natural Mystic’, ‘Jammin’, ‘Waiting In Vain’, ‘Three Little Birds’, and ‘One Love/People Get Ready’.

Most people will have a copy of Legend in their music collection, and that works fine as an overview, in a singles context, but Exodus is something else altogether, and for those who feel the need for a little more, this one comes highly recommended. I would also suggest you pick up a copy of Kaya (1978) while you’re at it.

Classic Album Review: Easy Star All-Stars – Dub Side of The Moon (2003)

I’m usually highly sceptical about projects of this nature. Even just to take a classic album and remix or re-master it provides risk enough on its own, let alone taking one of the biggest-selling albums of all-time and reproducing it in a completely different style. And when the original recording was made by one of rock’s all-time legendary and most critically-acclaimed groups … well, you really are on a hiding to nothing.

However, as much as the dreaded (no pun) words “novelty item” are screaming out at me to be written here, I have to say that Dub Side of The Moon is seriously good stuff, and the Easy Star All-Stars deserve enormous credit for pulling this one off in the stylish manner they did.

Dub Side does exactly what it says on the box – namely, take the 1973 Pink Floyd epic Dark Side of The Moon and record it in a reggae/dub style. The Easy Star All-Stars largely remain faithful to the Pink Floyd original, making minimal alterations to the overall feel of the music, other than the obvious changes to structure. Changes that convert the prog rock of Floyd’s original into the roots reggae found on this. But even then, the spacey atmospheric nature of prog, full of echo and reverb as it is, adapts well to the reggae format, and the All-Stars strike just the right blend of styles on Dub Side. In many respects, this material only serves to confirm how remarkably similar the two genres can be.

That the album is reproduced track for track suggests the All-Stars weren’t prepared to compromise, dilute, or offer up any short cuts along the way - despite any temptation there may have been to omit a few of the more challenging tracks. On ‘Us and Them’, the All-Stars offering actually almost surpasses the quality of Pink Floyd’s version (what? Blasphemy! – Ed), and Frankie Paul’s vocal is one of the album’s most obvious highlights. ‘Brain Damage’ is another quite brilliant interpretation (see clip below), while the “Alt version” especially (one of two) of ‘Time’ adds an earthy melancholic flavour.

The Easy Star All-Stars subsequently produced a similar covers album/version of Radiohead’s late Nineties masterpiece ‘OK Computer’ - titled ‘Radiodread’ (2006) - which was equally as impressive. There’s also been ‘Dubber Side of The Moon’, where the stuff found on Dub Side gets a makeover of its own, via a selection of remixes by the good and the great of the dub world.

Dub Side of The Moon is a worthy tribute to Pink Floyd and their original album. I can scarcely believe 13 years have passed since this slice of stoner heaven was released.

 

Classic Album Review: OST/Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come (1972)

The soundtrack to Perry Henzell’s 1972 classic Kingston ghetto flick, The Harder They Come has become a reggae/ska staple over the years.

Less a Jimmy Cliff album and more a compilation, it is jam-packed with the pick of Jamaica’s finest early reggae artists, and it works as a virtual introductory “who’s who” of those who ignited the genre’s flame long before the likes of Bob Marley ensured its longevity in the annals of popular music.

Twelve cuts …well, ten, but we get two versions of Jimmy Cliff’s title track, and two variations on ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ (to bring Cliff’s own contribution to the album up to six), but each one is a gem. From Scotty’s ‘Draw Your Brakes’, through The Melodians ‘Rivers Of Babylon’, to Cliff’s immortal pop/gospel-tinged crossover, ‘Many Rivers To Cross’, this is all pretty essential must-have stuff for anyone proclaiming to be a true fan of Jamaican music.

Toots Hibbert’s Maytals contribute two of that outfit’s best known tracks in ‘Sweet And Dandy’ and ‘Pressure Drop’ (the Clash-inspiring original), but the album’s best moments are surely Desmond Dekker’s ‘007 (Shanty Town)’, and The Slickers’ masterclass ‘Johnny Too Bad’ (see clip below).

Awesome stuff, and it comes with the anorak bonus card of being an historically significant and hugely important release.

Roots Foundation: Rockers Sermon

It’s been well documented elsewhere but one of the great tragedies of the recent Kilbirnie self storage facility fire (in Wellington) was the loss some 8500 records owned by renowned Wellington DJ Danny ‘Lemon’ (of the Roots Foundation). A couple of other local DJs – Top Knot and Splash – also lost records and other personal effects in the fire, a couple of Academy Awards/Oscars were lost (which will be replaced), and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that even a couple of classic cars were destroyed.

It was a terrible event for all concerned, made worse perhaps by the revelation that the fire turned out to be a case of arson, and the fact that in many cases the gear in storage was not insured. I’m fairly certain that Lemon was one of those not covered.

Lemon’s record collection was very special in that it was surely the largest of its kind in the country – being mostly long since deleted rare reggae, roots, rocksteady, and dub vinyl. Priceless and irreplaceable items, among other things. He estimated that only “five percent” of his lost collection would be available for purchase today if he attempted to replace it – a collection that was lovingly compiled over the course of 35 years, gone in an instant, up in smoke. My eyes start to water just thinking about it, and indeed Lemon described it as his “worst nightmare being realised”.

Anyway, I’m going over old ground, but context is important, and the reason for this post is twofold:

The first is to highlight the fundraiser (gig) taking place on Lemon’s behalf on 1 June at San Fran in Wellington. The line-up represents a virtual who’s who of local DJ talent with the most obvious draw being Lemon’s own collective, Roots Foundation Sound System.

But the night will also feature old school luminaries like Auckland’s Dubhead ... who I’m pretty sure I recall spinning vinyl as far back as 1990/1991 when I attended a ‘Unity’ (clothing shop) NYE “warehouse” party at the Auckland Town Hall – possibly the last time I saw him perform. (And quite why I was up in Auckland for that NYE remains a mystery!)

And then of course there’s someone like Koa, a Roots Foundation original, a softly-spoken humble guy who’s been on the Wellington scene forever. I can recall Koa being the resident DJ at a club called ‘Clares’ back in the Eighties, and he’s been everywhere that’s anywhere ever since.

Add the likes of DLT, Goosebump, Marty Vital, Riki Gooch ... local legends all, plus a few others, and it should be a cracking night – with a lot of reggae, a helluva lot of bass, and I’ll wager we’ll hear some old fashioned funk as well.

The second reason for this increasingly long-winded post (it was going to be a quick 100 words) is to draw your attention to an exceptional article by Lewis Tennant on the Audioculture site, which looks at the Roots Foundation story and more generally the evolution of Sound System culture here in New Zealand.

As you know, everythingsgonegreen is a big fan of grass roots history, and this is a superb example of a story that just had to be told, one that would have just as likely fallen through the cracks in the pre internet era. Have a read ... (click on the link below)

Audioculture on The Rise Of The Sound Systems In Aotearoa

Album Review: Various Artists – Ghetto Arc Presents Serious Times (2006)

***1/2

Serious Times is one of the more mainstream post-millennium Reggae compilations on the market, and as such it represents an ideal sampler for anyone wishing to become more familiar with recent period flavours – be they of the Roots, One Drop, or Dancehall variety.

We get two CDs with essentially the same stuff on each – the first CD being an exclusive dubplate mix (by Federation Sound) with the second giving us the actual singles and split track versions.

Featuring the likes of Turbulence, Sizzla, Gyptian, Morgan Heritage, Richie Spice, Fantan Mojah, and Perfect, alongside others, it provides for a decent enough overview of what was happening within the genre (and an ever-increasing number of sub-genres) during 2006, and more generally over recent years. It all makes for a pretty good listen along the way, and for me the Roots-orientated numbers (like Rob Symeonn’s ‘Chosen One’ and Sizzla’s ‘Ain’t Gonna Fall’) provide the main highlights.

Other highlights include Gyptian’s title-track (so good we get three mixes), the two mixes of Turbulence’s ‘Notorious’, Morgan Heritage with ‘Wall Of Babylon’, Nitty Kutchie with ‘Ghetto’, and Nanko’s soulful and ultimately quite beautiful ‘Lucky You’.

List: 10 Important Reggae Albums

Local music blog ‘Blog on the Tracks’ (on www.stuff.co.nz) recently featured a post on the “ten most important” Reggae albums. It was part of a series where blogger Simon Sweetman selects a genre and then proceeds to list the most important albums of said genre. Or the “most important” as they relate to Simon’s journey and life as a music consumer. Not the ten best-sellers or the ten most acclaimed but the ten that have touched on a personal level.

I personally listen to a lot of Reggae (and/or Dub and a multitude of sub genres) so I thought I’d follow the blog’s lead and create my own list of ten for the genre. As with most lists of this nature, I suspect the contents would vary from one day to the next, depending on my whim, but the only prerequisite I’d insist upon for inclusion is that I own a copy of the album in some form or another – be it LP vinyl, CD, or a digital version … or in the case of one of the below (Signing Off), all three variations.

Here’s the list I submitted in response to the blog:

1. Third World – 96 Degrees in the Shade – combines Jamaican rhythms with funk to produce the perfect soundtrack for those long balmy summer nights.

2. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Kaya – won’t be the one for Bob purists but means so much to me on a personal level for reasons perhaps best not gone into here. Contains no filler.

3. Lee Scratch Perry & Dub Syndicate – Time Boom x De Devil Dead – Perry’s second coming masterfully produced by Adrian Sherwood. An important album in the evolution of Dub.

4. Peter Tosh – Equal Rights – Tosh’s most consistent solo effort just shading Legalise It. The title track is one of contemporary music’s all-time greatest protest songs.

5. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Exodus – prime period Bob. An important statement at a troublesome time for him personally.

6. Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey – Look no further for the true definition of ‘Roots’ in black plastic form.

7. Max Romeo – War Ina Babylon – Perry-produced set that raised the bar for all pretenders.

8. Jimmy Cliff/OST – The Harder They Come – not so much a Cliff solo set as a who’s who of Reggae as it morphed from its Ska and Rocksteady origins. My extended review of this soundtrack made the front page of the popular ‘Rate Your Music’ site … just sayin’.

9. UB40 – Signing Off – before they turned to mush, this Brummie collective had a lot to say. The opening quartet of tracks on this album ensured they said it with plenty of style and substance. The rest ain’t bad either.

10. Various – 15 Years in an Open Boat – showcases Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound label with 15 years worth of gems from a whole range of sources. A one-stop-shop/intro to an important label … but look out too for any one of the half dozen or so Pay It All Back compilations on On-U.

( … but ten is obviously all too finite as a number and there really is a batch of other albums that on any other given day I’d probably rate just as highly as some of the above. I’ll doubtlessly be looking to create a more definitive personal list at some point in the future …)