CONVERTED...

I am going to interupt my scheduled programming of rodents and riddims for something completely different...



I gotta say I got pretty damn impatient waiting for MAVADO'S new CD to drop. What has it been since his sophomore release,"Mr. Brooks...A Better Tomorrow", dropped in early 2009? It's now near the end of 2010. That makes it almost 23 months ago-an eternity in Reggae years. So while I was window shopping at Ernie B's, I came across "THE HITLIST vol 2". I had typed Mavado into the search box and among the selections that popped up was this collection from TAD's. I consulted an expert before buying and when I got authentication, I added it to my cart. (Bigup Achisl)



On this disc was not one but five Mavado singles! A total of twenty-four epic tunes make this an incredible earful. There is something orchestral about these tunes. Something almost operatic. Big big tunes here! This disc also introduced me to some new ladies like Lisa Hype and Gaza Kim. Interestingly, former Alliance talent and Mavado nemesis, Vybz Kartel is represented by five big tunes. His massive three part "Clarks" being his show piece. I guess TAD'S doesn't play favorites with either side if the arguement. Dancehall King and Queen Beeenie Man and Mi Lady Saw drop one tune apiece. I still find it interesting that the Beenie Man and Bounty Killer fued was over each one accusing the other for copping their sound. I have never confused a Bounty Killer tune for Beenie's. Nonsense. I have confused Bushman for Luciano when I am only half awake. Half baked?

Okay, if vol 2 was essential then the first volume must be mandatory listening. Right?



It is.



Gyptain along with Suga Roy and Conrad Crystal cover Joseph Hill and Culture's warhorse of a tune "Jah Jah See Dem." For me covering Culture can prove to be a sacrilegious affair. Not so in this case. It is faithful to the original vibe and has an all new energy at the same time. I have no idea who Suga Roy and Conrad Crystal are but Gyptian really won me over with this tune. I already count his Beng Beng and Mi Fadda Say being big faves of mine, but some of his tunes seem a little too radio friendly for my liking. I am going back to spin 'em with new ears.

The real jewel of this set for me is "Daggera" by Spice. (another big up to Achis) This tune rocks a polka riddim! Crazy. I wonder if there is some guy in Poland right now rocking a Dancehall riddim on his accordian?

This disc is a bit mellower than it's sequel. No less big in sound though. The breakout new talent for me is Laden with his correctly put "Time To Shine" tune. Bounty Killer and Beenie Man on the same disc with only six songs to seperate them? I can hear the insults! This disc plays out sweetly with a Sizzla ballad. I count myself a convert to the TAD's label. I'm looking forward to misappropriating funds to buy more of their releases.

RIDDIMS!

Okay, I came off like Raid rodent repellant with that last post. So my apologies to Wallace Wilson.

Psst...why am I whispering? Lean in close 'cause I don't wanna say this out loud. I recently added a bunch of Riddim CD's to my selection. I specifically snatched up ones with mi Lady Saw (although she is certainly no damsel in distress!), Ce'Cile and early RED RAT singles! Now on to some new business...

1.) Whether ya call 'em Riddim Driven, Riddim Rider or as Greensleeves simply calls 'em Rhythm Albums, try explaining what one is to somebody whose head doesn't soak up Reggae sounds like a thirsty sponge.

2.) After You figure that out...then try explaining to the non-believer WHY you would need 15 to 20 versions of the same backing track with different singers voicing their own unique take. Yep.

Having said that...a good riddim CD should play like a suite of music. A lot of classical compositions use the reoccuring theme technique.

Note... I'm not gonna break riddim CD's down tune by tune 'cause of that whole attention span deficit thing I got going... so I'll name the names of who I feel walks away owning the Riddim. You know.. who the show stopper is. The star who threatens to steal the show will be named the runner up. Easy enough.

EARTH, WIND "N" FLAMES

Release date of 2003 with executive producer credits going to Rohan Fuller for JAH SNOW CONE PRODUCTIONS.



I guess the image this Riddim is supposed to conjour up is the swirling storms of Mother Nature's fury. But all I feel is a nameless and faceless angry fist raised inna middle of a mob. Leaves my cold.



I tried to warm to it, but every time I spun it, I would keeping skipping tracks till nothing was left. Sure this Riddim is booming and pumping but even Bouny Killer falls apart with this mess. That never happens to the "Poor Peoples Governer". I gave it a rounded up 2 outta 5 for all the talented tries. Hey, Earth Worm and Killer Bee gave it their all.

SEXY LADY EXPLOSION

Release date of 2003 with credits going to Christopher "Longman" Birch for BIGYARD MUSIC. The liner notes state he plays all the instruments. Damn.



Top ta bottom, front ta back, every track is killer. In fact this set opens with Bounty Killer working with Angel Doolas. A trend I notice with these VP Riddim Driven discs...if the "Poor People's Governor" is to be included than he starts the proceedings. VP's strategy must be to come out blazing with your biggest guns. I wouldn't want to follow the Bounty Killer but the Wayne Marshall selection holds itself steady. I find myself liking Wayne Marshall more and more. Track 5 is this catchy all-star jam featuring Shaggy/Brian and Tony Gold/Sean Paul and Will Smith that somehow doesn't sink under it own excessive weight. Know what I mean? This set doesn't sag in the middle either-T.O.K. see to that. T.O.K. always have that unfair advantage of an unlimitd vocal range sweetened with four part harmonies. Boy band? Nah. They are the closest 1960's Detroit comes to the New Millennium Kingston. Every cut all good for the ear drums. "What Up Papi" by Danny English featuring Tia have chemistry. They are my show stealer. Bounty Killer's "Ice & Alize" takes the top honour of show stopper for me. I love how he strips a Riddim down to it's bare essentials and then builds back those subtle nuances.



The Riddim is a mid tempo shaker with an upbeat digital pulse. An added touch of sultry Spanish style trumpets dropped in the mix slow cooks the mood. Perfect. 4.99999 outta 5

OH NO!

IT'S RED RAT!!!!


This is my answer to the WHY question. Why? I have no idea. I am completely dumfounded. If you were to play this CD right now, I would have trouble deciding whether I should laugh you straight outta tha door or quick kick inna tha pants. But and this is a huge but; every once in awhile I absolutely love this CD. Every song! Not just the “Love Them Bad” duet with Buju. Yep, at least 5 times a year, I am man enough to say I love this CD!

Love it or hate there is no denying the rouge rodent’s unique delivery. The boy does possess a style he can call all his own. Everything else about the lad might be a gimmick but oh those vocals. Try singing along with these tunes, you probably can’t. Unfortunately, going through puberty changed everything for the lad. Yeah, growing up sucks….



I would not call this CD a guilty pleasure for me because most of the time I rate it a 1 outta 10. I don’t know if it has to do with the position of the moon or the amount of sleep I get or even if it’s something in the water. Like I said every so often I love this CD and rate it a full 10 outta 10.



The Rat in adulthood. I wonder if he regrets his past redness. You know what? I know when I was 16, I didn't get mobbed by screaming girls! So the lad shouldn't be too embarrrassed. Woman. They change your whole way of thinking.

WHATS NEXT...

BOY BANDS! Whoa, no need to call me that! Technically, Scare Dem Crew is/was a boy band by definition. So is the T.O.K. So am I saving face yet? Yeah I know... book reports, beat poets and now boy bands. "At least that Achis guy gives us videos with Goldee getting dressed in the morning sun!" I hear ya...Chaque Jour

It's a ZOO in here... I'll answer a few questions that nobody asked. White Mice (who?), Red Rat (why?), Tiger (what?) and
I will even add Snagga Puss to that list. And if you can listen through an entire CD worth of his songs without going brain dead, I will personally cut your grass and clean your gutters for a full year.

RIDDIM RIDERS and RIDDIM DRIVEN. A well put together Riddim CD should play out like a classical suite* of music.

*a set of instrumental compositions, originally in dance style, to be played in succession.

JAMAICAN WARRIORS pt. 3

Okay, time to get to the point here!

First off...this book is not trying to detail the history of Reggae. What this book does try to explain is what ingredients make Reggae a tasty concoction. This book stirs in the Rastafarian beliefs, the ghetto realities and the individual David’s that stood ground against the British Goliath. This book surveys the birth lands and home places of the faith and the music’s founders. Writer Stephen Foehr even walks the same path to Settlement that Thomas Howell did back when he took Marcus Garvey’s preaching to heart and mind. Garvey’s was preaching about the stolen Black Man and the newly crowned king of Ethiopia (Abyssinia). These preachings shaped the beginnings of Rastafarian beliefs. I get the feeling Foehr is an old time roots fan but a disbeliever of the faith. At one point he cautions the reader by comparing strict Rasta ideals to Taliban doctrine. He mentions that dictator Joseph Stalin is responsible for hundreds of deaths due to his nations famine. Then follows that tid-bit of info with Emperor Haile Selassies and his country’s deadly drought. He leaves you to connect the dots.

This book offers bus schedule hints. How to find Jamaica's best-secluded beaches. Where else are you going to get slow drunk on overproof rum and eyeball the bikinied Nubian nubiles? This book covers JA's jerk pork. Not an ital Rasta's favorite. Where to get the best cup of Blue Mountain grown coffee.

This book, which is published in the year 2000, calls modern Dancehall a walking corpse! Foehr even calls a festival spearheaded by Capleton a concert of hate!!! What??? Get over it old man.

I feel Stephen Foehr is an outsider looking in. He definitely equates Reggae with Bob Marley. The book's author also gives me the impression that deep down he feels that real Reggae died on 11 May 1981. I get the feeling he is a tourist when he visits Reggae music. I do recommend this book for those who are new to the music. Stephen Foehr is no dummy; he overstands yard culture and Nyabinghi drumming. He knows his history but seems to have written this book for frat boys planning to go on vacation.

JAMAICAN WARRIORS pt. 2

Lifted directly form his book…
”It makes white kids jump up and down at reggae concerts and shout “Jah”. These same kids would not be caught dead shouting out in praise of God at a rock concert”. (Page 107)

With that sentiment in mind…the time was the early 80’s and the place was Rhode Island’s capitol city, Providence. Back in those ancient times Reggae concerts were exclusively populated by white folks. Mostly deadhead hippie types with a few anarchy punkers tossed in to balance the vibes. Capitol city did have an extremely tiny population of Rastas. Four or five musicians from Jamaica. They either got lost on their way heading to NYC or were lying low from NYC’s finest. I never got the story straight. They were my next-door neighbors and their weed was strong enough to drop a charging bull.
I worked back then day in and day out in ghetto/barrio. Heard lots of great music blasting but never anything from JA. The homies pounded forties to Run DMC and LL Cool Jay. I would ask around about Reggae/Dancehall and the answer was always “that’s black hippy shit” followed by, “and that shit ain’t cool.”
Then a few years slipped by and the West Coast battled the East for supremacy with new styles. One style caught my attention. It was the most bloodshot sound I had yet to hear on the radio. Two words besides "Holy shit"…Cypress Hill. All of a sudden Bob Marley posters started popping up. Fades were starting to grow out. Sure groups like the Deep South’s Arrested Development had already reached into the roots bag but were passed over as fluffy intellectuals. Attitudes change. Styles repeat and after many years, the ghetto gospel of reggae came back home to the ghettos/barrios of the world. Even the Gangsta dropped odes to the Chronic!
Now when I breathe in the second hand ganja smoke of a proper Reggae or Dancehall show, I scan a crowd made up of everybody. Black and white folks. Red, gold and green folks. Both crazy baldheads and plainclothes Rastas. Old and young. Truly reaching that “One Love” ideal. Works for me.



This album cover is the most aggressive advertising campaign ever undertaken by a non-government agency. Like drawing in a lung full of righteous smoke this album cover drew thousands of curious seekers to Reggae.

JAMAICAN WARRIORS pt. 1

I know I promised a review of Beth Lesser’s two incredible reads on Dance Hall but I haven’t found any words fitting yet, so while Stephen Foehr’s Jamaican Warriors is fresh in the frontal lobes….

Lifted directly form his book...
...“However, expecting DJ fans to give equal loyalty to burning spear, for example, is akin to believing that hardcore Metallica fans will spend equal money buying Johnny Mathis CDs.” (page 231)

It is not what he wrote that made me angry; he's right!

This post is going to be demographically and politically incorrect. I have been educated to fact that the youth that drops his cash on the latest Vybz Kartel smash could give a Red Rat’s ass about the latest Augustus Pablo reissue. Boring old man music he is supposed to say. Grandma used to hum those Riddims. Polar opposites claim those scholars in the know. Today’s music comes from a completely different world. Huh? I am confused. A Google map shows the same Kingston Parishes, right? Some of the same yards even. Why the split then. Is it that old secular verses sacred argument? No.

Stranger still…most of the world thinks Reggae comes from only one man. This one man is universally accepted as the human embodiment of Reggae Music itself…His name ladies and gentleman-Robert Nesta Marley.
More adventurous souls will find Peter Tosh along their way. Those individuals that completely abandon common sense may even come across Bunny Wailer’s solo work. I absolutely love Bob. Been listening to him for over 25 years but he is only one of million. Come on people take chances. This rant only applies to the age impaired. Or those individuals with challenged common sense.


(my personal trainer!)

I hit the treadmill with Elephant Man threatening to blow up my speakers. I go about daily chores to Tenor Saw. He informs me to ring the alarm cause another sound is dying. Actually many sounds have died only to be resurrected again. So many of today’s Riddims started life during the late 60's Rocksteady daze. When I need to make sense of this mad world that surrounds me, I reason Rastafarian teachings through Burning Spear. Yes.


(my spiritual advisor!)

I fall deep into dreamland to King Tubby exploring sonic possibilities.


(my sleep agent to the dream world!)

Why can I not enjoy all of ‘em. There is Dancehall music to motivate. There is Reggae music to contemplate. There is Dub music to meditate. Life cannot be Fyah and Brimstone all the time. I consider myself to be serious minded so I should snub my nose at Alaine and her silly little love songs? Hell no, there is music to hold your lady tight. (Or ladies to hold your mister tight.)


(my dream girl!)

Therefore I am theoretically wrong for enjoying all variations. I must narrow my mind. Reach for a one-dimensional approach. My TASTE should reflect my AGE. My mid-forty something experience tells me to choose safe and be afraid of the young Black man holding the microphone. Not because he is Black dummy but because his generation is gonna push me out and put me in an old age home!

CONSUMER PRODUCT #1

My wife Krispy found this stocked on a shelf next to the Malta Goya. She wondered out loud what Reggae Red could possibly taste like. I mentioned since it is not green it won't have that sweet and smoky Ganja flavor. That and I never heard of Chubby Brand soda. She mentioned since I'll drink out of a toilet bowl that I should try it first. "No way! That swill looks like radioactive drain-off."



My wife gave in to curiosity and tossed it into the cart. Later while unbagging the groceries back at home Krispy twisted off the cap. She took a big sip and made a rotten egg face. So I asked her what does Reggae taste like. Answer-concentrated #5 Red Dye.

Hey...I'm leery of anything that requires a doctorate in chemistry just to be able to read the list of ingredients. At least the sugars natural.

AND IN THIS CORNER...

Very cool concept. Four big producers put the metaphorical gloves on and go head to head in the ring for a heavy weight sound clash. Instead of a left right combination, or an sneaky uppercut, these producers slug it out with top draw talent. Marquee names like the Bobo Righteous Buju Banton are pitted against Ghetto Realists like Vybz Kartel. Wild picks like the recently escaped from the asylum, Elephant Man or the ravishing beauty, Ce’Cile also fill out the talent roster. (Ce’Cile always fills out beautifully!) It is a riddim fisticuffs of dancehall killers. It is a virtual who’s who two-disc 32 tune extravaganza. Over in the red corner are the producers Skatta and Ward 21. Their opponents over in the blue corner are Arrows and South Rakkas Crew. It’s an equal match to my ears. Even though I’ve heard all these Riddims before, I haven’t heard ‘em necessarily by these stars. The Capleton cut, Fireman Anthem, by the South Rakkas Crew I have already, but I’m not complaining. A great tune never gets played out. In fact every tune lands hard. Every Riddim leaves a welt, but what stone cold knocked me out was the $0.99 cent price tag at Ernie B’s! There is no excuse not to pick this up.



Okay if I had to choose a loser, I would go with the Skatta Riddims which is interesting because it was their Ce'Cile tune that caught my eye/ear in the first place. (and my imagination!) The glove in the air winner would have to be the South Rakkas Crew but only by a small technicality.

LINVAL THOMPSON'S 12" RULER!

This Blood and Fire set captures the best of Linval's time at the microphone. Trojan put out even bigger set.

Love a tune but it seems to end right after ya press play? That is the beauty of these producer collections; they include the extended mixes if they are known to exist. With this disc you get twelve 12" disco mixes. Sweet.



Now Linval was a heavy weight roots singer of thanks and praises. Just like his good friends, Johnny Clarke and Cornell Campbell. And like them the radio found room for one more. So Linval charted one hit after another but something was missing. You can eat off of respect. You cant pay the bills with a pat on the back, so the voice and face behind such Rasta anthems like “Don’t cut of your Dread Locks” and " Jah Jah the Conqueror" figured change had to happen. The real cha-ching landed in the bank accounts of the producer and label bosses and that is the change he knew had to happen.



So he put down the microphone and got behind the scene. He fronted the session money and scored an international deal with the then fledgling Greensleeves Record Co. Oh yeah, the smooth singer turned out his fair share of chart toppers working from behind the console. Proof is right here in these grooves.
Of the three different producers highlighted by the 12 inch Ruler series Linval was the most Roots traditional. His style was still a heavy vibed deep bass and drum driven riddim affair. I don’t think he was ready to throw out his arms and embrace the new sound. Soon enough though, that new sound was gonna kill everything that came before it. This disc collects some of last artifacts of Reggae's first golden age. (the second golden age is still going on!)


For instance…take the Eek-A-Mouse track “Do you remember”. This cut sounds so radically different than the Junjo Lawes produced Roots Radic backed Wa-Do-Dem album. Sure nobody could cop Eek’s unique SingJay rub-a-dub, now or then, but the grove guided by Linval’s hand almost tones down the “holy shit do hear this guy flow’” factor. Recorded after the Junjo production but somehow less modern. Know what I am trying to say? Do not get me wrong though… I have never met a Thompson sung tune or a production I didn’t like. In fact this Easy Star Records set continues documenting the Thompson
touch.


Golden. Check the big talent that came looking for Linval's guidence.



During the year 2009 Linval dropped this disc of new roots anthems out of nowhere. Listening to this is like the last twenty never happened. Okay with me...cause that would make me 25 years old again. And yes I would live it completely different given a second time around!



Makasound and Tad's share the responsibilities of putting out this release. I guess Tad's has the North American rights and Makasound the European dibs. Either way, very sweet hearing Linval voice a fresh batch of tunes.