LOADED QUESTION

Have I been exposed to so much gratuitous AUTO-TUNE in the media that I've become desensitized too it? 


Next...

SCIENTIST DISCOVERS CRUEL BUSINESS WORLD

It is acknowledged that SCIENTIST'S (real name Overton or Hopeton Brown depending on the source) best work was released on the GREENSLEEVES record label all throughout the 1980's. After a quick Internet search, all these albums/discs are long gone. Out of print and fetching hefty sums. Even the MP3 format has been lost in circulation. How can you sell out of a digital copy? Are GREENSLEEVES waiting to remaster them again and then box 'em up affordable like they did with their essential 5 box sets of the EVOLUTION of DUB series (20 discs total!) 

Or could it be because of a more human trait...the deadly sin of greed. SCIENTIST had some lawsuit trouble with some tunes used in Grand Theft Auto. Mostly...he didn't receive one royalty penny for his work. SCIENTIST went before an American Court and pleaded his case to a Judge and Jury of deaf ears. Nobody could understand how he had claim to the cash if he didn't play any instruments or sing any vocals on the records. Or that he didn't pay for the sessions that produced the tunes or spot the funds for the records release. What he did explain is... what cunning genius it takes to cut a DUB album. The manipulation of backing tracks. The remixing or in most cases the removing of vocals.  He explained how all the recorded sounds channel through his mixing console and how he has complete creative control over the finished tracks. He explained how the studio is really his musical laboratory. Nope, nobody got it. He argued that for nothing else, these tunes were sold and marketed under SCIENTIST'S good name and reputation. The album covers have his name printed in big bold letters. SCIENTIST lost. 

Used on Amazon starting at $62

The court ruled...that a record engineer/mixer is not the author of a musical work. Producer Henry Junjo Lawes as the copyright holder gets all the proceeds. And I'm sure a few pennies get pinched by the record label.

2 used copies starting at $49 on Amazon

I'm seriously hoping that the bad blood is washed away and everybody concerned is getting down to re-releasing these tunes to a new generation. 

Amazon has the disc selling for $99

Four releases just begging to be boxed up in one convenient set. Is anybody listening? Hey you in the accounting office...make the numbers happen.

Amazon has it listed new for $151.58!!!

Umm...sadly JUNJO LAWES is no longer around to defend his side of the story. On June 13th 1999 in London he was gunned down in the street.

BROOM PUSHERS NOT WANTED

ELEPHANT MAN was born Joseph Carey Merrick on August 5,1862. No…that aint right. ELEPHANT MAN was born O’Neil Bryan on September 11, 1975 in KINGSTON JAMAICA. I’m telling you, JAH hisself, had to have spiked the water supply. How else could you explain all that massive talent coming from one spot?

I don’t listen to ELEPHANT MAN for enlightenment.

If you want an urban Shakespeare, then be all ears at a poetry slam. Or pick up MUTABARUKAS amazing CHECK IT disc.

This is ELE yelling thru my headphones to shovel faster!

I listen to the “freak show” for entertainment purposes only.

On that promise, the MAN always delivers. ELEPHANT MAN is not for the faint of heart. At 46 years old I make sure I change the batteries in my pacemaker before pressing play and digging out my mailbox from yet another snowstorm. ELE didn’t fill the job description of ENERGY GOD by mopping floors. He earned it by sweeping the competition clear off the stage. I hold high regard for one MR. BOUNTY KILLER, but find it convenient that the ELE is part BOUNTY’S ALLIANCE crew. MR. BOUNTY KILLER even threw down a verbal challenge to friend and collaborator, BUJU BANTON and when BUJU inquired what’s up? BOUNTY laughed nobodies safe! I wonder if the elder could survive a toe to toe with his young protégé.

I ordered my copy of HIGHER LEVEL new from an Amazon associate seller for $3.98. That included shipping. It was the real deal from GREENSLEEVES. No bootleggers counterfeit surprises. Now Amazon pinches $2.30 out of the profit and it averages $1.90 for shipping. Not including the bubble wrap envelope. I am not complaining. I just can’t figure out the poor bastard made any money off me.

This 2002 release from Greensleeves feature a who’s who of producers (if names like “Scatta” Burrell, Donovan “Vendetta” Bennett, and Lloyd “John John” James Junior mean something too you) and only top shelf Riddims are used. ELE makes the best of these 23 tunes. BAD MAN A BAD MAN my favorite cut. I also picked up the newer GOOD 2 Go and LETS GET PHYSICAL both for $3.98 each.
I am far from a stranger to the ELE’S work. Figured it was time to have a copy to call my own. That’s what friends are for. If my friends got something good, they’ll burn me a copy. And vice-versa.

While I was lingering online, I browsed the comments submitted by fans on AMAZON.
I love how he is an either ya get him or ya don’t affair with the ELE. Thankfully most dancehall fans are blessed with extraordinary insight. Yeah, ya always get the one putz claiming that it doesn’t sound anything like real REGGAE, you know, like Slightly Stoopid. (they're Kali beach music-juss not my taste)

Masters of ART go through different stylistic stages. Picasso had his Rose period and his Blue period before pushing boundaries with Cubism. The ELE is no different. His rallying war cry of SCOOBAY developed into the rump shaking SHIZZLE MI NIZZLE. Two of very distinct phases of personal artistic growth for the maturing ELE.
Lowbrow? ELE is a master of being deceptively simple. There is some high art lurking around his locker room bragging. The scholars of French literature would of referred to him as an existential warrior.

No, seriously.

TRUTH BE TOLD!

Why I feel this man owes me a T-shirt!

As an experiment...I cued up SIZZLA on my I-Pod and then checked the play count. I have twenty-two Sizzla compact discs in MP3 format loaded to my I-Pod. The revealing facts that I found...shocked me! Technology might be EVIL but it can't be programmed to lie. What I discovered about my Sizzla listening habits....

Even tho I’m a computer illiterate knuckle dragger I‘ve still managed to accumulate about 300 gigs of music on my hard drive. Somehow I even find the time too listen to music the old fashioned way. You know spun on a stereo with a 5 disc CD Changer. But this post is not about either of those two methods; it is about the revealing facts behind my I-POD habits. Okay, first off, I use it most during my vain attempt to turn back the clock. By that, I mean exercising my ITAL right to running. Secondly, at night my wife likes static noise to fall asleep too; me I prefer deep dub so I use my I-Pod as a sailboat to drift off into the currents of sleep.

Why does SIZZLA owe me a t-shirt? I’m getting’ to that…

Sizzla’s orphaned CD is welcome in my home. It is because of my love for this little bastard disc that I feel he owes me!

My trained detective like mind (Lol) spots a trend here. Because an artist's album is listed in alphabetical sequence, maybe that could explain why ADDICTED and AIN’T GONNA SEE US FALL are my most played SIZZLA albums. Hmmm?

I figure being available in alphabetical order explains the play count. I choose whatever comes up first. I can be unimaginably lazy at times. (Like meeting BLOG deadlines!) I’ve pressed play for ADDICTED on seventeen separate occasions. I must admit I‘ve really come to love that odd little RHYTHM and BLUES disc. I mean REGGAE disc.
Before engaging in any physical effort it's smart to begin wimpy. Don't wanna break nothin'.
So I start my heart off slow. Warming up with a good stretch to loosen things. Best to maintain a nice mellow pace before selecting an energy blast of pure dancehall.

AIN’T GONNA SEE US FALL really gets the blood pumping. This is the angry, funny and cynical side to MR. KALONJI. And I’ve sped up my 10k to it on eighteen different occasions.

The strangest bit of info I learned is when I need to hear SIZZLA the ROOTS REGGAE singer of THANKS and PRAISES, I play BURNING FIRE more than the acknowledged masterpiece, BLACK WOMAN AND CHILD. (That CD tends to go around in circles much more in my stereo along with his CHILD OF JAH CD.)
BURNING FIRE has two really big roots anthems on it for me, JAH KNOWS BEST and JAH IS LOVE. I cannot get enough of those tunes, which is a good thing since they show up on multiple releases. I am well aware of Penitentiary Record's dubious reputation. This is another instance were cheap worked for me.

I have since made a conscious effort to start backwards, and by that I mean start at end of the alphabet.
I have been playing WATERHOUSE REDEMPTION when I now warm up.

Then run head first into oblivion with SIZZLA’S RASTAFARI CD beatin’ in my eardrums!

RIPTON J. HYLTON!

The 6 foot 6 inch Mighty Mouse

Ripton J. Hylton released two go nowhere singles while still in college. After a complete transformation of name and production team, Eek-A-Mouse arrived to the cheers of Dancehall fans. If you are new to the Mouse the best place to start would be at the Junjo Lawes produced and Roots Radic backed debut. Tunes like "Wa-Do-Dem" and "Ganja Smuggling" introduced us listeners to whole new style. For lack of a better name it was simply called SingJay. Barrington Levy could drop in some extremely flexable vocal techniques, but the Mouse, he performed vocal gymnastics. Gold medal stuff. Thirty years later and nobody can cop his style. The second best addition to your Mouse selection would be the Linval Thompson produced and yet again, Roots Radic backed "Mouseketeer." All originally pressed on Greensleeves vinyl.



Or if your not as committed a fan, shame on you, you could chose this 12 track collection of Mouse maddness that culls together the cream from his first 3 releases. Better yet...10 of the tunes are the 12" mixes. I have all three records but I still couldn't pass this one up. For whatever reason Shanachie took over his past discography but it appears to be back safely in Greensleeves hands where they add extra tunes and better mastering.

Both of my daughters when they where young in age used to dance like crazy to the Mouse. Kids love him and parents approve.

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.

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.

GUSSIE'S 12' RULER!

Sticks and stones may break yer bones but these words are kickin’ my ass up and down the keyboard. I juss can't get to the point. This should be an easy one too…I remember hearing most of these hits when they had that new hit smell. What does a new hit smell like? It kinda smells like Napalm in the morning. You know…incendiary. That Shabba tune was making big waves on regular radio. Even the music channels on the idiot box were showing the Mr. Loverman video in heavy rotation. So here goes before I over bake this post…

Augustus Gussie Clarke cut his teeth in the music biz cutting dub plates but he soon moved on to sit in the big chair. That of a music producer, and this big chair obviously sat well with him because he is held responsible for unleashing two monsters of the age, I-Roy’s Gussie Presenting I-Roy and Big Youth’s Screaming Target. Both made massive impact on the DeeJay scene. Both pressed by England’s Trojan Records. After a few earlier false starts for everybody involved, these true debuts proved the doubters wrong. That feat of sonic engineering came near the beginning of the Seventies, but as the decade disappeared year after year into becoming the 1980’s, Gussie’s rep kinda took a step back.


Big Youth's 1972 Screaming Target changed forever how my ears heard music. Oh course this happened to me in the early 80's. Hey I was 9 years old in 1972.


My wife's favorite chanter of verse and rhymes. I don't wanna scare any of my readers but at somepoint I used to wear a similar suit. Wonder how I didn't get gunned down! That was that New Jack Swing era of the 90's.

Then the “Me Decade” changed everything. The 1980’s started with brand new sounds. Brand new digital technology and most of all, the Casio Drum machine; it shook the world of riddim up. The island would never be the same. Deejays popped up everywhere. Everybody a DeeJay now and they are all spouting off the same rhetoric over the same preset beat. Natural selection weeded out the imitators quick enough. Left standing were a cast of young upstart producers and a whole new generation of fast talkers. They easily filled the big chairs. And they filled the charts with hit after hit. They all had fresh faces to promote. The emerging Dancehall style was becoming the new musical language spoken. Business JA style would still be as lawless as ever. Some things never change, but this sudden shift in musical taste must have caused some gray dreads to the Roots Rockers.



Gussie was now a seasoned professional, which meant he no longer had street level player cred. Gussie should have gotten trampled under that mad rush of talent and technology but no, he was completely reinvigorated. Gussie was old news no more.
Gussie helped a lot of the roots era singers’ transition over to the digital dancehall side. The Eighties were now in full swing. He made sure that the Dennis Browns and the Gregory Isaacs were not the last decade’s chart leftovers. With an updated re-cut of The Mighty Diamonds tune “Bodyguard” Gussie reintroduced the harmony trio to whole new generation. And without causing any disrespect to their original take. Never a stranger to new talent, Gussie is responsible for two of the international breakout Shabba Ranks best full-length releases, Mr. Maximum and Rapping with the Ladies. Both records were big world wide sellers for Greensleeves and both can found on their Reggae Legends series 4 CD box set. Later on that very welcomed into my home set.



This 12’ Ruler is dancing with your lady Dancehall. I say that due to the good balance of the playful male too female duets. This Gussie comp is still perfectly suited for a festive Friday night though. Ironically Mr. Gregory Isaacs, the King of Lover’s Rock, his included tunes are more of social politics and not of affairs of the heart. No overtly offensive slack tunes either.



I stumbled across this VP Records release long after I bought the Greensleeves disc. It's VP's version of the above record but with a few tunes switching places. Most notably for me is lead off tune by The Mighty Diamonds! I never get sick of hearing "Pass the Kutchie". That is a big big smile tune.

MORE TRIBUTE

Okay... I sorta rushed my Gregory Isaacs tribute to the presses. When Sugar Minott left behind his earthly possessions, I took too long to respond. I spent more time researching and listening than actually typing. In the mean time some beautiful pages were written in the man's memory, so I decided that my two cents were worth just that; two cents. So I pushed delete. But with the Cool Ruler I relied on the what came quick off the top of my head and did my research after the fact.

Apparently what came off the top my head was wrong. Ernie B's didn't even have a CD copy of Extra Clasic. New or used. Although, they did have a few original copies in vinyl. Amazon listed a few copies of the Trojan CD edition for big bucks. Crazy. I wonder who holds the copyrights now? African Museum? Did Gregory Isaacs even own his African Museum record and publishing company by this point? Extra Classic is the Cool Ruler's best singles from 1975/76. This is way to important to be outta print. Hey suits are ya listening?

While I was loitering around Ernie B's online store, I came across this...



This seems to be a good thing that is catching on. VP Records in conjunction with their Greensleeves divsion gathers together four usually impossible to find records from a particular artist and then box sets 'em. This series of Reggae Legends releases is out to restore lost musical masterpieces from their collective catalogs. The trend so far is releases from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. That lost generation between the classic roots era and now. And at a nice price ta boot! I'll rave about the Cocoa Tea set at a later day. When I do, I will rave up the Shabba Ranks boxset from them as well.



I am not gonna lie to ya, Mr. Isaacs did his fair share of throw away tracks, but his uniquely languid approach could make light weight lyrics turn out heavy vibed. It was his gift.

OBSCURE BUT NOT LOST IN TIME

There is a core group of artists that remain in heavy rotation. Along with these constants I will go on “new” artists kicks. Last week in-between the Big Youths and I-Roys it was Barry Brown. This week in-between the Lone Rangers and the Shabbas it is Triston Palma.

BARRY BROWN



This label outta Merry Ole England specialises in classic dub. Lord have mercy. I do things backwards...I am the artist but I found myself playing patron.



I found a little buying power in my pocket. Maybe pick out something completely unexpected. Every once in a blue moon the name Barry Brown would surface. Curiosity usually grabbed me but not enough to kill me so I would mosey along. My expectations for this record were humble but it is not a gamble, if it is priced as a give away, so I spent. Turns out quite wisely.
Not only did I recognize most of these songs-I love these songs. Maybe not heard in this form. Usually there is a deejay chanting over these grooves. with a catchy call and response. Or his voice is playing hide and go seek in a heavily revamped King Tubby dub. The best dubs are when the engineer takes the songs schematic and completely rewires the tune. Right?
Barry Brown’s voice can quiver with the vulnerability of Horace Andy. His voice can also calmly sail across ruff rocker riddims like Johnny Clarke. I always assumed the mystery voice belonged to either of those two Rasta gentlemen. I mean maybe because Barry takes his turn voicing their respective hits.
I cannot believe that after 30 years of intense Reggae listening I finally find out about Barry Brown.



A sonically pleasing release from Clocktower. Gotta be wary with a few of their back catalog releases.



TRISTON PALMA

With the older more experienced Horace Andy away and enjoying international attention, the Kingston scene needed a down-home dancehall version to call their own. Not that Triston's style is an exact mirror image of Mr. Andy's. Sure they both have that wobbly warble but where Mr. Andy works the emotion of vulnerability harder, Triston pushes more youth and determination across the themes. No big news stories, only the little day-to-day stuff of hang out with deadbeat friends and hoping to win the young ladies hearts. Wait a minute that sound like the Mr. Andy from a decade previous! Sure… years may have gotten torn off the calendar but the times really don’t change. Triston Palma along with Barrington Levy and Sugar Minott would be this era’s biggest singing stars to big up the dancehall sound. Okay, Sugar was already an industry veteran but this age was his peak. For some reason, the new fans that want to dig into dancehalls past overlook Triston who has never stopped dropping fresh records. Joker Smoker and Entertainment were unstoppable dance floor fillers.



An essential Clocktower release. This company presses only no frills, no extra photos, or even a booklet of explaination. Just great music. Usually.



This CD release may not contain any of his massive cuts but this is no less important. It sorta has a softer groove going on than
the Friday night vibe of Joker Smoker. Spin this one Saturday afternoon.



A typical Greensleeves remastered reissued release. They got some serious goods and this is their way of sharing it.



It should be duly noted that the flesh and blood that laid these riddims down are the Roots Radics. This band would be listed in the credits for so many of the new riddims. No matter who the producer was, who the singer could be, these guys were becoming first choice. Freshest sounds usual come from new blood. Not to say that Sly and Robbie's Taxi Gang were run outta town. Thats one Taxi that'll never run outta gas. By the way, the producer for this session was former DeeJay Jah Thomas. You can always raise your expections. Get this before it disappears!

ANTHONY B and MARCUS GARVEY'S BLACK STAR!

I could not find the article I wrote about Anthony B's tribute to Marcus Garvey, so I rewrote it. Better the second time!


Black Star 9.9 outta 10

YAGGA YO- No denying Anthony B’s huge talent. One great release after another but he never seems to grab the limelight the same way that a Sizzla or a Buju grabs it. His success is hiding in the shadows of his Bobo contemporaries. Anthony B’s style is deceptively simple. His genius is- he says what he has to say without the fuss of flowery poetics. No fancy word play. No double entendre. Lyrics are to the point and direct. No complications. No room for misinterpretation. Very few music artists can pull that off without sounding like a blockhead and ironically Anthony B pulls it off quite poetically. His songs are tales of the everyday life of your average Joe. Well, your average Joe the Dread. Dread living in the ghetto. He takes faith, politics and every other subject you are not supposed to bring up in polite conversation and turns them into cautionary tales. Like Marcus, Anthony B is a preacher, and with each record, he serves us his sermon. So listen up you sinners! .


Marcus Garvey standing proud!

Okay, to be honest, it has been a few decades since high school and back then I am certain there was no Black History month. If we learned anything about anybody that was not White Anglo Saxon Protestant, it was usually for his or her negative contributions to society. Case in point; take Italian Americans- as a group of people they helped add greatly to American culture but my history book only showed them only as Mafia gangsters and low-life organized crime figures. Incidentally, as an Italian American serving in the Army down in the deep South, I was considered neither a white nor a black soldier. Safe to say that the KKK would have a rope waiting for my neck. A stand up comedian joked about being thankful to having that measly one-month for “black history” because as an Asian American, they got next to nothing celebrate about their being American. That one-month of acknowledgement comes at a cost of over 400 hundred years of suffering.



The SS Yarmouth, the first ship in the fleet.

One of the names I definitely remember learning about was Marcus Garvey. His impact was so huge even the WASP historians awarded him more than a footnote. Although, they managed to leave out the huge impact his philosophy would have on Leonard Howell’s Rastafarian faith.


Leonard Howell

Black Star is heavy in message but light in mood. The Black Star of course being the ocean liner fleet to which Marcus Garvey hoped to take former slaves and their descendents back to Mother Africa. Marcus’s dream was never fully realized due to internal corruption and White America’s constant sabotage. The symbolism of a black man taking his own fate into his hands scared the bejeezus out of those White Anglo Saxon Protestants.



Sadly, I learned about these gentleman through the Bob Marley smash, Buffalo Soldiers, and not my history book. I hope my kids learn the truth in school nowadays.

FOOTBALL

I researched through the FIFA files and there was no offical score stating that Scientist won the world cup in 1982. But...



Scientist maneuvers past the goalie and firmly places this disc square in the net. What this Henry Junjo Lawes head coached and Greensleeves endorsed record did score with was the fleet footed tunes, Ten Dangerous Matches (parts 1-10). The 2002 CD release tacked on the tunes Extra TIme (1-5) and Golden Goal. The original record was a dub version of some Hugh Mundell, Wayne Jarrett and Johnny Osbourne tunes. The band laying down the riddims were the seasoned players, the Roots Radics. All this was refereed by King Tubby. Scientist was tops at this time. Kicking out one great Greensleeves release after another. I am still astounded that America tied England two days ago. What the #$%& ? Blimey, 'eads will roll!

Those Crazy Eighties Digital Daze

STAY TUNED ...


The original release

The preset beat that was heard around the world! Well at least where electricity was flowing. The Politicians might be barbaric but it is not a third world nation if the radio is civilized. Right?



The deluxed edition.



Mad? Absolutely warped! Roll up some Rub a Dub Stylee and smoke it till your eyes cross! This record will take the mean right off your face. MAD PROFESSOR started life in Guyana Africa as student Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser. It was in the musical laboratory of London that the underclassman eclipsed his mentors and transformed the science of DUB. His experiments in sound helped usher in a second generation DUB. He created a new monster by being faithful to the traditional studio tricks and by cheating time honored techniques with digital short-cuts. Best way to describe this hybrid is to call it a mixed up old DUB plate plugged into a Atari video arcade machine. MAD PROFESSOR is still creating ethical and experimental ear candy that tastes sweet in the cerebral hemisphere. Just do not drink what is in the test tube.

New tricks

11 out of 10 stars. It is mathematically possible!

During the rise of the Compact Disc, I rejected the technology, preferring to spin out the early nineties on my turntable. My argument was that it was an industry rip off. The big record companies promised music at such affordable prices that I could splurge on two dime-bags a week with the money I would save! They preached that since manufacturing costs had dropped, the savings would be passed onto the fans. Wrong! The suckers in suits jacked up everything. “Screw the fans, they’ll pay if they wanna be the first on their block”. Hot off the drawing board tech is always inflated beyond the rules of supply and demand. The Heathens were stealing even more cash from the till! Hell, even some of their artists that topped the company roster were still not getting paid. Some things never change!
Eventually, I could not ignore progress anymore…a lot of hard to find stuff started popping up in those jewel cases. Stuff that had been out of print for twenty years was now Remastered and Deluxe Editioned. By the mid-nineties CDs became the standard medium and record execs’ started acting more responsible with my paycheck.



Forget numbers...a heavens worth of stars.

While I was slowly filling in the holes of my collection I kept an eye on the new names popping up. The Buju Banton’s and the Bounty Killers. Curiosity finally killed me and I bought myself, Buju’s “Til Shiloh”. I was stunned, shocked and more alive than ever! I followed that with Capleton’s “More Fire”. Furious stuff! I would spend the new millennium years now playing catch up to the nineties. I am always chasing my tail!



9 out of 10 ounces.

I am amazed at how many middle-aged folks think all modern Reggae and Dancehall is the work of Hip-Hop thugs. The crotch grabbing bling bragging Rap star wanna-be’s. For those old salty dogs that swear to Jah that Reggae went belly up sometime in the 80’s, Chezidek makes them all filthy liars! This gentleman has the golden tonsils of a crooner! Sorta Beres Hammond doing a Sizzla thing sung by Cedric Myton. Makes sense, right? Everybody forgets about Luciano being a 90’s discovery, because they figure he’s been around since the late 60’s. He sounds it right?
Now, Chezidek sets all those doubters straight. This music is Roots growing deep into the traditions best but somehow remaining a fresh modern listen.



9 out of 10 ounces.