STATE OF REGGAE ADDRESS

The start of a DYNASTY.

Brethren Marley

I'm not gonna knock Borders and not because they're financially falling down, but because I've pulled some hard to find selections from their music bins. I was curious to see what Reggae was in stock. 


Rasta and Reggae ambassador to the world Bob Marley was present and accounted for with Survival. 

Not perfect but damn close.

Bob's eldest son Ziggy was represented by his breezy reggae-ish Dragonfly disc. Not crucial stuff but good lazy summer in the sun vibes all around. 

Stephen had his massively persuasive Mind Control. After standing in the shadow of his siblings as their producer, STEPHEN finally steps into the solo spot-lite with a blazing entrance.

More of this please.

When this record came out I had it spinning in circles everyday for almost two seasons. I still play parts of it to death. I'll never get sick of the mighty THE TRAFFIC JAM tune. 


 Brethren Ziggy and Stephen show up again with older sistren Cedella and Sharon as the Melody Makers. A best of set. Very 80's styles aimed at a world audience. It was working until everybody grew up! I vaguely remember catching dem MARLEY youth live. Hey, those were hazy times! 

Black sheep of the family, Kymani's Many More Roads was stocked. (Read his book for an explanation on that.)

Does the Marley legacy justice. Strong record.

A copy of youngest son Damian's mature masterpiece Welcome to Jamrock was hiding behind it.

Perfect.

WELCOME TO JAMROCK is my most listened too record of the entire MARLEY family. That includes family patriarch BOB. Kymani's RADIO is close second.


Okay...


BUT where the Hell is Julian? 

"Is anybody looking for me?"

Sadly, I've never seen or heard a full disc of his stuff. Alright he does lay down some guest vocals on Stephen's IRON BARS.


None of mom Rita was shelved either. That was their entire REGGAE selection! Usually, there is at least some PETER TOSH or MATISYAHU avialable. Definitely always a TOOTS disc. If there were any more, it was hiding behind the massive rack of the latest Black Eyed Peas.

ALPHEUS from CREATION

Fueled by imagination.

Science fiction writers have been going back and forth in these "vehicles" for generations. Hundreds of fantastic stories have taken place because of this contraption. In the real world Einstein suggested at it's theoretical existence. He published papers hoping that someday technology will play catch up to his "blueprints." 


 It has. What the hell am I babbling on about?  I'm talking about a time machine folks.  And it has arrived with this here disc! 

Proof that time is flexible!

Producer and musician, ROBERTO SANCHEZ, from northern Spain stuffed singer ALPHEUS into a time machine. And then loaded the entire LONE ARK RIDDIM FORCE band along with tons of today's state of the art recording gadgets. Must of been tight in there. And then ROBERTO spun the dial to mid 1968. They created the freshest batch of heart felt ROCKSTEADY since ALTON ELLIS'S heyday. And to keep things from getting too sleepy, they perked up the other half of the tunes with a percolating SKA shuffle. These beats are haunted by ghosts of horn greats TOMMY McCOOK and DON DRUMMOND! This is the genuine stuff. Not that rock-n-roll junk with a horn section. Along with COURTNEY JOHN'S latest flashback, I like this "new" trend. 

I guess the Grammy organization after ignoring JAMAICA'S massive contribution to music, is trying to right it's past wrongs. They started to include reggae in 1985. BLACK UHURU'S 1984 ANTHEM took the statue home. They're self admitted weakest inna brilliant run. Slightly weaker.

ALPHEUS. Making history by repeating it.

So they are nominating artists that have no or little importance to the current pulse. Proof needed? Out of all the acts of genius, Lee Scratch Perry, has committed to reggae history, they included the ramblings of a self medicated damaged soul. His current records are for the morbid curiosity seekers. Do not get me wrong, Scratch should have dozens of the award statue decorating his studio. One for the Dubs of the Blackboard Jungle, another one for the Super Ape series, another one for the Heart of the Congo, another one for Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves and so on and so on. But to place his latest releases against the work of young talent creatively peeking is ludicrous. 

A token for mediocrity.

What has this got to do with ALPHEUS'S brilliant follow up to Special Delivery's EVERYTHING FOR A REASON. Umm, nothing, I just never got a chance to foul mouth that music organization.

Should this disc win next years Grammy's? No this disc should clean sweep the Grammy's in 1969!

RASTA GOT GUILTY VERDICT...

BUJU... whether guilty or innocent; whether you believe him or not...he's been a victim of character assassination.


 Those close to him are explaining that BUJU likes to talk a lot of shit. Whirlwinds of bravado. RASTA GOT COKE?  Government agents have proof of BUJU sampling the merchandise. All my friends that claimed that he jumped to the RASTA way of life as merely a business decision said, "see...I told ya so!" 


In essence that claim is bull. Why? Several big names making even bigger entertainment dollars like Elephant Man or Sean Paul make no association with RASTA ideologies. So RASTA doesn't equal FAME and MONEY. Now that's a foolish accusation!

Those same friends also claim that SIZZLA is faking it! Huh? We know he was raised into the faith by Rastafarian parents! 

Before the world got all PC on us, there was a young thug from Salt Lane Kingston working the mic. Back when Mark Anthony Myrie, Buju's real name, was hungry for woman, hungry for dollars and hungry for everything that success brought with it. Working the mic became a means to survival. Working that mic was a means to escape from further ghetto suffrage. 

To be enjoyed at face value. BUJU doesn't hide behind any false pretenses here. In 1992 the teen aged BUJU is openly homophobic, he is braggingly misogynistic and BUJU is performing his real self here. That self? A hormone driven youth possibly facing a future he was told that as a poor BLACK MAN he would never have. Arguably, environment plays a large part in shaping his lyrical content...so spin this disc as an Anthropological experience. It provides a valuable peek into places to dark for the sun to shine. Do I agree with him? No, but personally I do believe the RASTA GOT SOUL. Hell, there is a lot of shit about my own youth I'm not proud of! 

Life, image and doing business in BABYLON caught up to him. Remember folks we are all human first and pious secondly. 

Will this guilty verdict destroy BUJU'S career? Sure gigs and sales may be immediately affected, but the big picture could tell a different story. Check the legends of folk heros like HUDDIE WILLIAM  "LEAD BELLY", JOHNNY CASH and MERLE HAGGARD. A few years from now, you'll be able to add LIL WAYNE'S name to that list. 

Coke and Bobo don't mix but BUJU and PENTHOUSE RECORDS were meant for each other. I can't get enough of it!

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.

TURNTABLIST

DIPLO'S MAJOR LAZER is amusing in that Saturday morning cartoon way. Fun with cornflakes. His work on M.I.A.'s sophomore release, KALA, on the other hand gave my mind blisters. But this leaves me feeling cautious for all the wrong reasons.

What does DIPLO do here other than select some choice cuts?

This is being crazy hyped all over the network hoping to crossover into uncharted pop territory.

Is it just me or is DIPLO shooting blanks here! I mean the chosen tracks are already known killers...it's like he's aiming with the safety still on.

Sweet LORD of MERCY... check those names!

Now this CD from TROJAN plays out like a musical massacre. "CREATION REBEL" is a crime scene with DJ SPOOKY"S fingerprints all over the mix. The record company man claims Trojan Records: re-mixed, re-visioned, re-versioned for their 40th anniversary.

Under the influence of heavy DUBS!

A split second into this CD and your ear's will tell ya something ain't right, not that there is anything wrong going on here; it's that DJ SPOOKY takes the all too familiar and makes something new to discover. Sure the idea for this CD was probably a marketing ploy but Mr. Spooky doesn't operate here as just another paying gig, he turns it into a labor of love. 

A quick note about TROJAN RECORDS...The main bulk of their catalog is back issued Ska, Rocksteady and early Roots. Their big pay day is the tapes of Bob Marley and the Wailers that Lee "Scratch" Perry secretly delivered to 'em.  

A quick note about DJ SPOOKY aka THAT SUBLIMINAL KID, real name Paul D. Miller... he takes TURNTABLISM way beyond merely spinning choice records. Sure he is no stranger to the club scene, but he is one of the few that is viewed as a valid composer. He peers group includes several AVANT GARDE and JAZZ musicians as well as the usual HIP-HOP suspects. 

Honestly, when I treat myself to vintage MARLEY and the WAILERS, I usually spin SPOOKY'S version of MR. BROWN for starters. Actually, two takes, one apparently wasn't enough. His first version amps the organ riff for maximum creepy effect with BOB'S haunting vocals echoing in and out of the thick as sugar-cane syrup mix. Tons of reverb! The second which comes toward the end is of the disc is an stripped down acapella mix that's even more creeped out. It buries the organ riff six feet under in the mix with BOB and PETER'S voices floating like DUPPY SPIRITS over a grave. 

DJ SPOOKY borrows the RIDDIM from one tune and then he'll drop an entirely different set of vocals on top. This musical slice and dice is performed as seamless as cosmetic surgery! Need proof...check the remix of BOB MARLEY'S SOUL REBEL. It's simply fucking cool. 

SPOOKY isn't afraid to give some of genres most massive classics a fresh spin around the old retirement home. DAWN PENN'S one hit wonder NO-NO-NO is given it's third chance at life (she charted with that big tune in the late 1960's and again with it in the early 1980's). He sets fire to BARRINGTON LEVY'S ganja anthem UNDER MI SENSI till the smoke pours out your speakers. He puts an open flame under WAYNE SMITH'S ganja anthem UNDER MI SLENG TEN till your eyes bloodshot red. I think the mix would make original producer KING JAMMY smile. SPOOKY takes the extremely riff heavy AUGUSTUS PABLO rocker EAST OF THE RIVER NILE and works it out till it's solid muscle. This disc also gives SPOOKY the honor to lay down some musical tributes to a couple of his heroes that hide behind the mixing boards, MAD PROFESSOR and SCIENTIST. 

SPOOKY has U-ROY chanting introductions. He has TAPPER ZUKIE inciting the people. And he has Dub Poet MUTABARUKA dropping information. Twice, SPOOKY utilizes MUTABURKA'S willfully spoken words. At times his mixes are heavily psychedelic, tastefully dance grooved or mentally disturbed. That is a good thing! The bands laying down these RIDDIMS for the most part, are THE UPSETTERS and THE OBSERVERS. Another dusty relic is MICHAEL ROSE, I'm guessing before he joined BLACK UHURU. Does SPOOKY'S mixes defile the originals? Nah, SPOOKY raids TROJAN'S vaults with reverence for its' past. The verdict? 5 out of 5.

YEP...

...when I say "tomorrow", I actually mean when my lazy ass gets around to it. Nah, I been busy reading up on all the labels that fell victim to the current state of  weak currency. Or even worse than paper money worries is the appalling apathy for all things vintage roots. Especially the acquired taste stuff. First England's BLOOD and FIRE sputtered and then stalled to a complete stop and now the Frenchie spectacular MAKASOUND label is in big trouble.

 My own little Mom and Pop online second hand record store lost more than it gained. My tax man suggested I take up window shopping.  I put my business to sleep. Well maybe for a long afternoon nap.

I plan on doing nothing but furious two finger typing tomorrow.

MUSIC THEORY

I may have exercised my right to artistic license with that last post.  But remember the "THE MAN" went looking for BUJU too set him up in an undercover sting. Ever ask yourself why him? What is it about BUJU that made himself their target and not...say the MARLEY BROTHERS. When I think of a huge thorn stuck in BABYLON'S side, I think of this man; SIZZLA KALONJI. 

Oh by the way, the dictionary definition of GELDING is...castrated animal, esp. a male horse. 

The door to Jamaica's top political office reads Prime Minister GOLDING. The coincidence in similarities is purely accidental.

The grand entrance to this collection of hard and heavy vibes comes from the mind and record label of GARGAMEL. It is a hummable little ditty called COWBOYS. Perhaps you've heard of it? It always amazes me how only down in Jamaica can the studio wizards turn an insipid nursery rhyme like THREE BLIND MICE into a subversive weapon....or at least a smash hit. 

The rest of the disc...

1.) COWBOY by BUJU BANTON. Only down in Jamaica can they take an insipid little ditty like “Three Blind Mice” and ruff it up into something serious. This tuff tune is no children’s nursery rhyme. It is however one of BUJU’S strongest singles in a long time. Well maybe not that long but at least since DRIVER A broke. Remember TOO BAD from way back in 2007?

2.) “POLICE AND THEIVES” by GEORGE NOOKS reaches deep into LUCIANO’S take on this classic from the soundtrack. Usually GEORGE reaches deep into the verses of the bible for lyrical inspiration. I'm gonna bore ya with some history. First off, this tune had mass appeal with those individuals on the wrong side of the law. Alright a few genuine outlaws and mostly hipsters posing as dangerous types. Everybody from spiky punker thugs to the down to earth Ganja farmers. Junior Murvin cut the original tune with a falsetto high enough to bounce off the stratosphere. If you think there is something unnerving and subtly disturbing about the mix that's because the production was the result of LEE PERRY'S mind disintegrating into illness. Those noisy four chord wonders, the CLASH unleashed their own hit version, something like a week after JUNIOR’S bust out on London's pirate radio. Worlds collide! So this classic tune carries massive influence in two separate genres. GEORGE NOOK’S huge tone completely reinvents this tune but is never far from the original design. JUNIOR’S falsetto was only a few decibels lower than the frequency that only dogs can hear.

3.) PINCHERS-When the musical fashion shifted to all that bad man gun bussin’ talk, PINCHER'S faded. PINCHER’S liked to woo the girls in the audience but not like those velvety Vegas lounge crooners. Girls couldn’t get enough of his sly smile while he ached heartbreakers like the massive tune AGONY. PINCHER'S would never reach those heights again that he had with KING JAMMY’S productions. PINCHERS never completely pulled a disappearing act though. He’s been putting out good stuff all along. PINCHER’S never clicked with the younger fans on an international level. Shame, hopefully his tune here, “PUNK ME OUT”, corrects that mistake. He works his smooth stuff over the STALAG RIDDIM. 

4.) MICHAEL ROSE, no I mean JUNIOR REID. Wait that ain’t right, I mean YAMI BOLO. Hey he ain’t 12 years old anymore! YAMI summed it up as being a Waterhouse thing. JUNIOR REID summed it up as the youthful YAMI copying every move he, (JUNIOR), made behind the mic. Hey if ya gonna steal a style, pick the best. Some of JUNIOR’S hits were being spun in the chic discothèques of the rich and famous. Funny thing is I remember every body saying the same thing about JUNIOR stealing MICHAEL ROSE’S tongue tricky “Arabic” vocal technique. Actually the more mature YAMI has found a delicate balance between his own voice and the Waterhouse sound with his rootsy tune, “END OF THE DAY.”

5.) GHOST appears with “LONELY NIGHT.”– He is not really an apparition because he shows up to haunt many a REGGAE compilation. Hey does GHOST have his very own CD released? The Ghost has one of those smooth and sweetly fey voices. My wife thought he was a girl. I know better. Depending on the tune, I either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Here on JAMROCK CLASSICS I find no ill will against the singer.

6.) JAH CURE- Now JAH CURE knows a thing or two about being a criminal statistic. Whether or not he was truly guilty, only him and the girl would know, and of course JAH. Plus getting caught with a handgun didn’t help his defense. Now that Mr. Cure has diligently paid his debt to society, he is back on the path fate had chosen for him. That path is performing passionate roots. 

7.) TONY CURTIS belts out “GOODBYE TO LOVE.” I really don’t know much about him other than he has been around for a few decades. Some fans might call this a throw away tune but it’s a notch above being mere filler. I guess you could accuse the GHOST track of the same offense, but “LONEL NIGHT” is definitely the stronger of the two.

8.) LUTAN FYAH drops “MEANS TO SURVIVE.” I have said before that LUTAN reminds me every ROOTS CHANTER that I love but at the same time he is nothing like any of them. Somehow I’m comfortably familiar with his work even if I’m a stranger to the tune.  Spinning a new CD of LUTAN’S work is like listening to an old favorite. I put him in the same category as NATURAL BLACK. Both constantly surpass high standards but for some reason they slip unnoticed by the casual REGGAE public. Thankfully there are enough diehard ears listning.

9.) BUJU BANTON featuring THE NEW KIDZ causes trouble all over again with “CURFEW.”  Another act of defiance cut on the THREE BLIND MICE. I'm not sure what they be call the riddim. Probably my favorite tune from this disc. It is one of those tunes that could make you either fall deep into thought or make ya wanna dance.

10.)  TERROR FABULOUS steps outta the time machine and delivers “READY ROCK.” A rowdy old school workout over the STALAG RIDDIM. This tune brings back memories of fades and parachute pants! It is a cool way to wrap up a good mix of new and old. BUJU as the star power producer and aspiring record mogul.

Basic packaging, but that's okay, because all the time and money went into the tunes. The full title is BUJU BANTON presents JAMROCK CLASSICS vol.1
I hope we don't haffi wait the length of a maximum sentence for vol. 2