Ini Kamoze (IMA7) (1984)

Early 80s Taxi Productions can be a bit brittle and, well, early 80s sounding. No such problem on “(He)artist” Ini Kamoze’s début ”mini Lp”, wherein Sly ‘n’ Robbie make their robotic, pre-”Sleng Teng” reggae sound plenty meaty, each of the six tracks presented “showcase” style, with the extended portions dubbed up by all manner of mechanistic sound effects.

A 5-star record from the high tenor yout’ man singer, this one found cheap at an outdoor market in Canterbury on Saturday: They call it merther in chez Asbo!

 

Symarip – Skinhead Moonstomp (TBL 102) (1969)

The very definition of bandwagon jumping mitigated slightly by the fact that the UK’s Symarip (Pyramids near palindrome) were the premier passengers on the Skinhead carriage. With tracks like “Skinhead Jamboree”, “Skin Flint”, “Skinhead Girl” (“Her hair cut short, boots set firm/She was my height, my weight, my size, she wore braces and blue jeans”–WTF?), not to mention the hit title track* and a Nancy Sinatra recast (“These Boots Are Made For Stomping [sic]“), my guess is that this relatively unsubtle take on reggae/ska was big fun in the clubs among the target demographic, with the Skins feeling a certain vindication, even liberation, that comes with recognition however ham-fisted, but the novelty wears thin on Lp for anything more than party listening. Purchased, by coincidence, for the virtual equivalent of 19’11 in 2012 money from my favourite Sandwich chaz, Toots & the Maytals, it ain’t.

The practice of putting Caucasians on the front cover of Lps produced by black people was not new in 1969, but usually the job fell to an attractive blonde female (see Miles Davis, Otis Redding, et al); in fact, the rhetorical point was less arbitrary and more meaningful here.

*This is a version of Derrick Morgan’s “Moon Hop”, though it’s here carelessly credited to Symarip’s singer and keyboardist.

Dennis Brown/Prince Mohamed – “Money In My Pocket” b/w “Runnings Irie” (LV 5) (1979)

AREA MAN TRIES MARIJUANA, STILL DOESN’T GET APPEAL OF REGGAE

Man Doesn’t Know It, Feel It

(Canterbury, Kent) – Upper Hardres resident Garret Smalls listened to reggae music properly for the first time last night and has decided that he simply doesn’t enjoy the popular Jamaican music genre.

Eric Weiss, a reggae enthusiast friend of Smalls’, invited the twenty five-year-old graphic designer to his Canterbury flat to smoke some pot and listen to a variety of reggae styles including roots, DJ, early Dancehall and ragga.

While Weiss did a live mix on two decks of some of his current favourites, including 7″’s by Brigadier Jerry (“Every Man A Me Bredren”), Vivian Jackson (“Conquering Lion”), Big Youth (“Dubble Attack”), Luciano, Josie Wales & Charlie Chaplin (“Rebel With a Cause”), along with the first side of the Blood & Fire issue of the Congos’ The Heart of the Congos, Smalls happily pulled on a marijuana-packed ceramic water pipe with the caricature of a skull at its base.

“I thought I’d be more likely to ‘get’ reggae if I had a little buzz on,” Smalls explained, lighting Jah-Jah chalice to bun a lickle lamb’s bread.

Weiss was particularly hopeful about “converting” Smalls with the Crowned Prince of Reggae Dennis Brown’s “Money In My Pocket” 12″ single he recently picked up at a thrift store in Deal. “Yeah, the Dennis twelve is a massive Joe Gibbs [production] on the same riddim as ‘Mama Look’ by Big Youth,” said Weiss. “It shouldn’t scare any broad-minded listener, [as a] late 70s single…it’s pretty smooth, while at the same time it’s not too obvious, like ‘Jammin” or something.”

Despite this, Smalls remained unmoved, not calling out “Forward!”, “Big up m’ selecta!”, “Rewind!” or “Pu-u-u-ll Up!” at any point during the 8 minutes the record played, including the righteous Prince Mohamed “Cool Runnings” toast over the extended section or its electronically enhanced Mighty Two (Gibbs and Erroll Thompson) version on the b-side, “Runnings Irie”. A 1979 top 20 UK hit, the single is not particularly rare in Great Britain, its 50p price tag an accurate reflection of its market value.

On hearing Cocoa Tea’s absolutely banging “Burn Satan”, Smalls ventured that he was “a little uncomfortable with some of [reggae music's] fundamentalist religious aspects”.

“Maybe it’s because I was born and raised in a small village in Kent, but I have a really hard time translating the patois and the accents are well thick,” Small announced following several more wicked chunes and bong hits, also reporting that, ultimately, “the whole thing [Reggae] was a bit too ‘samey’” for him.

“I guess I don’t know it, since I can’t feel it,” he added matter-of-factly.

Smalls did note, however, that the pot was really great and will continue to do more of that in the future while listening to the This Is Dubstep 2012 he downloaded the day before yesterday.

V/A – 20 Reggae Classics (TRLS 222)

When I first lived in England during ’85/’86 the three albums I listened to most were Roxy’s Stranded, a fairly comprehensive budget label Kinks 2Lp ’60s greatest hits and a cassette of Trojan’s 20 Reggae Classics. Well, recently, I was missing populist late 60′s/early 70′s ska/raggae stuff, having not replaced it as I delved headlong into the connoisseurs’ world of Soul Jazz/Blood & Fire/Pressure Sounds/etc. re-issues. Finding the vinyl version today, I wasn’t even going to bother posting it since it’s such obvious stuff, especially in this country.

I changed my mind, however, as I listened to it this evening and was reminded of the reasons why I love pop music and that this is THE BEST COMPILATION ALBUM EVER MADE.

Linton Kwesi Johnson – Forces of Victory (ILPM 9566) (1979)

Even-better-than-you-remember-it sophomore record by unique “dub poetry” artist who manages to reign in the patois enough so as to be intelligible to Babylon. Engineer Dennis Bovell sometimes gets a bit of hassle round Thrifty Vinyl parts, but, after all, he sorted out the Slits and midwifed this really quite good record. Another Folkestone flea market find; check that Supreme logo presaging typography.

Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman – “Never Tell You” 10″ (Burial Mix BM-01)

Wow, the first ever Burial Mix 10″!

To be honest, this is real connoisseur’s stuff that I would never have expected to find in amongst Steve Miller and Culture Club records at the Folkestone Flea Market. For those out of the know, Rhythm & Sound are technically adept Berlin duo Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus in their reggae guise. Reggae in the loosest sense, for, while featuring reggae/dancehall vocalists, this might more accurately be described as minimalist, narcotic electronic dub music. It is distinctive and instantly recognisable. I’m not that much into their Basic Channel stuff, but I’ve got several other R & S 10″‘s as well as their w/ the Artists and the Versions Lps.

Von Oswald also does lots of work for Honest Jon’s as artist, curator and engineer (at renowned Dubplates & Mastering).

Bunny Wailer – Rock ‘n’ Groove (Solomonic) (1981)

JA press of Roots Radics abetted pre-Sleng Teng dancehall reggae by ostensibly the most doctrinaire Wailer. And this really is dancehall at its purest: all seven tracks celebrate the culture in different (though, it must be said, never slack) ways; Rock ‘n’ Groove is presented in glorious showcase fashion, i.e. each song followed by its dub. Includes “Cool Runnings”.

Well worth a pound of anyone’s money, but especially mine. Result.

Reggae Hits – John Whitehead and his Orchestra

An unexpected amazing find of a disc here.  Unable to find anything whatsoever about it on the web – even the entry on Discogs for the ‘les treteaux’ label is missing an entry for this release (LP 6433).  Not even sure if this is the same John Whitehead that released numerous records with Gene McFadden – and wrote stacks of tracks for the O’Jays ?  Anyone out there know anything about this disc ??

What I can tell you however is that it contains some very tasty versions of reggae standards including an almost note-for-note rendition of Johnathon Richmans – Egyptian Reggae (which the 5 year old in the house now demands be played on a daily basis !!).   Even the covers of uncle Bob Marley ‘Jamming’ is dead good – despite this being a track I can barely stand these days due to total exposure-burn-out !!

The versions of Barbados and Up Town Top Rankin are simply great – no question…  just wish I knew a bit more about the production team/players etc …

Oh and it even features a version of ‘Johny Reggae’ – should please Nick that one for sure !!

Reggae Steady Go 1 (Rhino RHIN-4)

Trading on the good name of the like-titled early 70s U.K. Rhino collections while apparently trying to appeal to nascent B-Boys at the same time, these cheap ‘n’ cheerful mid-80s reggae comps come with plenty of well-worn classics (“Israelites”, “Love of the Common People”, etc.), a bit of Lovers Rock for the ladies (“Am I the Same Girl?”, “Girly Girly”, etc.), a smattering of Dee Jay for the Rudies (“Come Back Charlie”, “Kool and Deadly”, etc.), a couple obscurities for the obsessives (Nitty Gritty’s “Man in a House”) and some then-contemporary chunes to bring us up to date.  Two separate sleeves for albums that were, I think, originally sold as a pair.

Note: Sponsored by Puma.

 

Dillinger – Bionic Dread (Black Swan ILPS 9455)

Dillinger’s second Lp (1976) to ride Jo Jo Hookim’s dubwise versions after the more famous CB 200. This is a wicked set, in terms of both the tough Channel 1 riddims (several of which the Mighty Diamonds and the Wailing Souls had previously cut definitive harmony group vocal versions, e.g. “They Never Loved Poor Marcus”, “Things and Time”, et. al) and the toasting, which deals with matters dread inna style reminiscent of Big Youth.  The vinyl is in very good condition, so the only piece of bad news concerns the cover which was cut to reveal the label, perhaps for DJing purposes; a real shame because this is a rare example of absolute excellence in reggae cover art.