A mix of concert footage with Dennis Bovell’s dub band, interviews and chat, archive footage of St. Vincent (Shake Keane’s home island), Jamaica (Linton Kwesi Johnson’s home island), Notting Hill and Archer Street in the West End. In 6 short parts that seemed to follow on from each other when I watched on YouTube. Linton, Shake and bassist Coleridge Goode are extensively featured and there’s also a shorter chat section with English pianist/bandleader Michael Garrick. Some interesting discussion about Joe Harriott also. I missed this completely when the BBC first aired it in 1992 so it’s good to see it now.
More Upsetting news….
RIP U-Roy
U-Roy and related 70s reggae artists appealed to me in a way Bob Marley stopped.
It’s an indica versus sativa thing; do you prefer to be high, or to be stoned? I’d rather be high and my brain cells sparkling, not dull-headed and semi-sedated
Strictly roots and dubwise homages to 70s reggae here, please.
Free Jan Hammer
No, the Specials have not reunited to campaign for the erstwhile Mahavishnu maestro’s release from the trappings of luxury bought by ‘Miami Vice’… Jan is offering a free download today of a 1979 outtake, a reggae version of Orby’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’. It’s… unusual. But it’s free!
https://janhammer.com/track/2582328/oh-pretty-woman-reggae-version
Colombian music
I don’t think there’s been a thread on Colombian music until now. There have been references to Quantic, who spent 7 years in the country, and I’ve really enjoyed those tracks of his I’ve heard. But a few weeks ago, I started using one song on my cheap mobile as a way into random play – SIn Oficio by Systema Solar. At first, I just thought it was, you know, Latin. But the more I heard it, and absorbed the sounds, the more impressed I got. Snatches of street scenes, traditional folk and modern beats and record scratching – the sort of magpie musical pleasure I have got in the past from Manu Chao, Alabama 3, and other genre-crossing acts.
Then I watched the video, and then others by the same band – a Colombian collective that freely mixes hip-hop, rap, and techno with Cumbia, Afro-Caribbean, champeta, bullerengue (apparently). Knowing nothing of any of these latter genres, I wikied Colombian music – over 100 separate genres of music. Who knew?
More to the point, are there other Colombian musicians like Systema Solar? Well, yes and no – a few late nights researching and I came up with Chocquibtown (closest), » Continue Reading.
The UN Declare Reggae A Cultural Treasure
Reggae is “cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual,” said Unesco. Quite right, too.
Please post your favourite Reggae songs here.
To kick things off, this is the track that started it all, The Maytals – Do The Reggay.
A couple of Spotify recommendations
A couple of Spotify recommendations that might or might not interest the Massive. 1. Mishka’s 2009 album ‘Above The Bones’ has finally gone on Spotify today. A great reggae album. The “unplugged” version, ‘Guy With A Guitar’, is excellent too (and also on Spotify). 2. (Potentially, I suspect, more of interest) – Were the good and bad people of The Afterword aware that Martin Stephenson had recorded an acoustic version of his masterpiece, ‘Boat To Bolivia’? I certainly wasn’t til today. It’s called ‘Bolivia’, it’s on Spotify, and it’s pretty darn fab.
Crimes Against Reggae
Sophia George was a one hit wonder and her hit “Girlie Girlie” was a bit crap frankly. So I therefore have no idea why on earth Blondie decided to cover this in 2011 on their album Panic Of Girls. I have never heard this before tonight. It’s frankly awful. And given how good their cover of The Tide Is High is, it just makes it all doubly bad.
Reggae is frequently astonishingly brilliant. But done badly, it’s truly unspeakable. Whether it’s a novelty hit, or a white band attempting a reggae cover or merely adding a reggae dimension to an existing song (I’m looking at YOU McCartney. What fucking possessed you to put the clodhopping reggae bit into Live and Let Die FFS?) bad reggae is a thing of horror.
So have you anything worse than this? Do let me know…
Afterword DJ’s help needed.
So I’m doing a reggae themed party in a couple of weeks and looking for some inspiration. I have loads of the usual commercial stuff like Marley UB40 etc. Also the Trojan Roots & Ska box sets & the Two Tone one, but looking for some more recent uptempo 80’s & 90’s tracks for the mainly over 40’s crowd. Will be playing for about 4 hours. All ideas welcome. The more leftfield the better!
Attention, Bristol area reggae fans!
This looks like it could be really good.
The history of Bristol’s reggae sound systems is the focus of a new exhibition opening at Colston Hall next month. Curated by Mandeep Samra and Clarks in Jamaica author Al ‘Fingers’ Newman, the display aims to shed light on a part of UK history that “has meant so much to so many people, yet has been largely overlooked by mainstream historians,” they say.
http://www.factmag.com/2015/05/14/sound-system-culture-reggae-tour-bristol/