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I DO like reggae – an update!

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In October 2018 (which shocked me, cos I only thought it was around 6 months ago) I wrote a post titled I Don’t Like Reggae, as I had tried listening to bits and pieces over the years, but it never really grabbed my attention. Like other genres that have become firm favourites over the past few years (rap, grime, drum and bass, dubstep), just listening to the odd track here and there made it all sound a little samey, which is always a great thing to say to get people offended and start recommending great music to you! So I wrote the post, basically to ask for a way in, as I was sure I’d become a fan if I persevered, and I wasn’t disappointed. There were loads of albums/artists recommended and I found that i pretty much liked it all.

So I’m pleased to say that, 19 months later I am properly converted and have amassed a nice little reggae/dub collection, many of which were the albums recommended. I’ve even added a couple of UB40 albums to my collection (I would have referred anyone who suggested that would ever happen for psychiatric therapy a couple of years ago!). I had liked Food For Thought when it first came out, but what came after really put me off, particularly Red Red Wine, which makes up the holy trinity of my most detested singles, along with Shout by Lulu and Walking On Sunshine.

But the ones I like the most include War Ina Babylon by Max Romeo and the Upsetters, Overstanding by Alpha & Omega (in fact, I really like most of their albums and consider them my favourite new find of the year), Marcus Garvey by Burning Spear, Live At The Counter Eurovision by Misty In Roots (I already had a few tracks by them), Equal Rights by Peter Tosh, Forces Of Victory and Bass Culture by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sly & Robbie’s A Dub Experience – Reggae Greats, Wolf & Leopards by Dennis Brown, It’s Growing by Garnett Silk, Point of View by Matumbi and I absolutely love Deadbeat and Paul St Hilaire’s Infinity Dub Sessions and Dubkasm’s Rastrumentals. That’s just the tip of the iceberg and I’m sure I’ve missed out loads more of my favourites.

And I’ve decided I was totally wrong about Bob Marley. Exodus is well known for a reason, Catch a Fire and @twang’s suggestion, Uprising, are other favourites and the “everything’s gonna be alright” bit from No Woman, No Cry (which had previously gone in one ear and out the other) is now one of my favourite bits of any track, ever, like the “one, two, three, four” in Born To Run, the “You! You! You!” bit in Marc Almond and Gene Pitney’s Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart” and the two guitar solos in Comfortably Numb.

The Frontline, Trojan and Island Dub CD collections have also been a cheap way of acquiring loads of great new tracks. 1000 Volts of Holt by John Holt is far better than it sounded when I read about it. I can’t help liking it. And the daughter of the Pistols’ Paul Cook, Hollie Cook, has made three fab pop reggae albums. And loads of bits jumped out at me when listening to all these albums that I knew from records I already know and love, from Horace Andy’s voice (Massive Attack) to a Max Romeo track (The Prodigy).

I know I’ve missed loads more out that I really like, as there were loads of great recommendations that were great starting points, and one or two kind folk also sent some stuff my way. So thanks again to everybody who pointed me in the right direction.

I don’t think there are any other genres that are under-represented in my collection that I really want to explore further (opera, cheesy Europop and the various offshoots of heavy metal/hard rock are holes that I am happy to leave unfilled), but over the past few years I’ve had a lot of help in meandering my way through drum and bass, dubstep, rap, house and now reggae, so is anyone else thinking of diving into a genre they are largely unfamiliar with? There’s no better place than here to ask for help.

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Comments

    • Just had a flick through a couple of their albums and yes, right up my street. Beginning to wish I’d kept quiet because I seriously have no room left on my shelves. I have two big shelving units and a cupboard in the living room. The best stuff goes on the shelves, the second best stuff in the cupboard and I did something a couple of weeks ago I swore I’d never do and boxed some up. Problem is, when I get a new CD it is agony deciding which one to move from the shelves to the cupboard to make way for it…

    • Check out Talisman as well – their album ‘Takin The Strain’ is well worth finding (Embryo Records, 411 Stapleton Rd., Eastville, Bristol 1984). It was reissued on a local label fairly recently so you should find links easily.

      Used to see them and Black Roots quite regularly when I lived in St. Pauls.

  4. You don’t mention much dub, apart from Alpha & Omega. Nat Birchall’s recent work with The Breadwinners is outstanding. And The Scientist’s early eighties albums have been remastered and paired with a disc of the songs the rhythms were taken from. All are excellent.

    • Well done. At our ages there are few people who take on music they have dismissed previously. Suggest you delve heavily into the Burning Spear catalogue, Culture you should explore and more of Lee Perry’s various incarnations.
      A bit of weed wouldn’t hurt either.

      • All I’ve picked up by Burning Spear so far is the CD with Garvey’s Ghost and Marcus Garvey on it. I’ve been meaning to delve deeper, so I’ll get on to that.

        I have a few Lee Perry albums, but he has been one of the most difficult to navigate my way around, cos there is so much of it and, as you say, under umpteen names!

        I’ve rekindled my love for music so much over the past few years by opening my ears and listening to stuff I haven’t really bothered with. The big bonus with this is that there’s decades worth of ‘new’ music that’s already out there to be listened to.

        Some things I’ve learned over the past few years then…
        – don’t take what you hear on the TV and radio as what rap music is all about, as what they play is 90% shite
        – don’t keep playing Swordfishtrombones and expect to ‘get’ Tom Waits. Start at the beginning and it all makes sense [Ditto Captain Beefheart and Trout Mask Replica]
        – do, however, persevere with The Fall by listening to albums at regular intervals until it clicks, as this is more dependent on you and where you are at than the music itself, and once it clicks there is so much to enjoy (and annoy!)
        – Kanye West’s music is far, far better than you would expect, based on his pantomime life
        – drum and bass music is varied and wonderful, and not just a load of clattering
        – Brother Ali should be as famous as Eminem
        – UB40’s first couple of albums are so much better than the rubbish that came after [see also: Black Eyed Peas]
        – Dubstep is not what I thought it was…in fact, I’m no longer even sure what I thought it was
        – blogs are an invaluable place to find great new music – it doesn’t matter what the genre, there will be people who have created blogs to enthuse about it
        – grime isn’t just a racket made by kids with ASBOs
        – my ex-wife was right all along – Linton Kwesi Johnson is brill. She’s still wrong about Jamiroquai though
        – not all US punk/post-punk is shouty old rubbish
        – jazz isn’t supposed to be like pop music and the greats are great for a reason
        – there’s a direct line from Billie Holiday to so many singers of the past 30 years
        – modern classical music from northern Europe is quite wonderful
        – as is post-rock once you know what to listen to
        – there’s loads more electronic/dance music to enjoy once you look further than The Chemical Brothers (and take recommendations from folk in the know on here)
        – opera is still quite ghastly, no matter how much I try
        – Prince didn’t turn rubbish after he changed his name and I’m a ruddy idiot for not going to see him at the O2 just because I thought it would be a hassle getting back to North London
        – reggae is ace – what was I thinking?!
        – I can now, pretty much, talk with any music fan and contribute to/get loads out of the conversation, no matter what their favourite genre is…okay, maybe not metal/hard rock fans, although I do like Metallica, Black Sabbath and a couple of Motorhead albums!
        – 2Pac and Jay-Z are way too highly regarded
        – Marianne Faithfull should be a lot more highly regarded
        – and Ghostpoet is brill

        I’ll now go and sit at the back of the class and write out ‘I should be more open minded and tolerant’ 100 times!

    • You’re quite right, but it’s not because I have ignored it, it’s just that my memory isn’t what it was. I have a couple of Scientist albums from 1980/81 (Heavyweight Dub and one about ridding the world of vampires!), but he has been a bit like Lee Perry, in that there’s so much and so many collaborations it has been difficult to know where to look. As I have gone through umpteen blogs the go-to albums for most artists has been pretty much the same, but Scientist is the one where everybody seems to recommend a different album.

      I’m trying to think of what else, but I should get off my arse and check really, but I need the Vitamin D! A mate gave me Tappa Zukie in Dub, which I like, I picked up a couple in Reckless Records when I was down in London – Super Ape by The Upsetters and I Wah Dub by Blackbeard. A kind soul on here sent me some Augustus Clarke albums and then I’ve enjoyed many that were recommended on the original thread – Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, Dr, Alimentando (hope I’ve spelled that right!), Mad Professor, etc. Actually, I downloaded a good one the other day – Rhythm & Sound’s Showcase. So quite a bit really. There’s more, but the names escape me. Joe Gibbs? Keith Hudson?

      I don’t know the Breadwinners though, so that can go on my list. Busy re-listening to all my 2020 albums at the moment, so I can start a ‘what are your favourite albums of the year so far?’ thread and bang on about Marc Almond releasing his best album since the 80s (and maybe even including the 80s).

      • Hopeton Overton Brown, The Scientist, fell out with Greensleeves over the number of releases they put out. I think in 1980/1 there was than album almost every month in his name. Fortunately, he is consistently brilliant, so any of those albums a great starting points. The most recent reissues drop The Scientist name altogether and are entitled Junjo Presents or Linval Presents after the name of the producer of the vocal tracks.

        Joe Gibbs, or The Mighty Three, African Dub series is the best dub can be, especially Chapter a Three. Hudson’s Pick A Dub is equally as good.

  5. Great news! Try “Rock and Groove” by Bunny Wailer which is inexplicably not on Spotify but happily someone has put the whole thing on YouTube!

  6. Working from home during this lockdown has been soundtracked for me by lots of dub and roots reggae (Lee Perry, Burning Spear, Congos), Funk (James Brown, Sly, JBs) as well as the Miles Davis at the Plugged Nickel box. (I have ordered so many CDs during this period that I pretty much have something arrive every day – today was Little Feat live at the Ultrasonic Studios, 1973. Last week I had >20 arrive, including three box sets).

    Anyway, there are only certain types of music I can listen to while working that don’t distract. Funk and dub reggae in particular hit the spot, and neither were genres I was into in my formative years.

  7. Well done! If you’re digging Alpha & Omega then have a go on Dub Dynasty, which is them plus son and nephew Alpha Steppa

    There’s lots of high quality UK reggae around at the moment. Mungo’s Hi-Fi are a Glaswegian sound system. This is a song of theirs about riding a bike

    Prince Fatty from Brighton pushes a more analogue sound, but he’s also great. This cover of the ODB / Kelis classic has vocals from Hollie Cook and Horseman. It is a banging party tune

    Horseman is a veteran drummer and MC, who’s been around for decades but only put out a solo record about five years ago.

    And of course the absolute king of UK dub is Neil Fraser, aka Mad Professor. He has literally hundreds of albums to his name. The easiest to find are probably his Massive Attack dub albums, but it’s all good – try to get hold of some of the Dub Me Crazy or Black Liberation Dub series.

    • Thanks for all that. Some crazy good records there. It’s gone 2 and I’ve just finished going through the entire back catalogues of Prince Fatty and Munro’s Hi-Fi. I have no idea how come it has taken me so long to get to those, as they are not a big stretch from two artists I already have all the albums of, Nightmares On Wax and Thievery Corporation. The Horseman album has a great sound too, helped by it being late, so I had to listen with my headphones on. It’s a great headphones album. I’ll have a trawl through Mad Professor’s stuff tomorrow, although I already have a few of his.

      Gonna be some serious iPod reshuffling going on to accommodate all the new music and I’m going to be racing to the letterbox every time I hear the post arriving, to squirrel away my new CDs. I can’t be the only one to do this, surely, as there’s only so many times I can hear “haven’t you got enough bloody CDs?” What with CDs, DVDs, books, magazines, comics, trading cards, autographs (I’ve been working though my wants list with those and I’m right pleased with my collection now – the wife doesn’t mind that one so much, as she knows I always get them for a good price and she knows they have a resale value for when she finally throttles me), football programmes and other James Bond and Batman related stuff, I really have pushed my luck over the years, and I think I have pretty much pushed it as far as it can go, so I am having to be very careful! I’m planning to sell some stuff though, so that should keep me in the good books for now at least.

      But thanks for the heads up on those artists, as they are all exactly the kind of thing I like.

      • @Paul-Wad I admit to squirreling as well. I have three ruses:

        1. after a multi-purchase trip to a charity shop or a car boot, I leave the bulk of purchases in the car, taking one or two in with me (after all, to return empty-handed would be suspicious) and then bring the remainder in over the next days or weeks;

        2. collecting CDs that arrive by post promptly (before discovery) and instantly putting the CD on a shelf (hiding in plain sight), to be picked up casually and listened to (“oh, I think I just give this a spin”) some time later; and

        3. I make a big “play” of taking a bag load of CDs to a charity shop in order to get “credit” for later purchases.

        Am I missing a trick?

  8. Thems is good learning Paul.

    Scratch. Roast Fish and Corn Bread is good dubby stuff.Ditto Double Seven. Super Ape is catchier and there is another one that I can’t think of the name. I’m in bed and it is cold so I ain’t getting up.

    Spear I’d say all but esp Dry and Heavy, Man In The Hills and Hail HIM

  11. I really like the early 80s Fashion label from that there London. There’s not a lot available on CD, but I have vinyl and, like Foxy, can ‘help’ – feel free to drop me a line.

    Smiley Culture:

    and this from Peter King always makes me giggle:

  12. Just remembered to add that if you like the LKJ/Dennis Bovell albums, you really must also seek out a copy of Michael Smith’s fantastic LP called Mi Cyaan Believe It.

    LKJ got him the deal and Island put the album out. It has never seen an official re-release AFAIK – maybe because it’s only a tad over half an hour in length, and presumably there’s also no further material in the vaults. I have the original vinyl in decent order, and I’ve done a pretty good needle drop, which might be backed up online. *coughs*

  13. Paul – I didn’t see you had mentioned any vocal trios – a big thing in reggae in the 70s. There are some great vocal trio albums out there – ‘Right Time’ by the Mighty Diamonds, ‘Two Sevens Clash’ by Culture, ‘Message From The Meditations’ by the Meditations and ‘Satta Massagana’ by the Abyssinians, just to name a few. I bet you’ve already got ‘Heart of the Congos’?

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