Jamaican Christmas Mix - Part 1

Whew! After a couple weeks of work I've finally completed the Distinctly Jamaican Sounds Christmas Mix! 25 tracks in all and a running time of close to an hour and a half I think it'll provide a nice sampling of decent Jamaican Christmas music to get you in the holiday spirit! I stand by what I said last year that Holiday music from JA tends to be on the cheesy side but I tried my best to avoid going there with this offering. So without further ado, here we go... Part 1 of the Distinctly Jamaican Sounds Christmas Mix!

I've split the entire mix into 3 separate chunks of 8 songs (the last has got 9 as an added bonus!) and once assembled back together either on your Ipod or MP3 player, I haven't been able to figure out how to fit it on a CDR yet, it'll create a continuous Christmas mix inna JA Style

Starting off the mix is Carlene Davis with the wicked track "Santa Claus (Do You Ever Come To The Ghetto)" from the CD Yard Style Christmas. Next is DJ originator King Stitt with a song called "Christmas Tree" from the essential Trojan Christmas boxset. Third up is Johnny Osbourne with "Christmas Stylee" from the Reggae Christmas From Studio One CD. The fourth song is a group of artists from Joe Gibbs' stable and the song "We Three Kings", which is one of only a couple traditional Christmas songs in the mix, from the CD called Reggae Christmas - Two In One. Gregory Isaacs follows that one with a sad track "Christmas Behind The Bars" from his non-Christmas album called Mek Me Prosper. Yellowman follows that one and no... it's not from his repulsive "A Very Yellow Christmas" album. This one is an awesome Junjo Lawes produced track called "Where Is Santa Claus?" and appeared as a Greensleeves 12" in 1985 credited to "Mr & Mrs. Yellowman." Eek A Mouse continues the mix with a Linval Thompson production called "Christmas A Come" taken from another Greensleeves 12" from 1981. Wrapping up the first part of the mix is another Junjo production courtesy of the man Cocoa Tea and taken from his album Rocking Dolly. The song is called "Christmas Is Coming" on one of my all-time favorite riddims! So grab a cup of egg nog and give it a listen!

Download Jamaican Christmas Mix Part 1

Please, please, please... leave a comment! I'm dying to know what you think thus far!

Christmas Is A Comin'... And So Is The Christmas Mix

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving here in the states the holiday season is creeping up on us quickly! For now I just wanted to share my intentions for the Christmas mix that I've had in the works for a week now... there is absolutely no way in the world that I'm going to try and recreate the Halloween effort by posting individual tracks on a daily basis. Instead I'm going to hack the mix into a few chunks and share them on a weekly basis. This way you'll get a few songs at a time to enjoy instead of individual tracks and once they're pieced together you'll have a complete Jamaican Christmas mix.

Happy Thanksgiving... stay tuned.

A Little Off Topic... Saturday Night Live Skit

http://videosift.com/video/Eddie-Murphy-Kill-The-White-People

Take a look at this Eddie Murphy skit which aired on Saturday Night Live circa 1982. I have mixed emotions about this one. On one hand I can appreciate parody and I do find this clip extremely funny but on the otherhand I find it pretty offensive. No, the kill the white people lyrics don't offend as much as the negative image of Rasta and reggae musicians it presented.

This is one of those Saturday Night Live skits that I remember seeing as a child and to see it 20+ years later was pretty wild. Unfortunately the song is so catchy I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I watched it this afternoon. :-)

What do you think?

Politricks 2006 Mix

Tomorrow is election day and here's the little mix of reggae tunes I compiled to put you in a voting kinda mood. I'll keep my political leanings and hearfelt belief that politicians are generally corrupt regardless of which party they represent to a minimum and just tell you what you're going to hear... First off, we're going to go a little more modern that I've been known to do with this blog and start the mix off with Buju Banton's song "Politics Time" from 1996. Next we've got a superb political song from Johnny Osbourne called "Politician" taken from his album called Warrior. Third we've got a relatively light-hearted take on voting from Clint Eastwood and General Saint and the song is called "Vote For Me" which appeared on their 1986 Greensleeves LP Stop That Train. Next is a great song from Leonard Dillon and The Ethiopians called "Misleaders" from the 1999 CD Tougher Than Stone. The fifth song is from the man Lovindeer. The song which originally appeared on his album Government Boops and talks about empty campaign promises in a light-hearted manner is called "Political Boops." Barry Brown follows that one up with a wicked tracks called "Politician" from his Best Of album. The second to last track is also called "Politician" from the Big Belly Man himself Admiral Bailey coming from a 12" on the Jammy's label, which I was finally able to track down after about 10 years of fruitless searching. I bought this various artists CD that contained the track and was sent the wrong damn CD and when I tried to return it for the proper album was informed that it was no longer available. Ending up the mix we've got Bob Marley & The Wailers with the song "Slogans" which often seems to be the only thing politicians are good at supplying.

I hope you like the mix. I hope you'll also see the correlation between these Jamaican political songs and all the corrupt slimeball politicians around the globe. We're all in the same boat!

If you're in the United States be sure to cast your ballot tomorrow! Hopefully you'll be able to elect a decent person who has got the public's best interest in mind and not someone who's only interested in lining their pockets or using their new position as a stepping stone for future nominations, further power, benefits and all the cyber or real sex with young interns and pages they can manage.

Politricks 2006 Mix Download

Coming Up... Election Day Politricks Mix

Next Tuesday November 7th is Midterm Election Day here in the United States, as many are probably well aware, so in honor of this day I've started piecing together a mix. Now it's not going to be as involved as the Halloween mix (I just can't seem to find too many Election Day sound effects albums) and no where near as long - It's looking to be about 30-35 minutes and will be available for download next week.

Now if you're a regular reader you know I've never used this blog to espouse my political views and assuredly you never will... I detest politics and I'm completely disinterested in anything political so don't worry, you're not seeing the makings of Reggaexx's new and improved Democracy In Action Blog! I've been so disgusted with the situations both down in Washington and with the inner-workings in my home state of Maryland that I've turned off completely! But that is another story for another blog... since a lot of Jamaican music, especially reggae, deals with matters of political interest I thought this would be a perfect time to pull out a few songs to share with everyone. Of course the themes and issues explored within these songs are directly referencing concerns in Jamaican society but as is the case with most Jamaican music, there is a relevance and familiarity which transcends geographical boundaries.

So far the mix includes such diverse artists as Buju Banton, The Ethiopians, Admiral Bailey, Barry Brown, Johnny Osbourne, Lovindeer etc. and I think it'll put you in the mood to stand in line at the polls. Better yet, I hope it'll give you inspiration when you cast your ballot for which ever slimy, corrupt, hypocritical, thieving candidates you've perceived to be the lesser of the two evils. Check back next week!

Halloween Wrap-Up

Thanks to all who downloaded the Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular and who posted positive comments, I appreciate all the interest and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to share this music. Jamaican music, whether it is mento, ska, rocksteady or reggae, is a lot more diverse than people usually give it credit for and I hope I gave those with little exposure to the island's music a well-rounded sampling of the different subgenres while following the fun spooky theme!

Again, thanks for your interest and I'll be back soon with more music from the beloved island in the Caribbean, minus the Halloween theme, and I hope those who came along for this little adventure in October will stick around a while and give it a listen on a regular basis.

Blessings to all!
John AKA Reggaexx