Summer officially arrives in this neck of the woods at 2:06 PM today and I for one couldn't be happier! Some of my most treasured moments in life center around this four month stretch of seemingly non-stop heat and humidity and I actually find myself counting down the days until it officially arrives. I often get this unrelenting urge to dance nude around a gigantic bonfire fueled by my burning snow shovel, gloves, scarves, boots and winter hats... after a couple libations of course. Next, as a sacrifice to the Summer Solstice, I plan to pulverize my car's windshield ice scraper with the biggest boulder I can lift. The blissful destruction would continue as I would roam the roads and byways searching for any of those unsuspecting metal road signs you often see near bridges warning that "Bridges Ice Before Roadway" and I would beat them off their posts and into chunks of recyclable metal chunks resembling wadded sheets of paper... but I usually wise up. For one, no one would appreciate or enjoy seeing me in the nude dancing around a fire in broad daylight, next I remember that all those winter articles will again come in handy and finally that the police don't look too kindly to destroying public property. Oh well, it sounded good in theory. Maybe I'll just fling the snow shovel into the shed with some brute force in celebration. I'm happy to provide this 22 track Summer mix of Jamaican music to heighten your enjoyment of this festive season! No fancy effects or intricate mixing - just a bunch of (mostly) light hearted tunes I hope you'll enjoy! Here's wishing it brings you good vibes and puts a smile on your face whenever you give it a listen. It makes for great listening at the family cook-out whether the menu includes hotdogs and hamburgers or jerk chicken and rice and peas. It'll even work at your pool party whether you have a fancy inground pool complete with diving board or a galvanized tub complete with plastic tugboat and garden hose.Tracklisting...1. Rupie Edwards - Here Comes The Sun2. The Aggrovators - Sun Is Shining Dub3. Bob Andy - The Sun Shines For Me4. Laurel Aitken & The Skatalites - Sunshine5. Honey Boy - Theme For A Summer Place6. David Isaac - Place In The Sun7. The Clarendonians - Sunshine8. Gregory Isaacs - Private Beach Party9. Lord Tanamo - Dash Of The Sunshine10. Winston Groovy - In The Summertime11. Pat Kelly - Summer Time12. Scientist - Sunshine Version13. The Paragons - On The Beach14. Cornell Campbell - The Sun15. Laurel Aitken & The Skatalites - Summertime16. The Melodians - Bless The Sunshine17. Leon Wint - Sunbeam Rock18. Lloyd Charmers & The Hippy Boys - Summer Place19. Dotty & Bonny - Sun Rises20. Jackie Mittoo - Summer Breeze21. Delroy Wilson - Sun Is Shining22. The Jivers - Down On The BeachDownload here!
Pace from Liverpool brought it up in the comments section of the last post by identifying a "sound effect" I had used in the rub-a-dub mix and it got me to thinking...Check out Dubselector... it's a website that provides you with the tools to create your own dub track on the fly - and along with a track broken down into a couple loops they give you a plethora of sound effects for you to click on to enhance the end product. Sadly they don't include an option to save your work and this is where this idea popped up.If you check out Dubselector 2 you notice they use the Lee "Scratch" Perry track "Underground" off his spectacular 1976 album Super Ape broken down into a vocal portion and a drum and bass section. It sounds great when you're online killing time at work but in order to make it into a usable track worthy of listening to on an Ipod or even on a CDR I decided to use the original track and my trusty Garageband software to make transitioning from vocals to strictly drum and bass a little smoother. Next I used the trial software from a program called Audio Hijack and downloaded the various sound effects that Dubselector provides. Then I got to work. What started off as a relatively short 2:57 Perry production became a 4:48 Reggaexx/Dubselector remix and I really dig how it all turned out! Aside from lots of echo and filter effects that Garageband provides and a lot of chopping and resectioning of the actual tune - Dubselector did the hard work by providing the "dub effects" laced throughout. I've given my end result a super long Scientist style title, "Reggaexx And Dubselector Go Deep Underground For A Do-It-Yourself Dub Experiment" Give the uncut Perry track a listen first try my remix second... and then let me know what you think!In the zip file you'll also find the slew of sound effects (in one MP3 file) so you can mess around with the song on whatever audio editing software you may have lying around clogging your hard drive. After you've done be sure to share your end result with us! Check It Out!
This has been an enormous amount of work so don't expect another of these from me anytime soon! Now that I'm done with the disclaimer let's get to the mix... I think the 40 songs will speak for themselves once you give 'em a listen. I just hope you all enjoy it as much as I did putting it together. I definitely consider this mix to be a true labor of love since the rub-a-dub/early-dancehall era is my favorite "sub-genre" of Jamaican music! The tracklist is below and I'm keeping it simple to avoid rambling on for another 4-5 hours...1. Don Carlos - Laser Beam2. Papa Tullo - Nuff Stylee3. Toyan - Over Me4. Alton Ellis - Skateland Girl5. Sugar Minott - Jah Is On My Mind6. Charlie Chaplin - Diet Rock7. Yellowman - Me A Don8. Michael Palmer - Mixing And Blending9. Josey Wales - Undercover Lover10. Buro - Jolly Bus11. Yellowman & Fathead - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly12. John Holt - Police In Helicopter13. Cultural Roots - Love Feelings14. Sister Nancy - Bam Bam15. Yami Bolo - When A Man In Love16. Admiral Tibet - Trouble To A Man17. General Echo - Arleen18. Little John - Look What You Have Done19. Brigadier Jerry - What Kind Of World20. Technique All Stars - Stalag 1721. Johnny Osbourne - Love Is Universal22. Little John - Janet Sinclair23. Little John & Billy Boyo - Janet Sinclair24. Scientist - Dangerous Match 125. Leroy Smart - All Of My Love26. Michigan & Smiley - What Type Of World27. Al Campbell - Chant Rub A Dub28. Yellowman & Fathead - Come We A Come29. Lone Ranger - Gunshot Mek Daughter Drop30. Toyan - Tribute To Entertainers31. Barry Brown - Sweet 1632. Peter Ranking & General Lucky - Island In The Sun33. Ranking Dread - Love A Dub34. Barrington Levy - Collie Weed35. Blackskin - Hey Mr. Babylon36. Lone Ranger - Barnabas Collins37. Toyan - Please Mi Barister38. Barrington Levy - Please Jah Jah39. Yellowman - 2 To 6 Supermix40. Yellowman - Why You Bad SoStrictly Rub-A-Dub Mix
I've been working on a rub-a-dub mix for two weeks now and instead of posting little segments at a time, as I've been known to do, I'm going to finish it up and post it as one continuous mix for your listening pleasure! Alongside the mandatory Junjo Lawes stuff I've even got a mini George Phang mix wrapped up inside this one and it's turning out real well...One side note - I know Blood & Fire concentrates on more "roots era" releases but someone definitely needs to remaster George Phang's catalog and release it on CD... I probably spent about 5 hours trying to get 5 of his tracks to even sound presentable. I used a couple of his tunes off the original LPs and to be honest... they sound like crap. I've heard that the Power House represses are notorious for their terrible sound quality and I can't even imagine how bad they must be considering the originals sound this lousy. Phang has always been one of my favorite rub-a-dub/early dancehall producer and his music deserves to be heard as it quite possibly has never been heard before - crisp and clean; minus the pops, scratches, hiss, poor bass and ear drum rupturing treble that seems to be the trademark of the Power House label. Well enough about that... keep checking back for the completed mix! I'll get it done as soon as real life stops interfering with my quality blog time!
Summer officially arrives in this neck of the woods at 2:06 PM today and I for one couldn't be happier! Some of my most treasured moments in life center around this four month stretch of seemingly non-stop heat and humidity and I actually find myself counting down the days until it officially arrives. I often get this unrelenting urge to dance nude around a gigantic bonfire fueled by my burning snow shovel, gloves, scarves, boots and winter hats... after a couple libations of course. Next, as a sacrifice to the Summer Solstice, I plan to pulverize my car's windshield ice scraper with the biggest boulder I can lift. The blissful destruction would continue as I would roam the roads and byways searching for any of those unsuspecting metal road signs you often see near bridges warning that "Bridges Ice Before Roadway" and I would beat them off their posts and into chunks of recyclable metal chunks resembling wadded sheets of paper... but I usually wise up. For one, no one would appreciate or enjoy seeing me in the nude dancing around a fire in broad daylight, next I remember that all those winter articles will again come in handy and finally that the police don't look too kindly to destroying public property. Oh well, it sounded good in theory. Maybe I'll just fling the snow shovel into the shed with some brute force in celebration. 
