Monday, October 26, 2009

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2009 - Track Eighteen - Dub Connection's "Jamaican Hammer Horror"

Back again for more? Well... I've got five more tunes to wrap-up the 2009 Spooktacular and I hope you'll stick with me!

We're jumping back in with a song called "Jamaican Hammer Horror" from the 1982 album called DC Dub Connection on the Tele-Tech label. This album contains work from a veritable who's who of dub and I would assume the Dub Connection name is easier than listing all those involved as the primary artists. That being said, the two key players here are Scientist and Prince Jammy... with recording engineering by Perry, recording at both the Black Ark and King Tubby's and the mixing being done at Tubby's. The musician roster includes... Mikey Boo Richards, Sly Dunbar, Horsemouth Wallace, Bertram Ranchie McLean, Leroy Sibbles, Lloyd Parks, Flabba Holt, Boris Gardiner, Bingy Bunny, Ronnie Bop, Bo Peep, Eric Flater, Willie Lindo, Ansel Collins, Winston Wright, Keith Sterling, David Madden, Bobby Ellis, Headley Bennett, Glen Da Costa, Vin Gordon, Uziah Sticky Thompson and Skully! A dream line-up! It was produced by the man Earl Morgan.

But let's get to the song, "Jamaican Hammer Horror." If you are familiar with horror films you know the name Hammer Studios. If you're not than you ought to be ashamed of yourself! To be honest with you I'd always been familiar with their films and wasn't a real fan until earlier this year. I started off watching their Dracula films starring Christopher Lee and usually served with a helping of Peter Cushing and I got hooked.

Now it would have been easy for me to take one of Hammer's better known productions of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc. and mix it in with the Jamaican flavor but I decided to go a little more obscure.

As the photo at the top of this posting suggests, I went with The Reptile... one of my favorites. Now here's where I slip into my Robert Graves/Turner Classic Movies host persona... An efficient chiller from Hammer, absorbing and atmospheric and directed by John Gilling. Featuring a cast of Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel and Ray Barrett... from 1966... The Reptile Meets The DC Dub Connection Inna Jamaican Hammer Horror Fashion. Enjoy!

Spooktacular Track Eighteen

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