Saturday, February 27, 2016

Day 119 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Blue Riddim Band - Nancy Reagan

One more "International" tune for the 119th day of the 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge and it's an absolute thing of beauty... The Blue Riddim Band's "Nancy Reagan!"  Years ago here on the blog I brought up the Blue Riddim Band from Kansas City and I got a ton of response... it seems there were a lot of people in the late 70s and early 80s that absolutely loved this band and were happy to hear them once again.  Today's track comes from their 1984 live album Alive In Jamaica, recorded at Reggae Sunsplash in Montego Bay in 1982, and released on the Flying Fish label.  It is an absolute classic tune and one that I've loved for 20+ years!  A little side note... Blue Riddim's Alive In Jamaica holds the distinction of being the only reggae record I ever stole!  Years ago I was a student at a local community college and was studying broadcasting and one Saturday afternoon my friend Nick and I decided that we would take advantage of the facilities and record our own DJ session... I booked Studio B for a couple hours earlier in the week and that Saturday, when the hallways surrounding the radio station were empty except for the elderly lady playing Classical music in the air studio, we covertly smuggled in a few King Jammy's versions on vinyl and set to work recording a bunch of nonsensically humorous but surprisingly smooth sounding lyrics over the Kuff riddim.  While I was rewinding the reel to reel tape I got up and started perusing the dusty shelf of mostly promo records that had been sitting dormant in the studio for years and lo and behold there was Alive In Jamaica.  It quickly made it into my bag and into my record collection.  A year later, as CDs really took over the radio station, this shelf and any other container containing vinyl lying around the Mass Comm department were put up for sale at dirt cheap prices... so in fact, I had rescued the album from someone who probably wouldn't have appreciated this sweet slice of reggae and would have probably ended up tossing it in the garbage.  Today's video is the performance that was captured on vinyl 34 years ago!
 

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