Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Twenty-Three - Day Vampire

Happy Halloween!! I am amazed at how quick this month went and even more amazed that it is Halloween!  We have reached the end-of-the-road for the 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular and I hope it doesn't disappoint.  Yes, the final track in this years mix is courtesy of Gyptian and Barrington Levy, a smooth track on the Hot Milk riddim called "Day Vampire."  And though this tune is not specifically discussing vampires of the Transylvanian variety, and is more of a plea for ghetto criminals to lay down their guns and I think the analogy works well!  If I remember correctly, this tune dates from 2010 or 2011 and was pressed on 7" vinyl on the Jah Life label... funky purple flecked vinyl at that! 

Of course what Halloween would be complete without a little Peter Cushing?  The lengthy intro at the beginning of the track is from the 1960 Hammer Films classic Brides of Dracula and I absolutely love this scene!  I have said before that the scenes in Hammer's vampire films, where the secrets, means of defense and destruction of the evil bloodsuckers are revealed, always work best in a Spooktacular!

I want to wish everyone out there a Happy Halloween!  Whatever you've got planned for the big night be sure to have fun and stay safe!  This year I will again be roaming the streets of our hometown with the kids as they do the rounds trick or treating tonight and like always, I couldn't be happier!  I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Spooktacular Track Twenty-Three - Gyptian & Barrington Levy - Day Vampire 

The complete unedited 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular will be available for download later this morning!  So if you haven't been following along individually, you'll be able to get all the songs in this year's mix without having to put them back together again!

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Twenty-Two - Diana The Farmer

What Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular would be complete without some kind of reference to Annie Palmer?  For those who have been around this blog in years past, the legend of "The White Witch of Rose Hall" is common knowledge, but to those who are making their first foray into uncharted Jamaican Halloween waters it's probably a tale you have never heard...

As I wrote in October of 2010...

"Annie Mae Patterson was born to an English mother and Irish father in Haiti in 1802. Annie's parents both died mysteriously when she was 10 and from that point on was raised by her Haitian nanny who supposedly trained her in voodoo. She came to Jamaica in 1820 in search of a wealthy husband and came across John Palmer who fit the bill nicely. They were soon married and Annie Palmer quickly became the mistress of the Rose Hall Plantation right outside of Montego Bay.

Allegedly, Annie grew bored with her husband and began seeking out lovers. She would select slaves, who she was attracted to and would invite them to come to her chambers at night where she would have their way with them and would have them killed or kill them herself when suspicion or boredom reared its ugly head.

Six years later Annie poisoned her husband John Palmer so that she would become the soul owner and benefactor of the plantation. Supposedly, over the course of the years Annie married and killed two other husbands, acquiring their wealth and continued her illicit affairs with slave men whenever she desired. Oddly, Annie Palmer sealed off the three bedrooms in which her three husbands had died and word began to spread around the plantation that the Great House was haunted.

Her cruelty was legendary... the story says that she would have slaves flogged and beaten for her own amusement and even took them back to the mansion for continued torture when night fell. In 1831, Annie hired a man from England to become her bookkeeper - she was immediately taken by the new man but he had eyes for one of Annie's housekeeper Millicent. The bookkeeper decided to play both sides of the fence, so to speak, and it infuriated Annie. The White Witch cast a spell on Millicent and within 9 days she was dead. Millicent's grandfather, Takoo, who was a powerful voodoo priest and one of Annie's occasional lovers, was incensed by his granddaughter's death and proceeded to storm into her bedroom and strangled her to death.

Well, as you can imagine... the legend of her spirit still haunting the Great House at Rose Hall continues to this day. Countless sightings of ghostly apparitions and odd occurrences throughout the years have fueled the legendary status of Annie Palmer and firmly planted The White Witch Of Rose Hall in the ghostly folklore of Jamaica."

Aside from being Jamaica's most famous ghost story it has also been the subject of a handful of records over the years... ranging from Danny Hill's "Annie Palmer" from the early 1960s (featured in the 2010 Spooktacular), to the early reggae tune by the Lee's All Stars from 1970 entitled "Annie Pama" (featured in 2012), to the early dancehall tune "Annie Palmer" by the legendary Lone Ranger on his classic Barnabas in Collins Wood LP (featured in 2006) and even by the most unlikely source of all Johnny Cash, who wrote and released the song "The Ballad Of Annie Palmer" in 1973 and who was covered by Jamaican artist George McLean (and also featured in the 2012 mix) - I feel like I'm missing another one there but I think you probably get the point.  Today's track may not go with the obvious title but regardless, it is still touching on the White Witch.

The twenty second track, and second to last I might add, in the 2014 mix is by an artist who went by the name Sharpknife and it's called "Diana The Farmer,"  and it's taken from a 7" on the Joe Gibbs Ultra Sound label.  Sharpknife, or Mr. Knife if you prefer, tells the tale of a beautiful woman named Diana Black who claims that she is an innocent farmer but when nighttime comes she takes on the persona of Annie Palmer, complete with claims that she killed two of her husbands.  

Spooktacular Track Twenty-Two - Sharpknife - Diana The Farmer

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Twenty-One - Take Your Hand From My Neck

And yet another great early reggae track to keep you shivering... or at least loosening your collar.  This record, "Take Your Hand From My Neck," originally pressed on the Crab label in 1969, was incorrectly credited to the Paragons when in actuality it was the Viceroys. A perfect tune for the mix and a cover that again illustrates the title perfectly!

Spooktacular Track Twenty One - Viceroys - Take Your Hand From My Neck

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Twenty - Return Of The Bad Man

Ah, this is a good one!  We're up to the final four in the mix and we keep the creepy compilation rolling with a rockin' early/skinhead/boss reggae (whichever term you prefer) tune from the Hot Rod All Stars!  Originally released in 1970 as a 7 inch on the U.K. based Duke label, it luckily popped up for me on a sweet 2003 various artists CD set called Dancehall '69 on the Trojan label!  The original vinyl has been on my "wants list" for years but I am satisfied with the CD version... I can't be too picky.

Anyway, this tune is ripe for embellishments and I did just that... be prepared for living flesh and blood terror, blood spilling, bone chilling, towering terrors in one twin thrills show!  Or something along those lines...

Spooktacular Track Twenty - Hot Rod All Stars - Return Of The Bad Man

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Nineteen - Darkness

Welcome back to the final week of the 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular!  I can't find any background information about Jah Skerta so I'm keeping it short and simple today... this tune "Darkness" comes from a 7" on Skerta's own Jah Skerts label and it fits our spooky theme nicely.  Skerta recorded this song originally in 1979 for Lloyd "Bullwackie" Barnes' Wackies label but judging by its slightly "higher polished" delivery, I would assume this version is from a later date.

Track Nineteen - Jah Skerta - Darkness

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Eighteen - Satan Pickney

We've reached the second to last Friday in October and that means one thing... if you haven't gotten your costume ready for Halloween by now you're seriously behind schedule!  It also means that we're up to the eighteenth track in the 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular!

This little baby, if you'll pardon the pun, is a smooth slice of late 70s dub, mixed by Sylvan Morris and from a repressed 7" on the Uprising label... I can't find any background info on the Advocates Aggregation but no matter who they were, they made some damn fine music!

I went a little sinister with the audio clip from Roman Polanski's 1969 classic film "Rosemary's Baby," based on the 1967 novel by Ira Levin, but this scene popped in my head immediately when I saw this record available for sale a month ago.  Pickney, if you are unaware, is Jamaican patois for a baby or child and there is no other satan pickney that pops immediately in my mind but Adrian from Rosemary's Baby!

As for the cover, I couldn't be more pleased with Roger Wilkerson's work on this one!  Before I actually begin mixing the Spooktacular I send Roger a playlist of the songs I'm going to use and I basically let him have free reign over what he wants to do with these titles.  I look around online for pre-code horror comics with great covers that are ripe for the customizing and try as hard as possible to match the images with the songs but I was drawing a blank on this one.  Without hesitation, Roger immediately wrote back and suggested that instead of going with a comic book cover on this one why not do a parody of the Rosemary's Baby movie poster or better yet, the paperback.  He sent me a couple images of various paperback versions of the novel but this version was perfect!  If you ever see this actual edition, you would be hard pressed to tell it apart from Roger's version... it's a dead-ringer!  And my favorite cover this year!  Thanks again Roger!!

Spooktacular Track Eighteen - Advocates Aggregation - Satan Pickney

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Seventeen - Mr. Brown

The story of Mr. Brown is one that I've addressed a couple times in years past.  So instead of spending a lot of time rewriting I'll get to what I wrote in 2005...

"In 1969 or ’70 the Wailers who were working with Lee Perry at the time, caught wind of a strange story involving a John Crow, which is the Jamaican term for a buzzard. This "crow" was somehow given the name “Mr. Brown” and the story went that he had been observed traveling around Kingston on a coffin on its way to the cemetery. Days later the same buzzard, wearing a shirt and tie, was seen in a courtroom. The general populace was scared stiff thinking that the evil powers of obeah (or black magic) had been unleashed and had even gotten to the point that many were afraid to leave their houses at night. The story was even reported in the Jamaican newspaper the Daily Gleaner and added more fuel to the fire." 

This tale of the supernatural didn't only inspire Bob, Peter and Bunny but also Dennis Alcapone on his tune, "Duppy Serenade" attributed to the Inn Keepers (and which I featured in 2009), and as far as I can tell, it also was the catalyst behind Trevor Brown's "Mr. Brown."  The tune which first appeared on GG's 7" vinyl in 1971, was obviously recorded around the time that the Mr. Brown hype was going around in Kingston.  Whatever the connection, or potential lack thereof, I can't say for certain but I do think it works great with our mix!


Spooktacular Track Seventeen - Trevor Brown - Mr. Brown

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Sixteen - Supernatural Thing

Up next is the sixteenth track in our mix and it's called "Supernatural Thing" by Richard Ace and as you can clearly see on the cover, it's from a 1975 Clocktower Records 7 inch!  I added a little spice to this one by starting off with an intro from the Official Witch of  Los Angeles, Louise Heubner, and taken from a 1969 LP she released called Seduction Through Witchcraft.  To be honest with you, I grew so enamored with the psychedelic/trippy sounding music that accompanied Ms. Heubner's musings that I decided to take "Supernatural Thing" on a spacy ride... hope you like the end result!

Spooktacular Track Sixteen - Richard Ace - Supernatural Thing

RIP John Holt (1947-2014) - A Tribute

Here you will find my tribute mix to the legendary John Holt... it took me a while to compile the playlist because I kept finding more songs that I wanted to feature but hopefully this 20 song sampling of John Holt's music with serve as a fitting tribute to a man with a great voice and someone who has provided me with countless hours of enjoyment and joy.

I've got to tell you, I was happy that John Holt received enough recognition that his passing was actually mentioned in the mainstream media but, the fact that he is singularly known for being the man that wrote Blondie's "The Tide Is High" saddens me more than you can imagine.  My heart breaks every time a Jamaican music legend dies... here is someone who devoted their life to making music and making countless people happy and they pass away with little mention,concern or regard from those "outside the know" of this music.  When a true talent in Jamaican music dies, it seems like their talent has gone to waste due to the fact that they rarely receive the recognition they deserve... in my opinion, John Holt's mastery of love songs sets him on the same level, if not higher, than most of the singers that have come along in every other genre of music in the last 50 years!  But, will anyone take notice?  Will anyone outside of the "reggae family" pay him tribute?  It is an absolute travesty and whenever I get the news about another important musician or founding-father (or mother) of reggae music passing away, it just hurts me even more.  It is so sad to think of the history we are losing at such an alarming rate.

So today... if you're in an office or around a group of people, bring John Holt's passing up to a co-worker or friend... and instead of saying, "oh, he's the guy that wrote Blondie's 'The Tide is High.'  Tell them that John Holt is a reggae legend, a great singer, a talented songwriter who had been active in music for 50 years, a versatile singer that could address any topic and one of the greatest singers to every wrap his vocal chords around a sweet love song.  Or better yet, point them in this direction and tell them to give this mix a listen.  

As far as I'm concerned, John Holt's name recognition doesn't need to ride the coattails of Blondie!  Because whenever I'm somewhere and "The Tide is High" pops up on the radio or even recently in a television commercial for some product that I don't remember,  I know that the true lyrics are "I'm not the kind of MAN who gives up just like that."

RIP John Holt - you will never be forgotten!

What you're gonna hear...

1.  I've Got To Go Back Home
2.  Police In Helicopter
3.  I'm Your Man
4.  Up Park Camp
5.  There Is No Love
6.  Ali Baba
7.  Fat Girl, Sexy Girl
8.  Stick By Me
9.  A Love I Can Feel
10.  Tribal War
11.  Fat She Fat
12.  Sweetie Come Brush Me
13.  Look What You Have Done
14.  My Desire
15.  Nobody Else
16.  Sugar And Spice
17.  Don't Give Up
18.  I See Your Face
19.  Darling I Need Your Loving w/The Paragons
20.  The Tide Is High (Solo Reggae Version)

JOHN HOLT TRIBUTE

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Fifteen - Black Bat

Up next in the mix is a great tune by Leo Graham and the Upsetters... well technically, "Black Bat" is only credited to the Upsetters but it's a pretty vocal-heavy spacey dub take of Graham's "Doctor Demon," which was released in 1974 on the Upsetter label.  I had fun playing around with this one - it was ripe for over-exaggeration of echo and reverb and the spooky sounds blend well to make this a nice listen, if I do say so myself.

Spooktacular Track Fifteen - The Upsetters - Black Bat

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Fourteen - Mark Of The Beast

Peter Tosh, was described rather succinctly by the website The Talking Drum... "A champion of human rights, throughout his life Peter fought against the vampires and the duppies and all evil spirits, the spirits which Peter himself feared more than anything. Peter Tosh was a saint. Not a saint in the conventional, religious definition, but insofar as that he was put on this earth with a purpose. He was to expose the filth and corruption and expunge the wickedness of the ghosts which haunted him his entire life. Peter was a savior, sent to liberate the people of Jamaica, both physically and mentally."

With that being said, Peter Tosh's "Mark of the Beast," which was originally released on his own Intel Diplo label in the early 1970s, is another example of the Stepping Razor combatting the evil powers that be.  This one features the Wailers and in my opinion is one of the baddest tunes Peter Tosh ever recorded!

Spooktacular Track Fourteen - Peter Tosh - Mark of the Beast

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Thirteen - Evil Doers

Michael Prophet's (born Michael George Haynes in 1957) distinctive "crying tenor" caught the ear of Yabby You who proceeded to bring him to Channel One to record his first single "Praise You Jah Jah" in 1977.  He had his first hit, a cover of the Heptones tune "Fight It To The Top" shortly after and went on to record a bunch of serious roots music for Yabby before modifying his style to appeal to the then emerging dancehall sound of the early 1980s.  Henry "Junjo" Lawes helped launch his dancehall career and his song "Gunman," which served as a commentary on Jamaica's particularly violent election season of 1980, became his biggest hit. 

We're on to the thirteenth track in the 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular and it's a good one!  Michael Prophet gives us "Evil Doers", from his 1983 album Certify on the Burning Sounds label... and with the Roots Radics providing the Dirty Harry riddim and Junjo producing, it is a badass sampling of the early 80s sound that I love.

I was prepared to write a full-on diatribe on the evil doers in our society and world, ranging from politicians to terrorists, but after I spent a good 20 minutes typing it up I realized that it was a little too far off course for Spooktacular fodder.  I decided it was probably best to keep it simple... and spooky... mwuhahahahahahaha!  See you next week... but be prepared because the Spooktacular really kicks into horrific high gear on Monday!

Spooktacular Track Thirteen - Michael Prophet - Evil Doers 

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Twelve - Look Out For The Devil

Junior Dan began his career in music at the ripe old age of 15 when he picked up the bass for the Randy's Studio house-band the Generation Gap.  He went on to record with a plethora of artists including Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Augustus Pablo, Pablo Moses and Horace Andy to name a few.  

According to Junior Dan, as he stated on the liner notes on the Honest Jon's Record 10" repress of the classic tune... "Look Out For The Devil was The Solid Foundation - Pablove Black, Benbow, myself, Chokie Tylor, Sowell and Scully and them guys came through too. We were always at the Black Ark, so I just got my studio time. It was aimed at the politicians and producers. The rhythm was done at Upsetters. We took the tape to Tubby's and voiced it and mixed it down there..."  Interestingly enough, the original pressing of the tune on the Hi Try label lists Richard Burger as the artist, Sydney Gussins as the producer and Junior Dan as the arranger.  But regardless of the backstory it makes for a welcome addition to the Spooktacular family!

Spooktacular Track Twelve - Junior Dan - Look Out For The Devil

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Eleven - Terror

Phillip J. Fullwood AKA Jah Marcus, is a percussionist, songwriter, composer and former collaborator with reggae legend Winston Rodney AKA Burning Spear.  Fullwood played congas on a bunch of Burning Spear's albums in the mid-1970s and even co-wrote one of Spear's biggest tunes, "Throw Down Your Arms."

Around the same time, Fullwood produced and released the album Jah Marcus - Words In Dub and we're going to hear a slice of that LP today, spookified properly by yours truly of course!  The tune is called "Terror" and it fits beautifully with our chilling compilation of creepy tunes!

Spooktacular Track Eleven - Jah Marcus - Terror
 

RIP Lincoln Valentine Scott AKA Style Scott

Saddened and shocked to hear of the atrocious murder of legendary drummer "Style Scott," one of the founding members of the Roots Radics.  Something needs to be done in Jamaica to stop this unfathomable, senseless violence and to provide the Jamaican people a sense of security that they are severely lacking... rest in peace.

Read the article here

 The Roots Radics, in my opinion, were one of the greatest conglomerations of musicians to ever play together in reggae and their reworking of Studio One classics "inna rub-a-dub style," their studio work with Junjo Lawes and the stripped-down masterful dub treatments Scientist gave their riddims, are without a doubt some of the greatest musical joys in my life.  As you all probably know, the late 70s and early 80s are my favorite era of Jamaican music and it is heartbreaking to think that the good "pure reggae" vibes the Roots Radics created are a thing of the past  - Style Scott's smooth drumming combined with Flabba Holt's bass and Bingy Bunny's guitar were simply perfect and there is never a day that goes by where I don't hear something that they had a hand in creating... RIP Style Scott.

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Ten - Skillamy

Back in 2007 I featured a tune by Derrick Morgan called "Father Killam" - it's the story of an obeah man who is called on to exorcise a duppy from a woman who had recently fallen ill and the mayhem that ensues when Killam is mocked and physically assaulted by the evil spirits... Aston & Yen's "Skillamy" is basically a calypso rehash of Father Killam's bad day.  Originally released as a 7" on the Doctor Bird label in 1967, my version comes from the Trojan Records Calypso Box Set.

Spooktacular Track Ten - Aston & Yen - Skillamy

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Nine - Addams Family Theme

We're back for another week of unadulterated terror... okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but you can be rest-assured that my heart is in the right place.  Besides, with this creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and all together ooky comic book cover it's obvious the terror is taking the day off.

The Addams Family, originally created by cartoonist Charles Addams, debuted as single-panel cartoons in 1938 and ran for the next 50 years, mostly in the New Yorker Magazine, until Addams' death in 1988.  During that time, the family of Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, Cousin Itt and Thing evolved from the one dimensional page into the two dimensional ABC sitcom that everyone remembers in 1964. 

I would guess it was around the height of the TV shows popularity that the JJ All Stars under the tutelage of producer Karl "Sir JJ" Johnson produced this ska take on the "Addams Family Theme" and regardless of the exact circumstances, I'm happy that he did and I'm even more delighted to finally include it in a Spooktacular!  I've known about this song for years and after fruitless years of searching for the vinyl, or even an MP3,  I gave up hope of ever hearing this long-lost treasure.  But in stepped Gordon "Gordy" Robertson, a helluva selector with an absolutely enviable stack of vinyl and all around nice guy, based in Sheffield England.  He kindly ripped me an MP3 from his vinyl copy and lo and behold we get to enjoy a tune that I had given up hope of ever even hearing!  So, thanks Gordy!!

 Spooktacular Track Nine - JJ All Stars - Addams Family Theme

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Eight - Twilight Zone

Ever since I was a kid I've always enjoyed the Twilight Zone... there was something about these half-hour slices of the weird and supernatural that always appealed to me and I have memories of watching the repeats with fiendish delight, some episodes were more fiendish than others but nonetheless they were always enjoyable.  The Twilight Zone, the brainchild of Rod Serling, began its run on CBS in 1959 and bewildered, sometimes frightened and usually weirded-out audiences for the next six seasons.  Rod Serling's imaginative, insightful and spectacularly written "bookends" to the show were one of the things that steered me toward an interest in creative writing as a middle school kid - I thought, and still do for that matter, that he was the Man!

Oswald "Baba" Brooks has also been a guy I've admired for many years but on a separate distinctive level.  Brooks was a jazz trumpet player and session musician in Jamaican music from the 1950s and made the transition from jazz to the then-emerging ska sound in the early 1960s for producers like Duke Reid, Sonia Pottinger and Prince Buster.  Around that time he formed his own band and recorded the classic hit "Independence Ska" in 1962 when Jamaica received its independence and Brooks continued playing with his band, the Skatalites and countless other sessions in Jamaica's recording studios all the way into the 1970s.

The eighth track in the Spooktacular "Twilight Zone" does both Rod Serling and Baba Brooks proud and originally came from a 1965 7" on the Treasure Isle label.  The problem was that my vinyl copy sounded like crap so I lifted this one from a 2007 various artists LP called Original Ska Explosion Vol. 2 on the Carib Gems label.  Dig it!

Stay tuned to this channel for a Jamaican tribute to yet another spooky American television program on Monday! 

 Spooktacular Track Eight - Baba Brooks - Twilight Zone

Like years past... I always appreciate some feedback!  Six days with no comments and I start wondering if I'm just wasting my time keeping this going...

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Seven - Bull Buck (And Duppy Conqueror)

Short and sweet today... Prince Buster is back again with another Spooktacular tune!  This one called "Bull Buck (And Duppy Conqueror)" is another welcome addition to the vault of creepy Jamaican tunes that crowd the crates in my bedroom closet.  But before we get to the tune it's important that I clarify what "Bull Buck" means... bull buck is a Jamaican colloquialism that means to be on top of the world and unbeatable.  To say someone is bull buck and duppy conqueror means that no one, living or dead, can topple them from their strong-willed place of preeminence and power.  

This one comes from a 1969 7" on the Fab label and was released just months before The Wailers released "Duppy Conqueror." Buster's tune has a less defiant tone than the Wailers supernatural-battling scorcher but makes for an appropriate duppy tune nonetheless!  See you tomorrow!

 Spooktacular Track Seven - Prince Buster - Bull Buck (And Duppy Conqueror)

By Request... The 2013 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular, Re-upped.

I have received a few requests to re-up the 2013 Spooktacular... here ya go!

1.     Prince Jammy – Slaughterhouse Five

2.     Lee & The Clarendonians – Night Owl

3.     Lloyd & Devon – Wolf Out Deh

4.     Basque Dub Foundation – Midnight Organ

5.     Inner Circle – Duppy Gunman

6.     Raheem DeVaughn – Mr. Brown

7.     The Upsetters – Creeping Version

8.     Prince Buster – Hard Man Fe Dead

9.     Prince Buster All Stars – The Haunted Room

10.   Scientist & The Roots Radics – Grave Yard Shift

11.   Kojak & Liza – Two Bad Duppy

12.   Militant Barry – Nightmares

13.    Errol Dunkley – Black Magic Spell

14.    Carl Bryan – Walking the Dead

15.   King Horror – Loch Ness Monsters (Take 2)

16.    Allan Swymmer – Hear Duppy Laugh

17.    Skin, Flesh & Bones – Dub in Blood

18.    Vivian Jackson & The Prophets – Anti-Christ

19.     Barry Brown – Dark Shadows

20.     Frankie Jones – Ghostbuster

21.     Uglyman – See Duppy Deh

22.     Little General – Zombie

23.     Horace Ferguson – Midnight Hour

24.     Clint Eastwood – Mask in the Dark

ENJOY

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Six - Run If You Are Afraid

Back again I see?  Well I've got another tune for you!  The sixth track in the 2014 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular is, as the comic cover suggests, inna rocksteady style!  Wrap your ears around "Run If You Are Afraid" by Hopeton Lewis and let the goodness soak in!  

Unfortunately, Hopeton Lewis died on September 4th of this year and I wanted to pay tribute to a man credited with recording "Take It Easy," one of the rocksteady era's first hits in 1966, but I found my collection to be slightly lacking in any sizable amount of Lewis' music.  I have since remedied that injustice and what you're going to hear today is one of those pieces in my now burgeoning Hopeton Lewis collection... a "better late than never" tribute is forthcoming as well but we'll get to that after we turn the page on October. 

"Run If You Are Afraid" is a previously unreleased rocksteady "rude boy" track that Hopeton Lewis recorded during the latter-half of the 60's and finally made available in June when it was pressed on high quality 7" vinyl by Merritone/Dub Store Records in Japan.  I can't say enough about these amazing Dub Store represses and this one works well on so many levels - an unreleased track by a recently lost legend on super-clean, heavy vinyl and a theme that works well with the Spooktacular... what is there not to like?  

Spooktacular Track Six - Hopeton Lewis - Run If You Are Afraid

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Five - Bones Dub

We featured "Dub In Blood" from Skin, Flesh & Bones' Dub In Blood LP last year and I jumped right on the opportunity to feature another!  Skin, Flesh & Bones is one of those "backing bands" whose members identities remain shrouded in mystery - no one seems to mention the talent behind the semi-macabre name but Lloyd Parks, founding member of The Revolutionaries, The Professionals and his own We The People Band, confirmed in an interview by Jim Dooley that, "the members of Skin, Flesh & Bones was: myself on bass, Ansel Collins on keyboards, and another keyboard player called Tarzan, and Ranchie MacLean on guitar."  Well there you go... mystery solved!

This time we're going with "Bones Dub" and like the skeletal foot-stomper on the accompanying comic cover I hope you like it as much as he does.  This is a good ol' fashioned slice of dub, perfect for a late-night whirl in the cemetery!  See you tomorrow!

Spooktacular Track Five - Skin, Flesh & Bones - Bones Dub

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Four - Zombie Zones

Welcome back!  Barbados-born Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell is the man... a producer, a musician, a sound engineer and a true reggae master!  He started his career playing in a couple bands before going on to play with legendary British group Matumbi, all while collaborating with such reggae legends as I Roy, Steel Pulse, Errol Dunkley and Johnny Clarke.  Good stuff!  But what has always endeared me to Dennis Bovell is the work we did and continues to do with Linton Kwesi Johnson... I was on a LKJ kick a couple weeks ago and aside from the brilliantly constructed poetry I was just diggin' on the strength and emotive power of the music itself.  

Which brings me to the fourth track in the Spooktacular... this track "Zombie Zones" comes from the 2003 Bovell retrospective CD on the Pressure Sounds label called Decibel - More Cuts And Dubs 1976-1983.  And like all of Dennis Bovell's dubs it is masterful and conveniently appropriate for our seasonal spookiness!  Of course anything zombie related got me thinking about my all-time favorite zombie film "Night of the Living Dead" and you will hear that influence clearly reflected when you give this one a listen.  Besides, with Bovell's ominous bass line coupled with the creepy melodica and the mayhem sound effects woven under the music it really give you that zombie apocalypse feel without much of my intervention.

Spooktacular Track Four - Dennis Bovell - Zombie Zones

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Three - Blood Son

So you're back for more?  Of course you are!  The late great Crown Prince of Reggae, Dennis Brown, made an appearance in 2008's Spooktacular when he covered the Fleetwood Mac song, "Black Magic Woman."  Now he's returned for another cameo and this time with something sinister and actually quite mysterious... a little tune called "Blood Son."  

Recorded in 1975, produced by Winston "Niney" Holness and originally released as a 7" on Niney's Observer label, "Blood Son" is one of those songs that I have been researching, on and off for a while now and have come up empty-handed when it comes to making sense of the cryptic lyrics... I am not sure exactly what Dennis is referencing but it sounds like you may want to take his word and keep away from the blood son!  A sample of the lyrics...

"Keep away from the blood son
Leave the blood and let it run
The heat is on now, the fire is burning
This is the time when folks shall be moaning
Never you try to find the truth my son
Take heed and you'll be strong strong strong
Keep away son"

Yes, it definitely has an apocalyptic feel, at least until you get to the fifth line... what is the truth that we must never try and find?  It sounds like some shady business going on and I demand some answers!  Sadly, I have none to provide.  Regardless, the element of mystery works with the Halloween Spooktacular and "Blood Son" will have you rockin' and wonderin' all weekend.

Oh yeah, what you're gonna hear is taken from a repressed 7" on the Wanted 45 label.  Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Spooktacular Track Three - Dennis Brown - Blood Son

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Two - Sgt. Vampire

Welcome back!  After nine years of Halloween spookiness you'd think that my list of tunes is getting pretty thin, you'd probably be surprised if I told you that it really hasn't.  Every year I discover, research and locate at least 5-10 new additions to my Creepy Vault of Jamaican Tunes and today's track is one of them. 

Feast your ears on this 1980s "Rockers" tune by Ioby Joseph & Band... it's appropriately called "Sgt. Vampire" and it comes from a self-produced 12" single on the Barbuda label.  There is obviously an undercurrent of a political back-story behind the lyrics, which I can't quite figure out, but with some smokin' guitar, a driving beat, some sweet backing vocals and a strong delivery by Mr. Joseph himself, it makes for an enjoyable listen and a welcome new member to the Spooktacular Family!  It's a shame that Ioby Joseph & Band didn't go on to some success and future recordings but this record stands the test of time as a nice sounding slice of 1980s reggae.

Spooktacular Track Two - Ioby Joseph & Band - Sgt. Vampire