Day 226 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Jays & Ranking Trevor - Truly

Today's tune is a landmark!  No, I'm not talking about the fact that it's the 225th day in a row I've been doing this challenge, I'm talking about the record itself.  You see, today's tune "Truly" by The Jays and Ranking Trevor, released on vinyl in 1976 on the Channel One offshoot label Disco Mix, was the first Jamaican twelve-inch hit single!  While the first Jamaican 12" is credited to Lloyd Charmers and his song "Rhythm In Rhapsody" also released in '76 on the Wildflower label, it wasn't successful.  Today's track is the first to really have an impact.  And while the "extended mix" was fairly common with dance or club deejays at the time outside of Jamaica, the Jamaican take was to include both the vocal and deejay takes on the same riddim on the same side and an extended dub-wise version on the b-side.  The 12" format was not intended for the Jamaican buyer but used as a vehicle to export reggae outside of the island and believe me, my three sagging shelves in the living room packed with discomixes, can attest to the fact that they were pretty successful in doing so.  As a collector I love the hell outta my 12" singles!  So here it is, a truly groundbreaking record for your listening pleasure!

Day 225 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Meditations - Forcing Me

I can't believe it has taken me eight months to get to the Meditations!  The trio of Danny Clarke, Ansel Cridland and Winston Watson got together in 1974 and after a couple years of recording and crediting their releases to the individual artists, they started going with the Meditations name in 1976 and soon after scored a huge hit with "Woman Is Like A Shadow" and their first album Message From The Meditations.  Throughout the 70s they recorded for producers Dobby Dobson, Joseph Hoo Kim and Lee Perry, as well as providing backing vocals for Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs, Jimmy Cliff and The Congos on their Black Ark masterpiece Heart Of The Congos.  It would be easy for me to pick one of their better known tunes from the 1970s but I've decided to go with something from their 1983 dancehall friendly album No More Friend produced by Linval Thompson and pressed on Greensleeves.  Today's tune is called "Forcing Me" and while the lyrics tell of a relationship gone bad the cool backing of the Roots Radics coupled with some damn sweet horns and vocal harmonies it is definitely a "feel good" track!

The 32nd Week Mix In All Of Its Uninterrupted Glory!

Week 32!  Here for your listening pleasure!  Here is what you're gonna hear...

1.  Tommy McCook & The Aggrovators - Moving Out

2.  The Viceroys - Get Up

3.  The Slickers - Johnny Too Bad

4.  The Wailers - Stand Alone

5.  Harry J All Stars - The Arcade Walk

6.  Neville Brown - Trod Along Natty Dreadlocks

7.  Derrick Lenroy & Ringo - Deep Meditation

DOWNLOAD & ENJOY!

Day 224 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Derrick Lenroy & Ringo - Deep Meditation

Up next for the 223rd day in our little yearlong marathon is a smooth discomix for your Saturday enjoyment!  This one is from 1984 and it's called "Deep Mediation" featuring a great uplifting horn riff, some sweet singing from the man Derrick Lenroy and the slick deejay stylings of the great Ringo AKA Johnny Ringo and it was lifted directly from a 12" on the Body Music label.  Kick back and enjoy this one!

Day 223 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Neville Brown - Trod Along Natty Dreadlocks

Switching gears now by moving into the 80s and I'm keeping it short because I can't find any background information on Neville Brown, but rest assured the tune is top-notch!  This one is called "Trod Along Natty Dreadlocks" and it comes from the 1983 album Scientist Presents Neville Brown With The Aggrovators At Channel One on the Vista label and since the title of the album basically fills in all the slots for background on the personnel involved, I'll let the music do the talking! :)

Day 222 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Harry J All Stars - The Arcade Walk

The late Harry Zephaniah Johnson AKA Harry J was a producer and recording studio owner who got his start by creating his own Harry J label in 1968.  Johnson had a deal with Coxsone Dodd to use Studio One's facilities where he produced Lloyd Robinson's "Cuss Cuss," which became his first hit and one of the most popular riddims in Jamaica for decades to follow.  In 1969 Harry J hit it big with "The Liquidator," a tune recorded by Ranny Williams and The Hippy Boys which Harry J remixed with Winston Wright's organ and it shot to Number 9 on the UK Singles Chart to became a skinhead reggae classic.  A multitude of Harry J All Stars instrumental productions, most heavy on the Winston Wright organ, followed with similar popular appeal.  In 1972, Johnson sold his record store, moved out of Studio One and established Harry J Studio where he went on to record an amazing line-up of artists from Bob Marley & The Wailers to Burning Spear to Augustus Pablo to nearly everyone in between.  Today's track is called "The Arcade Walk" and it comes from the 2003 compilation CD from Trojan called Liquidator; The Best Of The Harry J Allstars.  Dig it!  And thanks to my friends at Reggae Fever for the correction on the Liquidator background!

Day 221 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Wailers - Stand Alone

What can I write about the Wailers which hasn't already been written a thousand times before?  Luckily that allows me to keep it short when it comes to the biographical info and provides me some space to just discuss how much I have always loved today's tune "Stand Alone."  When I first started delving into reggae music I began with the Bob Marley & The Wailers Island releases and because of my minimum-wage paying, high school job assembling skateboards at a surf shop at the local mall, my musical education was kinda stalled.  Sure I would rifle through the minuscule reggae section at the neighboring Sam Goody or the Musicland on my lunch break but I didn't want to fork over $10 for cassettes by artists I'd heard of but soon found that I didn't particularly enjoy.  Previous buying experiences with Aswad, Third World and Steele Pulse (no offense to anyone who likes these bands) had burned me and I was not willing to take another chance.  When I found some budget priced Bob Marley & The Wailers tapes with songs I had yet to hear, I figured I couldn't go wrong.  I bought one of the no-named cassette for $5 which included about twelve to fifteen Lee Perry produced tracks, "Stand Alone" included, and eagerly anticipated my ride home that evening.  Back then I didn't even have a cassette player in my 1986 Volkswagen Golf so I had to rely on listening to music with a boombox perched on the passenger seat.  Well as you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised!  I didn't know the story behind this era of the Wailers but it was definitely an important education nonetheless.  So here is the 220th track in the 365 Jamaican Music Challenge... "Stand Alone," once available for purchase in cassette racks at gas stations and 7 Eleven's worldwide for a mere $4.99 on less than legitimate compilations, but originally released on the 1973 album African Herbsman when Scratch sold the recordings to Trojan Records without Bob, Peter and Bunny's knowledge.

Day 220 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Slickers - Johnny Too Bad

The Slickers were started in the mid-60s by Derrick Crooks, who was also the creator of The Pioneers, his brother Sidney and Abraham Green.  They recorded today's tune "Johnny Too Bad" at Dynamic Studio in 1971 and a year later received worldwide recognition when it ended up on the soundtrack to the classic film The Harder They Come.  The Slickers rode the fame from "Johnny Too Bad" for the next few years, touring both the UK and the United States and cutting an album before breaking up in 1979.  Years later, today's track, the 219th in the 365 Day Challenge I might add, has been covered multiple times by a multitude of artists from a handful of diverse musical genres ranging from rock to bluegrass and it's really no wonder because it's a great song!

Day 219 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Viceroys - Shake Up

The Viceroys have worked under a plethora of names since they first recorded in 1967 including The Voiceroys, The Interns, The Inturns, The Brothers and The Hot Tops.  Originally comprised of Wesley Tinglin, Daniel Bernard and Bunny Gayle they made their debut with Studio One after they were rejected by Duke Reid.  Today's track "Shake Up" was one of those early rocksteady tunes and it comes from the 1995 Heartbeat CD compilation called The Viceroys At Studio One: Ya Ho.  Guaranteed good stuff for another unwelcome Monday!

 

Day 218 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Tommy McCook & The Aggrovators - Moving Out

Yesterday we had a listen to one of Jamaica's great trombonists, let's give a little time to one of Jamaica's great saxophonists... of course we're talking about the late great Tommy McCook!  McCook was one of the founding members of the legendary Skatalites and was the director of The Supersonics, Duke Reid's studio band before branching out and recording for Bunny Lee and The Revolutionaries in the 1970s.  Today's tune "Moving Out" with the Aggrovators was recorded for the aforementioned Mr. Lee circa 1975-1977 and eventually released on CD in 1995 as the album Bionic Dub on the Lagoon label.  With mixing and engineering by King Tubby... it's a sweet tune!  P.S. I can't take responsibility for what's going on in the attached video... a little odd choice for such an upbeat tune...

The 31st Week Mix In All Of Its Uninterrupted Glory!

Here it is!  In all its uninterrupted glory... the 31st Week Mix!

1.  Ernest Ranglin - Surfin'

2.  BB Seaton - Summertime

3.  Winston Samuels & The Clintones - Let's Get It On

4.  Slim Smith - Rougher Yet

5.  Lone Ranger - Love Bump

6.  The Bassies - I Don't Mind

7.  Vin Gordon - Babylon Rock

Download and enjoy!

Day 217 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Vin Gordon - Babylon Rock

When it comes to trombonists in Jamaican music one understandably thinks of the great Don Drummond but Vin Gordon, AKA Don Drummond Jr., should be your next thought.  Gordon, a graduate of the Alpha Boys School, learned both the bass and the trombone in his time there and started with the Skatalites in 1964.  During that time he became the main trombonist at Studio One and played on countless recordings from the ska era all the way into reggae for a plethora of producers.  Today's tune "Babylon Rock" was recorded in the 70s at Brentford Road and borrowed from the excellent 2005 Soul Jazz CD release called Studio One Roots 2.  If you crave a heaping scoop of horn section with your reggae this is a meal you'll completely dig!

Day 216 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Bassies - I Don't Mind

Day 215 of the 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge is a tune by The Bassies called "I Don't Mind."  And you'll notice right away that today's write-up is a lot shorter, especially compared to yesterday's, mainly because I can't find any background info on our featured track or those who contributed to said vocal group.  What I do know is this... "I Don't Mind" was recorded by Coxsone in 1968 and originally released as a single on the Studio One label.  Pure rocksteady niceness!

Day 215 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Lone Ranger - Love Bump

As promised, we're gonna stick with yesterday's riddim for another day and it's gonna be a long one!  So let's fast forward to the early-70s, after years of enjoying the top spot as Jamaica's number one studio, Coxsone Dodd was starting to feel the effects of musicians jumping ship to record for "hipper" up-and-coming recording studios and producers like Channel One, Joe Gibbs and Randy's.  Amazingly the classic Studio One sound had started losing popularity with the listening public but reemerged in a roundabout way when the cooler studios started to re-do a lot of the riddims created over at Brentford Road.  Channel One was working with the Mighty Diamonds at the time and gave them two re-worked Studio One rhythms to work with and once word got back to Dodd he became livid.  The Diamonds scored a hit with "I Need A Roof" which was an update of the rhythm Larry Marshall had used for his song "Mean Girl" in 1968 and followed it up with the classic "Have Mercy" which was the studio's take on The Cables "Baby Why" backing track, also recorded in '68.  Maybe it was the sense of familiarity or the deep-seated love of the Studio One rhythms themselves but they soon became all the rage among all the newer studios on the island as they fought to produce the next big tune.  According to the excellent book Rub A Dub Style by Beth Lesser, it was Sugar Minott who finally got through to Coxsone and made him realize "the value of his riddims."  Minott at the time was selecting and singing for a sound system called Sound of Silence and was both playing and using Studio One versions for practice and approached Dodd about doing an album that wouldn't require making any new riddim tracks... "He could sing on what Coxsone already had in the vaults."  Well to make a long-story short, the reaction was positive and when sound system owners and selectors started hearing new songs on beloved, authentic Studio One riddims they flooded back to Studio One for dubplates.  

Case in point, today's track, and the 214th in the 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge, "Love Bump" by Lone Ranger which was recorded at Studio One and released in 1981. As Ranger himself explains,  "Bob Marley was around in those times - well, you know Bob Marley and the dreadlocks - he was going to foreign countries and the white people were starting to locks.  Hippies all turn on to Bob Marley music.  They were coming to Jamaica a lot.  During the period of time, we had some problems in Jamaica with the tin mackerel.  Mackerel used to come in tin and some bad batch would come to Jamaica and you would eat it and get ptomaine poisoning and bumps.  All that was going on in Jamaica.  Somehow, people got it mixed up and thought that the "hippies" were bringing the 'bumps' in.  So it turned into a big controversy - some people said it was the food, some blamed the hippies.  So, Ranger tied it all back to another 'bump,' the 'love bumps' as Jamaicans would call a teen's first pimples.  "You know when you're young and you fall in love, you start to get pimples on your face, they say, 'Oh, that's a love bump.  You're in love.  You have a girl," Ranger explains."

So after all these years of never quite understanding the lyrics to "Love Bump" it is all finally clear! 

 

Day 214 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Slim Smith - Rougher Yet

The late Slim Smith, born Keith Smith, was a founding member of the vocal group The Techniques who recorded for Duke Reid during the heyday of the ska era.  In 1965 the group broke up and Slim Smith went on to put together The Uniques who put out a stack of tunes on Ken Lack's Caltone label.  Two years later the original Uniques parted ways and were reassembled by adding Jimmy Riley and Lloyd Charmers and had a string of hits including "Watch This Sound" and "My Conversation" which I rank right up there as one of the nicest tunes ever recorded, for Bunny Lee.  But after their album Absolutely The Uniques was released, Slim Smith had another change of heart and left the band to pursue a solo career.  In 1969 he hopped into the studio with Prince Buster and Coxsone Dodd with whom he created some of Jamaica's greatest vocal recordings ever.  Sadly, Slim Smith died in 1973 after bleeding to death when he lacerated his arm on a broken window while trying to gain entry into his parent's home... yet another beautiful voice silenced way too soon.  Today's track "Rougher Yet" recorded at Studio One in 1969 and originally released as a 7" on the Coxson label.  The backing riddim often referred to as either Rougher Yet or Love Bump, after the DJ Lone Ranger's take of the same name, is one of my personal favorites!  More on Lone Ranger's version tomorrow...

Day 213 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Winston Samuels & Clintones - Let's Get It On

Short and sweet today... what the hell, let's keep it simple and fire off another reggae cover!  Winston Samuels and the Clintones with their take of the 1973 Marvin Gaye sexy classic "Let's Get It On."  This little gem comes to us from a circa 1977 7" on the Clintones label and like the original, it is pure niceness! 

 

Day 212 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - BB Seaton - Summertime

One more summer song and what could be more appropriate than a cover of thee "definitive" summer song?  "Summertime" was originally composed by George Gershwin in 1935 for the opera Porgy & Bess with lyrics by DuBose Heyward.  The song quickly became a jazz standard and is recognized as one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music, with about 33,000 different versions!  BB Seaton's take is a lot more upbeat than a lot of the covers of "Summertime" I've heard and that has a lot to do with why I love it so much. "Summertime" was originally produced by Lloyd Charmers in 1973 and released in the UK as a 7" on the Bread label and it is super cool.  Dig it!

Day 211 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Ernest Ranglin - Surfin'

Ernest Ranglin got his start at an early age, playing guitar on a multitude of calypso and mento recordings produced for the Jamaican tourist trade in the 1950s.  He was employed by the JBC as a guitarist from 1958-1965 and during that time got the opportunity to produce music for "Dr. No"  the first James Bond film which was shot-on-location in Jamaica in 1962.  Ranglin also went on to do session work for Chris Blackwell's Island, Clancy Eccles and Lee Perry before branching out into other genres of music and becoming renown as a latin and jazz guitarist. we're gonna go with something "summery" for this Sunday.  This one comes from the great Ernest Ranglin and its called "Surfin'."  Originally recorded at Brentford Road circa 1976 and released on the Studio One label , this is a smooth tune!  Relax and give it a listen, happy Sunday!

The 30th Week Mix In All Of Its Uninterrupted Glory!

Here's what you're gonna hear... the 30th Week Mix, un-cut, complete and ready for you!

1.  Beres Hammond - Rockaway

2.  Macka B - Reggae Lives On

3.  Marcia Griffiths - Land Of Love

4.  Garnett Silk - Place In Your Heart

5.  Tyrone Taylor - Rainy Sunset

6.  Jimmy Cliff - Hello Sunshine

7.  The Paragons - On The Beach

DOWNLOAD AND ENJOY!

Day 210 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Paragons - On The Beach

Keeping with the summer theme for the next couple days in celebration of the first weekend of summer!  Today's track, "On The Beach" by the Paragons, is is one of those tunes that gives you that warm, sunny and joyful feeling whenever you hear it... a feel-good rocksteady classic!  The Paragons comprised of Bob Andy, John Holt and Howard Barrett started recording at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle in 1964 and by the time rocksteady rolled around these guys backed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics were popping off crucial records at an alarming rate... "Wear You To The Ball," "The Tide Is High," "Quiet Place" and today's track "On The Beach" are all topflight classics!  Take off your shoes, soak in the sun and let's go and have some fun, on the beach where there's a party!  Of note... for years the lyric "One more box of happs says the man to the bartender" had confounded me.  Come to find out that Happs was a beer readily available in Jamaica at the time the song was written and asking for a box of Happs is akin to sliding up to the bar and announcing, "give me another!"  A sentiment that I think a lot of us can agree with.

Day 209 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Jimmy Cliff - Hello Sunshine

Okay let's switch things up because it's Friday and here in the States we're gearing up for the long Memorial Day weekend which to many marks the official start of summer.  And while the weather here has been absolute crap leading to countless days of gray, rain, cooler than average temperatures, seasonal depression usually exclusively relegated solely to winter, cabin fever and rowdy kids that have no where to expend their energy, here's hoping that things will make the change for the better starting now!  Today's track "Hello Sunshine" was originally recorded by Jimmy Cliff in 1969 at Beverley's and has gone on to enjoy countless successes via its incessant usage in commercials but it's still a good song.  Happy Friday folks!

Day 208 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Tyrone Taylor - Rainy Sunset

The late Tyrone Taylor recorded his first solo song "Delilah" in 1968 before teaming up with singer Vince Brown to form the Soul Menders, but after meeting with little success contemplated giving up music all together.  He decided to stick it out by stepping away from the mic and learning to play a variety of instruments instead but in 1972 he joined up with Soul Twins and recorded a couple tunes that achieved moderate success.  In 1975 he finally got some airplay as a solo artist with the track "Fight It Blackman" that he recorded for Jack Ruby.  He followed it up with a couple more successful records for Ruby before scoring with "Sufferation" a tune he cut for Winston "Niney" Holness in 1977 which also received the full-on King Tubby dub treatment.  In 1981 he recorded and self-produced "Cottage In Negril," the worldwide hit tune in which he would become synonymous and which earning Tyrone an international recording deal with MCA Records.  When his follow-up bombed, MCA shelved a proposed album and let him go.  Sadly, Tyrone Taylor was fighting a drug addiction and in the decade that followed recorded only sporadically.  In 1994 he teamed up with producer Clive Hunt for what was to be his final hit, "Rainy Sunset" an absolutely soulful gem originally released as a 7" and on his subsequent album Totally Tyrone on the Tuff Gong label.  And while I'm not really a big fan of the "lovers" style of "easy-listening" reggae, "Rainy Sunset" always puts me in a warm mellow mood.  Unfortunately Tyrone Taylor passed away in 2007, but this tune serves as a testament to an artist with a truly great voice.

Day 207 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Garnett Silk - Place In Your Heart

When Garnett Silk died tragically in December of 1994 it really broke my heart.  He was the up and coming voice in reggae and his music was both uplifting, powerful and positive and I, and hosts of reggae fans, really believed he was going to lead this beloved music into the twenty-first century.  It was almost as if Garnett Silk was holding back that forces of negativity in the music during the era and once he was gone the floodgates let loose.  But I don't necessarily want to get into the philosophical today so we'll talk about the 206th tune in the 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge... "Place In Your Heart" was produced by Bobby "Digital" Dixon, originally released as a 7" in 1992 on the Digital B label and rides the updated relick of the "Won't You Come Home" riddim originally created in 1966 and used by Delroy Wilson at Studio One.  While this may be considered a simple love song, it really highlights the abilities of Garnett Silk's voice and will put a smile on your face!  RIP Garnett Silk you will never be forgotten!

Day 206 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Marcia Griffiths - Land Of Love

I absolutely love Marcia Griffiths and this tune perked up my ears back in 1996 when I first heard her cover of the Heptones tunes "Land Of Love" originally recorded in 1967 for Coxsone Dodd and released on their self-titled album on Studio One.  Donovan Germain over at Penthouse took a seemingly forgotten tune, provided an updated and infectious digital riddim, added Marcia's wonderful voice and created an absolutely killer track!   And while Marcia is the highlight of the song; her heartfelt delivery makes you too long for this "Land of Love" of which she sings, I went nuts for this riddim and the few tracks that followed on it remain some of my favorites from the era.  Ras Shiloh's "Child Of A Slave" in particular is beautiful in its own right and the combination style of Marcia and Tony Rebel re-titled "Ready To Go" are damn sweet but let's get back to today's tune... originally released in 1996 on Marcia's album Land Of Love on the Penthouse label, give it a listen!

Day 205 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Macka B - Reggae Lives On

A few months back at our first Reggae Spin Cycle my life-long friend Nick whipped a tune into his set that had me floored... you see he is more attuned to newer music and anytime we get together it's always a learning experience for me because I am so out of the loop with anything newer than 1993.  This song is called "Reggae Lives On" by longtime British deejay Christopher MacFarlane AKA Macka B and it is an absolute thing of beauty.  Macka B pays tribute to all the Jamaican music legends who have passed away and name-drops nearly all of 'em!  It's odd that my appreciation for newer reggae has a lot to do with its acknowledgment of its past and this one does just that!  This one comes from a various artists CD called Live & Love Riddim by Mafia & Fluxy from 2012... dig it!