na: reggae! reggae! reggae!
Reggae summer! Today brings a new stash from Lee’s records, including one of the greatest reggae singles ever recorded, so here’s a quick roundup of what’s worth it.
Various Artists, Roots of Reggae: OK, so here’s a weird one. A good 70% of this is half-assed synth-reggae from genre pioneers. I was about to pass it over until I noticed, tucked waaayyy at the end of disc two, Max Romeo’s 150% Solid Gold Classic “Wet Dream.” In addition to being one of the greatest songs ever, “Wet Dream” was flat-banned from Jamaican radio shortly after its release. Romeo protested, saying the song was simply about what happens when the roof above your bed springs a leak. Which totally explains the chorus, “Lie down girl, make me push it up, push it up, lie down girl.” Those Jamaican radio programmers are perverts. As a hilarious postscript: a few years after this song blew up, Romeo became a committed Rastafarian and released one of the greatest reggae albums of all time, War Inna Babylon.
But to get back to this record: if you look in the neighborhood surrounding “Wet Dream” on disc two, you’ll also see some other reggae, um, ‘rarities’ — like “Monkey Man” by Toots & the Maytals (it doesn’t sound like the original, but it’s the same era), Lee Perry’s “Clint Eastwood Rides Again,” “Guns of Navarone” by the Upsetters, and a song titled “One Love” by Bob Marley that is absolutely not “One Love” by Bob Marley but, instead a medley of “One Love,” “All in One,” “Simmer Down” and a bunch of his other hits. And then, right in the middle, there’s the totally terrible “Cocaine in my Brain” by Dillinger. Basically: there’s gold here, but you have to dig for it.
Barrington Spence, Tears On My Pillow: So forget the fact that the artwork for this record looks like someone got carried away with Paint — the music is solid gold. As the title implies, these are breakup songs — which I guess is the opposite of lover’s rock? What would you even call that? Spence has a light, buoyant voice, and some of these songs are almost doo-wop in their spring and cadence (see: “Jasmine”). Spence sounds a little like Delroy Wilson — kinda sweet, kinda croony; the two standouts are “Pamela” and the soulful cover of “Yesterday.”
Various Artists, Classic Reggae Vocals 1972-76: Certainly lives up to the title. “Better Collie” finds Horace Andy riffing on the “Gorgon” melody and riddim; “Natty Dread Coxman” is a dubby turn from Linval Thompson and “I’ll Always Love You,” while not a Dolly Parton cover, is still straight beautiful — the kind of song you put on a mixtape for someone 6 times in a row. Most of these sound like they were ripped straight from the vinyl, which tends to bother some people. I am not one of those people. In fact, you could argue that the popping and the static enhances the tracks.
Various Artists, The Singers: As opposed to, say, the drummers? This one gets special mention for Don Carlos’s marvelous “Hog and Goat” and Johnny Clarke’s “Peace and Love in the Ghetto,” but it’s also got tracks from Freddie McGregor and Alton Ellis, which — like nearly everything those guys are involved with — are just as worthy of mention.
We also got two DJ/toasting albums that are worth noting, Jah Stitch, The Killer and Trinity, Big Man. I’ve kinda cooled on toasting albums lately. They have their merits, and these two have some dubbier flirtations that might appeal to some, but whenever I listen to them, I mostly find myself wanting to hear the original track rather than the one that’s being versioned. That’s just how I roll.
I agree about toasters. I do like some of the I-Roy, Big Youth and Prince Far I stuff, tho.
I’ll third that on toasters also. I and U-Roy, Big Youth are favs and I did like the Ranking Joe album on Blood & Fire.
I was wondering what the story was with this label…I notice they have released a few albums which originally came out on Blood & FIre and was curious if they were legit…
I hate to say it, but I always assume any reggae record we get on the site from a smaller label is only quasi-legit. I know keeping contracts was not something the early reggae artists and ‘label owners’ did especially well — so really, who legally owns what is almost anybody’s guess….UPDATE: I have it on good authority that all of these titles are completely legit.Joe, that comment is so OTM. Reggae and electronic/Euro-dance are two genres where I base my download decisions mostly on the label. For reggae, my safe-bets are Blood & Fire; Pressure Sounds; and (most of the time) Wackies. That leaves out some labels you may consider seminal (Greensleeves), but my experience has guided me pretty well so far.
(Oh, and for electronic/Eurdance, my safe-bets are Kompakt and Wagon Repair. BPitch Control, too, but to a lesser extent).
I used to feel that way about !K7 but they seem to be in a slump lately or something. Ninja Tune also.
Planet Mu is usually pretty damn good stuff.
dude, “Cokane in My Brain” is great! or is the one on that comp a remake?
It sounded like a re-record, non-original — I’m only so-so on that song, I must confess, but I should not have spoken so flippantly!
Greetings All,
I am the President of Zojak World Wide, the exclusive worldwide distributor for Bunny “Striker” Lee. Bunny and Zojak are pleased to see his content being held with regard on these pages.
We see that there is some question as to these albums being legit as they are not coming from Blood & Fire or other typical labels for Bunny Lee produced music. We can tell you that Bunny and Zojak are currently in the process of releasing his massive body of work through his own label “Lee’s Records Jamaica”
The partnership created to facilitate this was necessary as Bunny, as well as Tappa Zukie have had major issues with royalties collection from labels and distributors that shall rename nameless.
We can tell you to keep your eyes on Emusic as more albums and never before released material from Bunny and Tappa will grace the pages of Emusic over the next few months!
One Love,
Aaron Mahlfeldt, President
ZOJAK World Wide, LLC
Corporate Headquarters
15734 Lake Dr. Unit 1AR
Oak Forest, IL. 60452
U.S.A.
7b Skyline Dr.
Kingston 6
Jamaica
West Indies
Tel:
US 1.773.895.4320
JAM 1.876.471.3580
http://www.zojakworldwide.com
zojakworldwide@gmail.com
AWESOME news! Can’t wait for the rest of the haul!!
A few things about Aaron Mahlfeldt’s post. First, thanks for the update and, as Joe said, it is very good news! Second, since some of the albums that just debuted from Lee’s Records Jamaica are identical to albums already available here on the Blood & Fire label — e.g., Dub Like Dirt, the Cornell Campbell collection — it suggests to me that the rights-holders have begun taking back songs from the Blood & Fire collection. If that’s the case, I wonder if those Blood & Fire discs will disappear from eMusic and, if so, there’s no guarantee that the new labels’ will make the albums available here. So my point is that now may be the time to download the Blood & Fire discs you want. Third, I don’t see too many online reviews for the Lee’s Records Jamaica discs yet. I’m sure this is because the label is launching, and we’ll see more reviews soon (e.g., from All Music Guide). But to me, this puts a premium on eMusic identifying what it considers the best of the new arrivals. So please, keep up the good work! (as I go to read Pt. 2 of Joe’s posts on the label).
Hello Again,
In regards to the Blood & Fire albums or any other that Bunny produced over his prolific career. Zojak and Lee’s records will re-release all such content, so no worries on the availability of Bunny Lee produced content. You can also expect the same treatment with Tappa’s catalog as well as a few surprises we have in store….a hint….Linvall Thompson!
One Love,
Aaron Mahlfeldt, President
ZOJAK World Wide, LLC
Corporate Headquarters
15734 Lake Dr. Unit 1AR
Oak Forest, IL. 60452
U.S.A.
7b Skyline Dr.
Kingston 6
Jamaica
West Indies
Tel:
US 1.773.895.4320
JAM 1.876.471.3580
http://www.zojakworldwide.com
zojakworldwide@gmail.com
although Bunny probably owns the masters to most of his catalogue, I question seriously whether or not he owns the artwork or the rights to use the re-mastered version of the tracks from any B&F releases.
“I question seriously whether or not he owns the artwork or the rights to use the re-mastered version of the tracks from any B&F releases.”
I wondered about that too.