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Damian Marley – Welcome to Jamrock (Ghetto Youths United 2005)

As I said at the time:

“It’s fair to say that Bob Marley had a load of kids. It’s probably only slightly contentious to point out that, whilst many of them have entered the record industry, not many of them have produced anything of much cop. Chalk one up for nurture in the great reggae genetics debate…

However, I was somewhat chuffed to come across Maestro’s “I’m a Dad” single a while back, on the Ghetto Youths United label, which apparently has some kind of Marley connection. A nice bouncy do-over riddim (yeah yeah I’ll get back to you on which one, it’s late!) with a gruff voice on the pleasures of fatherhood – without sounding too trite about it. Nice!

Anyway, if that was a pleasant surprise, my jaw totally dropped to the floor when I first heard Rodigan play “Welcome to Jamrock”. Easily my favourite for 2005 so far, this is going to be MASSIVE!

Great reality ranty lyris: “come on let’s face it, a ghetto education’s basic, and most of the youth dem waste it…”. HUGE HUGE riddim based around and old Ini Kamoze tune with Ini in the mix: “out in the streets, they call it MURDER”

You need this. Unbelievably there is also a Ray Keith drum ‘n’ bass mix in the offing (allegedly).

Aaaaaand it looks like someone is really getting behind this one for a change. Reggae on the up, hey there’s even a great video. Check it aaaaaaht.”

And yeah all that investment paid off. I guess this is probably the reggae tune of the decade in many ways. If you discount the dancehall flava of Sean Paul and Shaggy, this has been heard by most people…

Grime, garage and jungle mixes followed swiftly afterwards. Damian’s brother Stephen followed suit with the excellent “Traffic Jam” and for a minute it looked like the Marley dynasty was going to prove itself useful again…

Cham – Ghetto Story (Madhouse 2005)

“This a survival story, True ghetto story
This is my story, Real ghetto story
Hey

I remember those days when Hell was my home
When Me and Mama bed was a big piece a foam
An mi never like bathe and my hair never comb”

You can’t argue with Cham over a Dave Kelly riddim – Vitamin S (Fiesta, 2003), Rude Boy Pledge (Stageshow, 2006) – much fun to be had. The Eighty-Five riddim crowned them all though. Was it called that because it was at 85 bpm or because it recalled 1985, the dawn of the minimal digi ragga riddim?

Suddenly this was everywhere – the slightly wonky synth intro announcing many a version excursion. Pinchers’ “Desperate Scenario” donated some balance to the procedings with his higher pitched vocal whilst Assassin’s “Everywhere we go” retaind the gruffness but wasn’t anywhere near Cham’s standard. Yellowman’s cut showed the grandmaster slightly worse for wear but was alright.

Then YT got in the game with his “England Story” – altering Cham’s lyrics of a hard childhood in Kingston to a history of UK soundsystem. Unfortunately YT then re-recorded the backing track for his LP, which isn’t surprising given Dave Kelly’s litigious habits, but made a less powerful track. Me and Paul used the original YT cut as an intro to our “Fast Chat Special” mix for Dave Stelfox’s Resonance FM show.

Then (argh!) Akon and (mmm!) Alicia Keys got in on the act and Cham signed a major label record deal…

Gyptian – Serious Times (Fenz 2005)

OK, comments about “Drop Leaf”-mania aside, I liked this one. I liked it a lot – something about the simplicity of the lyrics and delivery makes it very emotional. I can completely understand why people who got into reggae via industrial or On-U Sound would hate this, or just find its sincerity a bit grating.

A very very young vocalist called QQ had a good cut called “Poverty” on the same riddim. QQ also produced one of the few amazing dancehall cuts towards the end of the decade “Tek It To Dem” which would probably make a Top 40 list if I was doing one.

Jammer did a grime re-rub in his Neckle Camp guise. Paul Meme still rejected this for the Grime in the Dancehall mix, though!

Fantan Mojah – Hungry (Down Sound 2005)

Matt B uploaded a nice mix of the Invasion riddim, which allowed me to hold forth on its origins in the foundation Pressure and Slide.

Fantan’s delivery is fantastic, and at the risk of repeating myself, this was just a great upbeat reworking of an old formula.

Twilight Circus featuring Michael Rose & Brother Culture – No Burial (M Records 2005)

Ryan Moore really went out on a limb with his productions in the noughties – the full story his trip to Jamaica to work with legends like Sly and Robbie is told in issue 3 of Woofah.

This tune was recorded in a few locations and combines the JA and UK roots styles perfectly. You can tell he’s been as inspired by Shaka as Xterminator, and it all has a brightness to it which only comes with hours of studio time and dedication.

The TC back catalogue can be a bit bewildering at first glance, but basically anything featuring vocalists is a “must have” if you like this. Also some wicked remixes on the singles.

Obviously taking the time to produce tunes like this costs wonga, which in the olden days you might recoup through sales, but now…

Chuck Fender – Gash Dem (Jukeboxxx 2006)

More anti-badman chatting, which apparently irked the autorities in JA so much that they banned it from radio. Presumably because they didn’t want to put off the tourists? Or because of all the attention paid to “murder music” from some quarters (which would be bleakly ironic as the song only calls for the metaphysical destruction of gangsters etc). Chuck’s next single was called “Freedom of Speech”.

The Confessions riddim included some other beauties, some of which are included on RSI Radio vol 1, which also features me mumbling away.

Sizzla – Chant Dem Down (Kalonji 2006)

A “one away” from one of the crossest men in reggae. Tip of the hat again to Rodigan, blink and you missed this release. Headnodding beats under a loop from Errol Dunkley’s “Little Way Different”. I guess this must have been an experiment that paid off? More of This Sort of Thing, please!

Collie Budz – Come Around (Massive B 2006)

Guaranteed dancefloor mayhem, especially when backed up with Alborosie’s “Rastafari Anthem” on the same riddim – a do-over (or sample?) from an old Zap Pow track.

Everyone loved this, except it seems for smug white Guardian journalists. It certainly went down a treat when I played it about six o’clock in the morning at that House Party rave.

Manasseh/Ava Leigh – Over The Bridge (Roots Garden 2007)

Now Nick Manasseh is a UK roots legend, but I was a little concerned cos as far as I knew the last female vocalist he’d worked with was Dido. Ava Leigh was promoted as being a mixture of Dido and er… Lily Allen, maybe. So I avoided her when she was playing the beer tent at the Big Chill one year. Stupid preconceptions got blasted again when I heard this, and her “La La La” single. She’s got a great voice as well as being (ahem) picturesque.

So this is one tune on Manasseh’s Levi Riddim, which also features cuts from Luciano & Ras Zacharri (River Jordan) and Jah Mali (Jah Works).

What makes it great is that sparse digital stuff happening in the mix, and the lush stuff over the top of it. Roots Garden haven’t really put a foot wrong, so check them out. Their twelve inch “Showcase” EPs are especially recommended.

Alborosie track – Kingston Town (Forward 2007)

Or the “biddly bong” song, as it came to be known. Alborosie first came to my attention in 2006 with his tune Herbalist which was very top stuff and further distinguished itself by having a half decent dub version on the b-side.

Then it emerged that he was a white, dreadlocked Italian who had rocked up in Kingston and spoke better patois than English. Dave Stelfox got the low down once again.

A whole bunch of great seven inches were released on his Forward label (often in distinctive yellow sleeves, for some reason) and he collaborated with everyone from Sizzla to Michael Rose. His production was bang on too.

And yes, there aren’t any tracks from 2008 or 2009 in this chart. Make of that what you will. I’m sure I have missed some tracks, so eel free to do your own versions or leave a comment…

Consider this your grumpy intermission. Part Two of “The best reggae 45s of the noughties” will follow shortly…

Riddim Albums

20 cuts, 40 cuts, but how many are worth playing more than twice?

Riddim albums made economic sense. If you look at the Greensleeves discog for the end of the 90s they were releasing 5 or 6 seven inches for each riddm, some of which were quite difficult to get hold of. The double LPs were cheap, available and great for mixing. And Tony McDermott’s iconic sleeve designs (see above) were awesome.

But it seemed like producers ended up getting any passing stranger into the studio just to make up the numbers to the magical 20. And sometimes there were 3 or 4 of these riddims a month, often with the same “stars” on them alongside the no-marks, all being paid by the hour. The quality took a dive.

Some of the actual riddims were great (especially Diwali, Martial Arts, Hard Drive). Others were pretty dreadful and boasted generic hateful vocals to boot (my personal worst was the Saddam Birthday / Jailbreak riddim LP).

Having said that, there are still some gems from this era, some of which are collected on the Boom Boom Bashment Mix I did with Paul Meme and Paul’s own Nervous Ragga mix.

Collectors/Downloaders

Collectors over-value the music and turn it into a game of speculation and acquisition rather than, y’know, listening.

They have always been around, but until the noughties their presence at least ensured the continuation of record shops. Now ebay has come to the fore you can amass a record collection worth thousands of pounds without actually having to meet anyone except maybe your postman.

Glutonous downloaders devalue the music by acquiring vast quantities of it for free. Don’t worry about the quality or context, look at the size of my iTunes collection!

Neither of these processes (both of which I confess I have been guilty of to a minor degree at times) result in any money going back to the creators of the music. Which brings us nicely to:

Tuff Gong photo by pixelskew

The end of vinyl production in Jamaica

As detailed by my man Dave Stelfox in the Guardian

The medium shouldn’t affect that message, but it does. There is simply less chance of making money out of music now that it has all dematerialised, so less people are interested in getting involved with making it. Also, even by reggae’s usual meagre standards, investment in marketing/promotion is at an all time low. Apparently Vybz Kartel’s latest album sold just eight copies during its first week of release.

I have an emotional and a practical attachment to vinyl, but realistically this is a losing battle.

Drop Leaf

It’s OK as it goes and undeniably popular, but just a bit too twee for me.

The main issue with this riddim is that it basically killed off the “relick reggae” there is so much of in my “best of the noughties” chart. Instead everyone did “tasteful” tunes with plucky guitars or strings and over-emoted. Or they entered the realm of the…

Soca Autotune

Towards the end of the decade it all got a bit more ravey, bit more soca, bit more r ‘n’ b. Which actually sounds alright when I write that, except hardly any of the tunes did it for me. I’ve got lots of love for what Heatwave are doing with their whole Caribbean Rave thing, but I just had to sit this dance out. I really hope this isn’t because it coincided with me entering my forties, but you never know.

Homophobia Hysteria

Look I don’t like homophobia any more than you do. I don’t buy those records, I don’t play those records out, I’m not known for shying away from expressing my views on the matter.

I’m not going to defend people’s right to spout hatred of gay people on some kind of cultural-relativist ticket either, but you would be a bit dim if you didn’t look at the context of anti-gay legislation in JA.

I could write a lot more about this but it usually kicks of a huge ruckus in the comments box and I think we’ve all made our position clear on the issue over the last ten years. And yes, it does seem to have settled down a bit now.

One thing that pisses me off is that coverage of reggae in the media in the noughties was either snide or hysterical. Which is a bit galling for me, as someone who thinks a ton of good things have been happening.

Speaking of which:

Pisstaking Journalists

Yes it’s ridiculous that some white people like music made by black people.

And hilarious that Collie Budz, a white guy who grew up in Bermuda, makes reggae himself.

And we’re all really pleased that you have transcended the disadvantages of a public school upbringing to become a broadsheet journalist who writes so knowledgeably about the music and culture you so clearly love.

Cultural Raiders

Yay! It’s a global village! Even though I’m in my twenties and I live with my parents in affluent Surrey, I can still simulate the sounds of being a Kingston Ghetto Sufferah by the power of my sampler! Look at me posting up pictures of reggae soundsystems on my internet profile! Here’s my latest tune, it’s called “Jah Yardie Lengman Spliff Ackie Lickwood Skank”.

The best example of this for me was some breakcore producer who made a tune called “Battyman” which got released on vinyl without anyone actually knowing what the word meant. This prompted a wise old cove on the C8 discussion forum to comment: “You like sampling Capleton because he sounds so angry. He is angry AT YOU!”

Dance Crazes

“Bad man forward bad man pull up” was a tune. We all had a laugh watching Paul Meme “signal de plane” off the instructions from that Sean Paul poster sleeve. And “Dutty Wine” was alright. But after that, every single bashment tune had to have its own increasingly contrived dance craze.

And yes, it is a bit rich for me to be slagging of Jamaican people for making tunes that go down big time at Kingston dancehalls and across the globe. Sorry.

Needless to say, with “daggering” it all ended in tears. Actually, not just tears: broken penises.

“Festival Reggae”

A relatively new development. Live bands performing their own songs for an international festival audience. There are a few of these around and they all seem to have quite good press agents. I’m reluctant to name them because I am sure they are all very nice, but it just seems a bit lifeless to me.

I guess this development springs from the recognition that you can still make cash out of live performances if not record sales. As Matt B points out in the new Woofah (soon!) – it’s probably nice enough on a sunny afternoon in a field, and might even act as a “gateway drug” for some. But otherwise it all seems a bit surplus to requirements.

The usual disclaimer applies – this is MY top 20.

I would be the first to admit that it is sorely lacking in UK Dub stuff, or even very much bashment. But it is an accurate reflection of my tastes and I’ve had a wicked time putting it together. I hope people enjoy checking it out – even if they disagree with my choices.

It’s in chronological order rather than “worst to best”. Comments are welcome, hold tight for part two shortly!

VC – By His Deeds (Dig Dis 2001)

As I said at the time:

“Sitting in your church on Sunday, thinkin’ who you gonna screw Monday…” – the roots smash of the summer. Like “Gunz in the Ghetto” last year, this combines a great song with social comment. Some nice clarinet (sax?) and backing vocals, with lyrics that tear into hypocrites everywhere, including reggae “warrior” stars (mentioning no names, tho…). The flip brings the clarinet and backing vocals to the fore. Part Two is already out on the same riddim.

UK-born VC never really recaptured the brilliance of his debut 45, but this certainly pricked up the ears of listeners, selectors and producers. For me the 21st Century roots reggae renaissance began here properly. (I never got hold of the part 2 cut either!)

Ward 21 – Ganja Smoke (John John 2001)

Ward 21 and TOK always stood out on the flood of one-riddim albums of the early 00’s. Being groups of vocalists ensured enough variation in their cuts to hold your attention. Ward 21 were especially noticeable because of their incredible booming bass-vocalist. This is a great recut of the ancient rocksteady Shank I Sheck riddim.

I first heard it played out by Mannaseh down at Plastic People and have shamelessly included in most of my own DJ sets since. It’s catchy as hell.

Lenky – Diwali riddim (40/40 + Greensleeves 2002)

The glut of one-riddim double albums from Greensleeves and VP seems like an age ago now, but for a while it was the most cost effective way of getting current dancehall – you just had to wait a month (or a few weeks!) after the 7″ pre came out and there was 20 cuts for a tenner. Diwali was the king of riddims for an age, the original cuts included Wayne Marshall’s “No Letting Go” and Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” which both hit the national top 40 in 2003. Lumidee also got on board the Diwali pop-train with “Never Leave You (Uh-Ooh)”. So a lot of people heard it, probably without knowing what it was.

For me, I’ll always have fond memories of just playing the two Greensleeves 12″ back to back, mixing up Bounty Killer’s “Sufferer”, TOK’s “Galang Gal”, Elephant Man’s Nena-homage “Elephant Message”, Tanya Stephens’ “Can’t Touch Me No More” and maybe finishing up with Crissy D’s “Make It Real Good”. Diwali was great for vocal performances but also because Lenky laid down the tracks a little way different in many cases, so Bounty was pretty hard whilst Crissy D was all spacey, but it was the same vibe.

Tanya Stephens – It’s a Pity (Germaican records 2002)

Another thing about those one-riddim albums is that female vocal performances also really stood out. I’d liked Tanya since hearing her “Bounce Me” back in 1998 but her and Lady Saw really came into their own when up against 19 gruff blokes chatting nonsense about chi-chi men.

Her “Gangsta Blues” album still retained some of that hardcore ragga stuff but also veered worryingly into coffee-table collaborations with people like Wyclef Jean. Despite that, a nice album which saw proper rotation round here throughout the decade. Unfortunately the follow up “Rebelution” jumped the shark for me, though lots of people I respect seem to like it. Tanya seems to have her head screwed on and fair play to her if she can survive as a crossover artist.

Anyway – “It’s A Pity” is a cut of the “Doctor’s Darling” riddim which was put together by the Germaican crew – heralding the ascent of Europe as a centre of rootical bizness in the noughties. Nice and bouncy, plus lyrics about female yearning that are all the more human for eschewing obvious slackness.

Warrior King – Education (Penthouse 2002)

This was a cornerstone of the mix which I am probably still best known for – Shake The Foundations vol 2. Which is a bit odd, because it is only the second one I ever did, and was circulated on CDRs, before the advent of broadband. Actually, perhaps the scarcity of reggae mixes at the time is something to do with it (at least I hope so!)

Now, around this time I had two reggae gurus. One of them was Rodigan via his Kiss FM show on Sunday nights. I still have a bunch of C90s and then CDRs of Roddy around this flat somewhere which I intend to replay… sometime. The other guru was Gladdy Wax, whose shop Wax Unlimited was located about 2 minutes from my flat. Sometimes I’d offer to go out and buy milk on a hungover Saturday morning and swerve into Gladdy’s to see what was new, then sneak sheepishly back into the flat and try to secrete my purchases somewhere. Other times I’d spend an hour or so down there, a pile of sevens slowly building up in front of me.

I’m not sure which of my gurus first played me this but I knew it was for me, as was the Gregory Isaacs and Buju Banton cut – both on a proper punchy relick of the old “Storm” riddim. Warrior King’s first album includes this and other hits like his “Virtuous Woman” and is well worth checking.

Anthony B – God Above Everything (Brickwall 2002)

Another crucial cut from the Shake The Foundations vol 2 mix – one of five cuts of the riddim on there. I think my eyes must have popped out of my head when Gladdy (or his younger assistant, whose name I forget) kept playing the numerous versions of this and they were all great. Brickwall is a subsidiary of Bobby Dixon’s Digital B records and this do-over of the rocksteady “It’s Raining” riddim (originally by the Two Tops) convinced many that heard it that reggae was still doing the business in the 21st Century. A breath of fresh air hearing people chanting down bling and guns over a proper bassline for a change.

Fine memories of either the Tighten Up Crew or Solution Sound (yeah my memory isn’t that good!) playing nuff cuts of this in Clissold Park one time as part of the summer Stoke Fest.

Bitty McLean- Walk Away (Peckings 2004)

Sitting in the garden of the Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington one summer Saturday afternoon. The daughter is crawling about and taking delight in nicking a lemon out of her Mum’s drink, then grimacing and smiling as she tries to eat it in front of a crowd of her devoted parents and assorted Hackney community activists. It’s the pub’s “ska bar” session and some guy is laying down some nice sevens. One crystal clear instrumental with a beautiful sax floats over the picnic benches. I break cover and ask him what it is: “Oh that one’s new mate, it’s called ‘Walk Away’”.

And that was only the version.

I remembered Bitty from his 90s pop hit “It Keeps Rainin’” and that UB40 had “discovered” him. Perhaps not a great start, but few things could have prepared us for this – a great new vocal on top of an old Treasure Isle riddim courtesy of the Peckings record shop in Shepherd’s Bush (which is best known for its association with Treasure Isle rivals Studio One, in fact!). The album “On Bond Street” followed and Bitty hasn’t let us down since – I also rate his cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Lately”, and in fact pretty much everything he has done.

South Rakkas Crew ‘Red Alert’ (2004) or ‘Bionic Ras’ (2005) riddims

Outernational business out of Orlando. South Rakka’s “Clappas” riddim had provided some fun in 2003 – Alozade and Hollow Point’s “Under My Sensi” getting serious play and an eventual dubstep remix (which sucked all the life out of it). But Red Alert and Bionic Ras were proper next level stuff – an incredibly potent combination of acid techno and ragga which appealed to all sorts. If Rhythm and Sound’s Burial Mix tunes had the introspective epic dub thing down, then this lot captured the batty wiggling ragga throwdown most effectively and gave it a twist for the new millennium.

Fine memories of Bionic Ras getting played by The Bug at BASH with various effects and premier league MCs over the top of it. Standing on the dancefloor at Plastic People, pretty boxed, surrounded by mates, full force soundsystem – I actually started welling up because it was so good.

Natty King – Guns To Town (2 Miles 2004)

(best video I could find, apologies)

Great tune, great sentiment, great bassline, but severely overshadowed by…

Turbulence – Notorious (THC Muzik 2005)

As I said at the time:

Wow. Belated, as ever, due to not being able to find it in the shops.

Turbulence often gets dismissed as a Sizzla wannabe, but this tune brings him forward as a serious contender. Huge growling riddim with a nice driving synth bass which almost reminds me of the more manicly-depressive synth pop of my youth. Lyrics also do the business – you think he is talking about how he could have been a contender, but then you realise he’s saying that he threw away a life of petty-gangsterism when he found rastafari.

B-side is by someone called Initial T on the same riddim and really reminds me of some 80s pop tune in terms of the vocal melody. It is driving me a bit mad, in fact, trying to suss out what it is.

If South Rakkas had balls-out dancefloor action sorted, this tune hinted at a far more subtle combination of roots reggae and technology. Unfortunately few attempted to follow it up, but this was another huge crossover tune in its time.

Incredibly Paul Meme didn’t like this much the first time I played it to him, during one of our many many many vinyl sessions when he stayed over at mine. He soon came ’round though and insisted that we included it on our On The Wire (for Steve Barker’s BBC Lancashire show) and Grime In The Dancehall (for Droid’s Blogariddims series) mixes. I’m usually quite purist about not using the same tunes again in mixes, but I relented in this case.

And yes Trim, did his own awesome version on Soulfood volume 1.

I have completely overhauled my subsite about the film Babylon. It’s something I’ve been doing in the odd spare minute here and there for a while and it’s now nearly there.

There has been a bit of a rush of recent material what with the new DVD release, so it seems that now is the time to launch it rather than when I’m 100% happy with it (i.e. never).

Any comments on the new site would be welcome! Lots of new stuff to check out…

http://www.uncarved.org/babylon

(or: Smash the National Front – part two)

A little bit of audio for you after all that book-reviewage last week:

 

 Chant Down The National Front [15:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here is a short mix of reggae tunes concerned with the National Front. There is a track by track breakdown below, but what I found surprising was how few tunes there were given the NF’s popularity in the seventies when conscious reggae was coming into its own. Indeed one of the defining factors in the explicitly anti-NF Rock Against Racism movement was UK reggae bands sharing stages with punks.

Above is a photo of members of Steel Pulse and The Clash standing outside NF head honcho (and closet homosexual) Martin Webster’s house, for example. (Obviously I wouldn’t bother to mention his sexuality were it not for the fact that he was a key player in a movement which sought the extermination of homosexuals.)

Steel Pulse’s most famous anti-racist tune is “Ku Klux Klan”, released in 1978 on Island. I’ve always been slightly curious about this, as obviously the KKK have had virtually no presence in the UK. A bit of digging around turned up this 1978 NME article on the rather excellent unofficial Steel Pulse site.

Seems that many black West Indian families who settled in Britain during the early ’50s and strived peacefully to integrate themselves into their new surroundings, haven’t – in the present imflammable atmosphere of racial disharmony – taken too kindly towards Steel Pulse making waves by performing songs with titles like Ku Klux Klan and National Front.

So the group actually had a tune named after the NF, but didn’t release it? Reading on, the possible reasons for this become clear:

And, according to Steel Pulse’s main man David Hinds, himself a first generation British born black from Handsworth, they haven’t been reluctant to voice their disapproval. “They feel,” says Hinds, “That we’re being too heavy, too outspoken.” Apparently, after seeing Steel Pulse in a recent Sight & Sound programme attired in Klansmen’s hoods chanting Ku Klux Klan, friends of their families warned them of openly inviting trouble. “They want to avoid any trouble with the white community…want to keep the peace and don’t think Natty Dread helps keep the peace. See, the truth only stirs up trouble!”

If, in Hinds’ opinion, speaking the truth causes a degree of trouble, so be it. Even if it means that despite its chart entry, Ku Klux Klan was, with few exceptions, ignored by practically every radio station in this green and pleasant land. “The radio stations don’t ban records any longer because they realise it only helps to sell them and when such a record makes the charts, they’re embarrassed because they’re not playing it.”

But the National Front do get a mention in “Jah Pickney” on their 1979 Tribute To The Martyrs album:

Rock against Racism, smash it
Rock against Fascism, smash it
Rock against Nazism, me say smash it
I’ve come to the conclusion that
We’re gonna hunt yeh yeh yeh
The National Front – Yes we are,
We’re gonna hunt, yeh yeh yeh
The National Front
Cause they believe in apartheid
For that we gonna whop their hides
For all my people they cheated and lied
I won’t rest till I’m satisfied

Unfortunately I only found that out after I’d done the mix! Steel Pulse are still a bit of a shameful blindspot in my knowledge of UK reggae.

The scene in the film Babylon where Ital Lion’s HQ is turned over and vandalised with fascist grafitti is rumoured to be based on a real incident which happened to Aswad.

However the Rock Against Racism band which came off worst for wear is almost certainly Misty In Roots. Misty grew up together in Southall, West London. They worked collectively, opening a squatted community centre called “People Unite” as a place for people to gather, rehearse, get free food. People Unite was also the name of their record label.

Southall is inextricably linked with the history of the far right in the UK. In the 60s some of the then predominantly white population were so shocked by the influx of asian immigrants that the residents’ association ended up supporting British National Party (NB, this BNP predated the NF and was eventually absorbed into it) candidates in the 1963 local elections, where they polled a respectable 27.5% and 13.5%.

Tensions remained high, it seems. Then in July 1976, 17 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar was murdered in a racist attack in Southall. His attackers were 3 white men who were apparently inspired by the National Front (although I have not been able to pin this down with a reference). Southall youth took to the streets.

Sir Robert Mark, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner commented “The motive was not necessarily racial.”

The response from NF chairman John Kingsley Reid was “that’s one down, one million to go”. When Reid was tried for inciting racial hatred for this unbelievable outburst, the Judge lined up behind him: “In this England of ours, we are allowed to have our own view still, thank goodness, and long may it last…I wish you well in your project”.

So when the NF called an election meeting at Southall Town Hall on St George’s Day 1979 most people were clear that this was nothing less than a provocation.

The People Unite community centre was used as a base for the protests and the police decided to close it down: “The building was so badly damaged by the police action that afterwards, it had to be destroyed. Officers with batons smashed medical equipment, a sound system, printing and other items.”

And people. Many of Misty in Roots were present. Clarence Baker, Misty’s manager, was beaten into a coma by the cops. Two members of the group were arrested and jailed on trumped up charges. Perhaps they got off lightly – Blair Peach, another anti-fascist protester, was killed later in the day after a blow to the head from a member of the Special Patrol Group.

The day and aftermath is chronicled in more depth here.

There are some comments from Misty’s singer Poko here, but I particularly want to highlight this:

For the people of Southall it was something that could never be forgotten. We had all been involved in an uprising, the police had bloodied us, and they were still there terrorising us long after the protest had finished.

But among the fear there was also a sense of unity. The whole thing raised the consciousness of the young Asians in particular. And there is still a connection to 1979 to this day.

Across Southall there are Asian-run reggae sound systems – a tradition that started not long after the uprising. A lot of Asian kids began to relate to the spirit of resistance that you find in reggae.

It is easy to forget, when reading the above, that fighting the NF wasn’t always big demonstrations like Lewisham 77, or concerts, or marches. It was a two way street with Enoch’s “rivers of blood” in the gutters.

NF supporters were suspected of firebomb attacks on music venues like the Four Aces in Dalston, and Acklam Hall in Ladbroke Grove. Not to mention the petty intimidation and outright racist violence that was part of the everyday landscape in the 1970s.

The “cultural war” of Rock Against Racism has to be seen alongside the groundwork of community organisations, politicos, “squadists”, and even everyday people who just had a chat with their mates when they were spouting bollocks. Compared to all this it seems a bit pathetic to be rummaging through some dusty vinyl once again, but that is what started me off on this whole post which has now spiraled slightly out of control. So here goes:

Chant Down The National Front: tune by tune

The Phantom - Lazy Fascist (Cool Ghoul 7″ 1978)

This is quite a mysterious record, produced by persons unknown.

There are a number of quite suspicious aspects to the track- the vocalist’s accent is faux American rather than (faux) Jamaican, “Cool Ghoul” could be a “ghost face”-esque reference to whiteness? At least one record dealer has speculated about it being a secret project of Tom Robinson, but that may just be to shift records, so I am sceptical. More importantly the lyrical content focusses more on the economic aspects of colonialism: “you call us when you need our labour…” than the more usual slavery and displacement.

The “chase those fascists out” chant is straight off a lefty demo and the line “If this song offends you – you’re a fascist too… fascist!” IS Vivien off the Young Ones.

The less said about the racial stereotyping of “You pad your pants to try and look like a man / And we’ve been pumping iron gonna move like lion” the better – except to point out that the “lion” is the track’s the only nod towards rasta imagery.

One of the people involved was interviewed in Black Music magazine and quoted in Dick Hebdige’s Cut and Mix book:“[The National Front] love to hear the Rastas talking about repatriation ‘cos it makes their jobs a lot easier”

I find this interesting when contrasted with the ambiguous comments made by Jah Shaka on the subject which lead to an extended discussion on the Blood and Fire board.

Blazing Sons – Chant Down The National Front (DiKi 12″ n.d.)

This also originally came as a Cool Ghoul 7″, but was re-released on a Belgian label as a 12″. A marked improvement both lyrically and musically, with some nice steppers business on the version.

Sufferer Sound – National Front (Tempus 12″ 1978)

I can’t put it any better than Bill Dew in his article Dub – The Vinyl Frontier:

A delightfully, distinctively British cut from a label most commonly associated with Dennis Bovell. Indeed, I would hazard a guess that Blackbeard had a hand in this production, a very loose rendering of ‘Norwegian Wood’ positively brimming over with idiosyncratic flourishes. The dub spotlight glances off the melody, extending and accentuating certain key notes by accident and design before imploding, ‘transformer’ style, in an ecstatic liquid rush of stellar phase effects. Can nobody mix dub like this anymore?

Bovell has always been pretty outspoken about the effect that Enoch Powell’s speeches had on black people living in the UK. His band Matumbi played the first ever Rock Against Racism gig at the Royal College of Art in December 1976.

But this is an instrumental…

Linton Kwesi Johnson – Fite Dem Back (From “Reggae Greats” compilation, Island, but originally released on “Forces of Victory”, 1979)

Admirable militancy from the man like LKJ. I could also have included “Reggae Fi Peach” (in tribute to Blair Peach, see above). But this is more fitting for the mix, really. Dennis Bovell produced the track, of course.

“Fight Dem Back” is also the name of an Antipodean anti-racist organisation. I know this because the nice man who runs the Slack Bastard anti-fascist blog steadfastly links to my piece on Nicky Crane every time he comes up in conversation.

Al Campbell – National Front (Soul Vybz 7″ 2006)

Proof positive that the fight against fascism is always with us. I believe this is a French reworking of a tune off Al’s 1985 “Forward Natty” album (but I haven’t heard that – can you help?). So it’s now directed straight at the head of Le Pen and the French NF. I really like this because it avoids preachiness by including great lyrics about how Al is going to:

“Hit them with the bassline
Smash up them waistline
Hit them with the riddim
Stop them ism and schism”

74 minute special! Lyrical onslaught! Shocking out!

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Details of how to subscribe to Blogariddims

Direct link to the mp3

00:00 Introduction
00:26 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
01:02 Turbulence acapella
02:06 Turbulence – Notorious (THC Muzik 7”) 2005
02:40 Trim & Radioclit – Turbulence remix (from Soulfood vol 1) 2007
06:45 Richie Spice – Marijuana (from Spice In Your Life 2004)
08:25 Jammer – Burning (from Are You Dumb vol 2) 2007
10:45 Bob Marley and the Wailers – So Much Trouble in the World (from Survival, 1979)
14:05 Mercston – Trouble (from Da End of Da Beginning) 2006
16:31 Skepta – Blood, Sweat and Tears (from Greatest Hits) 2007
19:32 All In One – Flows (from Bless Beats – A Hard Days Graft) 2008
21:14 Frisco – Skeng Man Mode (from Peng Food) 2008
23:24 Slix – Maniac (from Down vol 1) 2006
26:12 Neckle Camp feat Jammer, Rinse FM
27:39 Baby Cham & Mister Easy – Funny Man (Mad House 7”) 1996
28:53 Lady Saw – Sycamore Tree (Mad House 7”) 1996
30:01 Frisco Kid – Rubbers (Mad House 7”) 1996
31:05 Buju Banton – How It Ago Go (Mad House 7”) 1996
32:08 Tanya Stephens – Yuh Nuh Ready Fi Dis Yet (Mad House 7”) 1996
33:37 Slew Dem – Joyride Vocal (Slewdem Productions 12”) 2005
35:13 Dutty Doogz – Pum Pum Stealer (Night Flight 12”) 2003
36:35 Harry Toddler – Good Good (Night Flight 12”) 2003
36:49 Flow Dan – Galist (Night Flight 12”) 2003
37:16 Jamaka Bi – Zoom 4 Pum (Night Flight 12”) 2003
39:15 Kano and Vybz Kartel – Buss It Up (679 7”) 2006
43:16 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
44:01 Yami Bolo – Top Shotta (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
45:48 Junior Reid – Rise Up (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
46:32 Half Pint – Bounce (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
47:37 Lukie D – One In Ten (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
49:12 Rossi B and Luka – Nobody Knows (from The Legacy EP, Heavy Artillery 12”) 2007
51:29 Ini Kamoze – World a Reggae Music (from Sly and Robbie’s Taxi Sound, Auralux LP) 1984
53:03 Rossi B and Luka – Run 4 Cover instrumental (12” white label) 2005
53:48 Rossi B and Luka feat. Nasty Crew – Run 4 Cover (12” white label) 2005
56:45 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
57:13 Breeze – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
59:16 Tinchy Stryder – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
60:36 Kano – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
63:56 Riko – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
65:58 Sizzla – Give Me A Try (from Rise to the Occasion) 2003
67:18 Jammer – Give Me a Try (from Are You Dumb vol 2) 2006
71:04 Sizzla Vs Rhianna – Give Me A Try (remix) 2007

It’s war on the streets! Young people, out of their minds on hi-grade skunk and turkey twizzlers run amok on the buses, traveling free courtesy of insane communist overlord Ken Livingstone! No alley is safe, no tower block lobby can evade the evil mob of grunting hooded young thugs happy-slapping decency into the gutter of Brown’s Britain!

At the root of this epidemic of anarchy is the unholy trinity of the Playstation, liberal do-gooders and menacing Grime Music. Yes, that’s right, Grime Music, which is made entirely on Playstations by CONVICTED CRIMINALS beaming their amoral message into YOUR CHILDREN’S SKULLS. Grime Music cannot be heard by adults, the SINISTER SOCIOPATHS behind it have ensured that its atonal rhythms can only be picked up by the tender ears of stoned kids.

And as for the words…

I got into Grime via Dancehall and Reggae but I was never sure if the lines I was drawing between the two were actually there. Certainly it’s easy to see the similarities – MCing over mad riddims about what is happening on the streets, pirate radio, lyrical beefs, aggro, girls. Bass.

That made me happy, but I felt like an old fart saying it – “ooh it were a bit like this in my day! We used to love having a dance around the gramophone at the weekend to a bit of reggae”. Plus it seemed like a lot of grime fans and producers saw jungle as ancient history – further back than that things got blurry – prehistoric stuff best left to archaeologists.

Turns out I was worrying unduly, I just had to listen a bit more instead of making things up in my head. When I reviewed “An England Story” in The Wire I mentioned that Grime was the point at which cockney, yardie and a heap of other influences converged to form a new dialect which was pure London 21st Century. Those other influences include a tonne of African language and culture, but Jamaica is always there in the background – bashment patois being a fearsome weapon in the armories of Riko, Flowdan and Killa P to name but three.

And the ancestry isn’t just cultural – it’s genetic in some instances. Grime don Jammer has talked about his dad being involved with soundsystems and counts Benjamin Zephaniah as a family friend. Trim’s mentioned his father being a reggae artist. When rising star Skepta was interviewed for Woofah he went out of his way to talk about how great Ninjaman’s flow is. Through my nerdy glasses it looks like JA music has had just as much, if not more influence on Grime than hip hop has.

Grime Mixtapes are a weird artifact – 20 track CDs of often variable quality. It’s been argued they came to prominence when the raves started getting shut down and there was nowhere to go to jump around to riddims juggled on 12″ vinyl anymore. The two best things about mixtapes is their price (6 quid for an hour of music), and the space they give MCs to experiment with different styles, moods. They are an arena which allow the various influences on Grime to emerge, which allows opportunists like me to join up the dots.

Gathering together all the reggae influenced grime I could find and jiggling it about has been great fun, but as usual I owe everything to Paul’s technical skills in making it coherent. The original idea behind this mix was to create a gateway drug for reggae and dancehall fans – to seduce them into Grime. Right now I’m just happy to play the thing over and over again to myself and smile.

There is a lot we left out, and there is a fair bit which has come out since we finished as well. Not all Grime is as reggaefied as this by any means, so see this mix as a little glimpse at how things work in our heads – our personal selection.

Paul’s comments on the tracks and the blends and mixes are now up over at his place.

Track by Track

00:00 Introduction
00:26 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM

I dunno where to start with Jammer, except to say we had to start with Jammer!

01:02 Turbulence acapella
02:06 Turbulence – Notorious (THC Muzik 7”) 2005
02:40 Trim & Radioclit – Turbulence remix (from Soulfood vol 1) 2007

Turbulence is from JA, Trim is out of East London and grime super-crew Roll Deep, and Radioclit are French.

I first heard Turbulence on a few Xterminator 7″ around 2000 time, but Notorious was a bolt out of the blue when it was released. It featured at the climax of the mix me and Paul did for BBC Radio Lancashire’s legendary On The Wire Show. I first heard Trim’s take on it on the way to work. Standing on the platform at Liverpool Street, mouth open, other commuters barging past me. Trim is lyrically out there even by Lee Perry’s standards – seriously deep, meandering stream of consciousness stuff which gets better the more you let yourself into his world. Investigate.

06:45 Richie Spice – Marijuana (from Spice In Your Life 2004)
08:25 Jammer – Burning (from Are You Dumb vol 2) 2007

Richie Spice gets refixed by a dubstep producer who shall remain nameless, Jammer leaps on board – inserting his flow in the gaps. Which is exactly how U Roy intensified the whole deejay thing in Jamaica – busting his rhymes in the spaces on old Treasure Isle rocksteady tunes to nice up the dance.

10:45 Bob Marley and the Wailers – So Much Trouble in the World (from Survival, 1979)
14:05 Mercston – Trouble (from Da End of Da Beginning) 2006

Tip of the hat to Paul for all his little touches here. And a doff of the cap to Mercston. What I like about this is Mercston’s denial of politics at the end of such a great conscious tirade. Grime isn’t usually the arena for people to bang on about international affairs or the Iraq war, but like a lot of great music its strength is its ability to articulate the concerns of working class urban yoot, which is probably more relevant in any case.

16:31 Skepta – Blood, Sweat and Tears (from Greatest Hits) 2007

Continuing the conscious theme, Skepta comes correct with some nice reggae references and good anti-gun sentiments. There’s a bit of schizophrenia in a lot of grime artists’ repertoires, which is another thing in common with dancehall. Skepta is probably best known for his “god forgive me if I bust my nine / If you diss my Mum then you’ve crossed the line” bars but here is coming on all responsible. This isn’t anarchopunk so I don’t think anyone expects the artists to have a rigid ideological framework for their lyrics and there is a playfulness to the MCs’ personae that I think outsiders can often miss.

19:32 All In One – Flows (from Bless Beats – A Hard Days Graft) 2008
21:14 Frisco – Skeng Man Mode (from Peng Food) 2008

Some more great mixing from Paul here – can you spot the transition between the tunes? Wicked riddim from Bless Beats who is out of Wiley’s Eskibeat camp – the minimalism here is so effective you don’t want it to end and it’s yet another grime riddim you want to come out on a 12″ doublepack so you can mix it up all night long. Anyway Frisco’s kindly warning everyone here that he is likely to go a bit mental on occasion, so people better watch out. One of the more awkward incidents in grime radio was the recent on air meet up between Frisco and some guy who had been openly sharing his whole mixtape online.

23:24 Slix – Maniac (from Down vol 1) 2006

Impossible to argue with this – stupendous riddim from Maniac, the teenage producer interviewed in Woofah issue 1, with vocals from Slix out of premier league crew Ruff Sqwad. As I’ve said before – the skank on this is ridiculously compelling and should knock any scepiticism from reggae fans who have listened this far into a cocked hat.

26:12 Neckle Camp feat Jammer, Rinse FM
27:39 Baby Cham & Mister Easy – Funny Man (Mad House 7”) 1996
28:53 Lady Saw – Sycamore Tree (Mad House 7”) 1996
30:01 Frisco Kid – Rubbers (Mad House 7”) 1996
31:05 Buju Banton – How It Ago Go (Mad House 7”) 1996
32:08 Tanya Stephens – Yuh Nuh Ready Fi Dis Yet (Mad House 7”) 1996
33:37 Slew Dem – Joyride Vocal (Slewdem Productions 12”) 2005

Getting a more bashy than reggae here with the exhumation of one of Dave Kelly’s classic riddims – in fact forget that – one of the classic 90s riddims full stop. Paul manages to include some records I feel guilty about owning, submerging Baby Cham and Mr Easy’s less than enlightened lyrics under Lady Saw’s dextrous verbal assault. Tanya also puts her hand over Buju’s potty mouth and basically gives all the boastful geezers a well deserved tongue lashing. You go, girl!

Slew Dem purloin the riddim for an epic pass the mic session of adrenalised geezers staking their claims.

35:13 Dutty Doogz – Pum Pum Stealer (Night Flight 12”) 2003
36:35 Harry Toddler – Good Good (Night Flight 12”) 2003
36:49 Flow Dan – Galist (Night Flight 12”) 2003
37:16 Jamaka Bi – Zoom 4 Pum (Night Flight 12”) 2003

When Woebot used to write about grime, this is the sort of thing he used to cover. There are clear lines between this and contemporary dancehall, not least because of the format – several sides of vinyl all featuring different MCs on the same riddim. Also Harry Toddler is an actual JA deejay who came up the rankings with Elephant Man when they started out in Scare Dem Crew in the late 90s.

One of the weirdest thing about the actual records is the labels, which are pretty gynaecological photos of… well, some lady’s pum pum innit. I can see the consistency and honesty in that, but it’s not something to leave on the decks really. What confuses me is why someone has gone to the trouble of sticking little gold stars onto some of them as if to prevent offending minors and the innocent. Or is it like a gold star to say “well done”?

Dutty Doogz, is now Durrty Goodz – cover star of Woofah issue 2. Flowdan is a Roll Deep stalwart who has also done major damage with The Bug.

This section actually features me doing a bit of proper vinyl juggling for a change – sometimes these things just work out ok…

39:15 Kano and Vybz Kartel – Buss It Up (679 7”) 2006

I think this ranks as the first actual vinyl collaboration between a grime MC and a JA bashment one and it’s pretty damn good into the bargain. Kano has had a disastrous foray into mainstream label middleground output which pleases nobody. “Buss It Up” is much more like it.

43:16 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
44:01 Yami Bolo – Top Shotta (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
45:48 Junior Reid – Rise Up (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
46:32 Half Pint – Bounce (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
47:37 Lukie D – One In Ten (Black Diamonds 7”) 2002
49:12 Rossi B and Luca – Nobody Knows (from The Legacy EP, Heavy Artillery 12”) 2007

It amuses me that some people try to establish their reggae credentials by slagging off UB40 or Shaggy or Sean Paul, all of whom have made some brilliant records in their time and are held in high esteem by the reggae industry and fans in Jamaica.

One example of this is veteran producer Fat Eyes grabbing the riddim for “One In Ten” a few years back and getting a selection of foundation singers to voice it. Yami Bolo kicks things off with a message to all the badmen, whilst Junior Reid exhorts us all to stand up for truth and rights. Half Pint brings us back down to earth with an enthusiastic invitation to get down in the dancehall, and then Lukie D polishes off the selection with his take on Birmingham’s finest conscious anthem.

Which leads us nicely to Rossi B and Luka’s take on the tune. Nobody seems to have a bad word to say about these two – and the way manage to straddle both dubstep and grime is maybe a signal that garage various offspring are now ready to regroup. There are so many dodgy producers who grab a bit of reggae in the vain hope that a bit of “yard cred” will redeem their rubbish tunes that you forget sometime that some people actually know what they are doing. I guess that’s what this mix is about and we make no apologies for include two Rossi B and Luca productions here – they are dons at this and you should check out their releases every time you see them. Also check the myspace for mixes aplenty.

51:29 Ini Kamoze – World a Reggae Music (from Sly and Robbie’s Taxi Sound, Auralux LP) 1984
53:03 Rossi B and Luca – Run 4 Cover instrumental (12” white label) 2005
53:48 Rossi B and Luca feat. Nasty Crew – Run 4 Cover (12” white label) 2005

Damien Marley’s “Welcome to Jamrock” was a very welcome salvo of commercial one drop in 2005. I only hope Ini K got some decent dunza from being used as source material. So here is the original, an astounding bit of Sly and Robbie business from immediately before the whole world went digital.

Rossi B and Luca’s take is pretty brutal, not least because of the addition of Nasty Crew. NASTY apparently stands for Natural Artistic Sounds Touching You and I’ll leave you to be the judge of whether or not the excellently named Nasty Jack, Kassimo, Stormin and Teddy Brukshot live up to the acronym. The sheer energy here is stunning. I’m still kicking myself for walking out of Shoosh early and missing a set from Nasty Crew founder Marcus Nasty…

56:45 Neckle Camp feat. Jammer, Rinse FM
57:13 Breeze – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
59:16 Tinchy Stryder – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
60:36 Kano – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003
63:56 Riko – Ice Rink (Wiley Kat 12”) 2003

Woo yeah! Back in da day Wiley was running tings with whacked out minimal riddims and everyone was begging for rewinds at his Eski dances and all that. Except me, obviously, I was listening to reggae and studiously ignoring it all on the grounds that I couldn’t afford a new vinyl addiction.

Paul really excells himself here. Even if you’ve played your copies of Ice Rink to death I think his mashup of 4 takes on the riddim are well worth a listen. Breeze is an original back-in-the-day Pay As U Go Cartel – the crew who kinda mutated into the juggernaut known as Roll Deep. I don’t know much about him tho. Ruff Sqwad member Tinchy Stryder must have been still at school when his cut was done? His voice has come on some in the last 5 years – the Cloud 9 mixtape is his latest release and is good. As I said above Riko has an incredible yardie flow going on his intense hatred of informers is legendary. This tune also makes an appearance on the “An England Story” comp which no doubt you have all picked up by now, but here we have Paul chopping away on the crossfader like a man possessed. There are another 4 vocals on Ice Rink but I’ve not been able to get hold of them for anything resembling a sensible price.

65:58 Sizzla – Give Me A Try (from Rise to the Occasion) 2003
67:18 Jammer – Give Me a Try (from Are You Dumb vol 2) 2006
71:04 Sizzla Vs Rhianna – Give Me A Try (remix) 2007

And so we finish things off with some nice garridge flava. Jammer pushes all our buttons once again, nice-ing up the place with Rihanna and Sizzla providing back up.

riddim / original label / producer

Broke Bottle / Q45 / Desmond & Rupert Blake
1. Egg Nog – Getaway Driver
2. Beenie Man – Always Be My Baby
3. Harry Toddler – Get Gal Easy
4. Version

Baddis Ting / Hi-Profile / Richard Browne
5. General Degree – Miss Gotti
6. Chico – Grudgeful
7. Mr Vegas – Jacket
8. Version

Black Widow / Shines / Shane Richards
9. Buccaneer – Sha La La La
10. Daddy Screw – Baby Bounti
11. Cobra – No One Style
12. Beenie Man – Gwaan So
13. Goofy – Anything Can Happen

Powerplay / How Yu Fi Sey Dat? / Redrose & Malvo
14. Beenie Man – Nah Bow
15. Delly Ranks – No Talent
16. Ghost – What Have You Done
17. General B – Ziggy Ziggy
18. Version

Bagpipe / Steelie & Clevie / Steelie & Clevie
19. Nitty Kutchie – Happy Go Lucky Girl
20. Zebra – You See Me
21. Squidley Ranks – Tek It Off
22. Beenie Man – Year 4 (Sticky Remix)

Medina / 2 Hard / Jeremy Harding
23. Monster Shack Crew – Wanna Make Noise
24. Tanya Stephens – Bounce Me
25. Red Rat – Yu Nice
26. Sean Paul – Strategy

Filthy/Filthier / Main Street / Danny Brownie & D. Juvenile
27. Beenie Man – Let Him Go
28. General Degree – Traffic Blocking
29. Mr Vegas – Heads High

Fade Away / Opera House / Andrew Bradford
30. Buccanner – Fade Away

Now Thing / How Yu Fi Sey Dat? / Redrose
31. Mad Cobra – Nuh Watch De Pum
32. Lady Saw – Sloppy In A Bed
33. Redrose – Red Red Red
34. Sean Paul – Report To We
35. Tony Curtis & Future Troubles – Can’t Smoke The Weed In Peace
36. Version

Playground / 2 Hard / Jeremy Harding
37. General B – Scream
38. Mad Cobra – Pet and Pamper
39. Dutty Cup Crew – Stick Up
40. Beenie Man – Who Am I
41. Sean Paul – Infiltrate

Earthquake / Big Yard / Robert Livingston & Sting Pizzonia
42. Merciless – Sharp Shooter
43. Rayvon – All Day All Night
44. Version

Sexy Gal / Big Yard / Sting International
45. Merciless – One of Them

How to get it

http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/Blogariddims.xml

is the link. Here is an idiot’s guide of what to do with it

You can also download the mp3 direct from http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogariddims/ or via itunes music store.

You really should subscribe – just take a look at the rest of the mixes at that feedburner link. You want them downloaded directly to your player every fortnight, yeah? Exactly.

Suckers To The Side, I Know You Rate My 98!

Following on from Naptha’s thunderous 1993 selection, I am contributing a hot 1998 bashment mix to the blogariddims series.

Nine years ago I was going out every weekend and a lot of this stuff gradually seeped into my consciousness over time. A band called Chin had a residency at Disgraceland on Essex Road in Islington – they were outstandingly good, a true combination of hip hop and a little bit of punk. After their set, Danny (their DJ) would play a load of brilliant records including some Aphrodite jump up and this tune that went round and round in my head… something about “zim zimma”…

Buying some Scientist and Lee Perry records in the Rough Trade shop, I heard this crisp bassy tune coming out of the speakers and was entranced by its quirky percussion and vocals. I asked the bloke behind the counter what it was and he held up a copy of the latest Ragga Ragga Ragga compilation LP. Another addition to my Lee Perry collection could wait until next payday…

The climax of these encounters was a house party off Green Lanes in Haringey. I’d been told to bring some records along but it became clear that the usual highly competitive young dj politics were in play and there was no chance of me getting a go on the decks. Two italian crusties had decided that as there was two of them they could play their godawful acid trance for a 2 hour set. But there was this one guy…

He had the biggest box of seven inch white labels you have ever seen, many of them tied together with elastic bands. He didn’t do anything fancy with them, just whacked them on the turntable and whizzed over the crossfader. Tune after tune came out of the speakers – bass, vocals, eccentric percussion. Someone asked him what the a particular track was and I was able to lip read him saying “I dunno – look, they’re all white labels!”.

Maybe it’s me, but 98 seems like a much more innocent time in retrospect. Certainly none of the tunes I’ve heard feature people trying to outdo each other in murderous homophobia. It was also a year when what was happening in JA was exactly what was needed to fill an aching gap in the UK pop charts. (This happened most recently a few years back with the slew of Sean Paul and Diwali tunes).

So here is my tribute to that year. I’d love to be all cool and say that I bought all these on the day they came out, but the truth of the matter is my buying patterns have been somewhat erratic. Quite of bit of “back filling” has been required to get this tracklist together, which has involved me at my most nerdy. After taking the piss out of trainspotters with their spreadsheets and matrix numbers, I found myself getting deep into excel after realising that greensleeves alone released over a hundred seven inches in 98, most with exactly the same stock labels.

The 2nd hand tunes cost me anything between 20p and 4 pounds, but there were very very few absolute stinkers. Indeed, my hardest job was cutting the mix down to an hour – so there may be a part two at some point, possibly extending into 1999. But that is another story…

Greensleeves phased out their seven inches a few years later in favour of the now ubiquitous “Rhythm Albums” featuring 20 cuts of the same riddim. I can’t help feeling that people now pay less attention to the actual vocals. Some of the riddims on this mix came out in just 3 cuts, i.e. the ones that they got right! There also seems less scope now for big labels like Greensleeves and VP releasing “one away” tunes like “Fade Away” and giving them a big push. At the time of writing it looks like JA vinyl production is slowing down as selectors switch to digital formats. So perhaps the time is ripe for Greensleeves et al to fill the gap by releasing sevens again? I doubt I could make a good business case for it myself, but one can hope!

more commentary to follow – you don’t think you get off that lightly, eh?

OK, so I have now had the chance to hear Paul’s mix. And very enjoyable it is too.

Contest aside, I would urge anyone who enjoyed my mix to check his as well (see link below). Taken as a whole our mixes cover (nearly) all bases of reggae from 60s rocksteady, to 80s dancehall, to early ragga, to bashment right up to the present day. It is up to people to decide what they like best (and vote here!)

That said, there are a few things which need to be commented on!

Paul showed up late, thereby disrespecting YOU: the listening public.

No MC. This is obviously fine for a juggling dance, but Paul demanded a “devastating” clash here!

No Studio One.

No UK artists.

No female vocals.

No surefire crowd-pleasers like “Rub A Dub Soldier”, “Walk And Skank” and “The Traffic Jam”.

Amateur!

If you look at his actual selection, then the first thing which comes to mind is “where is part two”? 11 tracks in 30 minutes is OK for a warm up, but I think people deserve more than that, y’know.

Paul starts with a classic: Dennis Brown over a hot Joe Gibbs dancehall riddim. But you have to bear in mind that he first heard that when I played it to him two years ago. It did briefly induce a pang of fear hearing it on his mix – but only because I thought Paul had been jotting down notes on his visits to my place.

Our Brigadier Jerrys also match. Fair play!

For my money Little John’s “What is Katty” has the edge over “Say What You’re Saying” on Paul’s. For anybody’s money Super Cat’s “Vineyard Style” (me) beats “Walk-A-Ton” (Paul) hands down.

There is no denying that Josey Wales’ “Kingston Hot” is a great tune, but I would argue that my Joe Gibbs twelves are even greater.

Similarly Jim Brown’s “In Time” is solid, but to these ears it’s outweighed by my mix of Early B and Carlton Livingstone.

I knew Paul would draw for some Blacker Dread because he likes his gear hard and mashed up. But I have to say I was suprised he opted for Anthony B over Capleton. Not only is the fireman’s tune the definitive version but I actually decided not to buy the Anthony B cut because of the lyric about “Prime Minister in a blouse and skirt / In the land of my birth”. This was one of many records attacking JA PM P.J. Patterson over his alleged homosexuality. Personally I feel that the ruling class should be attacked on the basis of their role in society and politics rather than what they may (or may not) get up to in the bedroom.

By including this tune in his mix Paul will not exactly be reassuring SusanC who has taken him to task for some “off colour” language in the comments boxes below. Now, I have known Paul for nearly 20 years and would be the first person to defend him against accusations of homophobia, but I will let him do the talking in this instance. I daresay there is a perfectly logical explanation, most plausibly that his finger slipped whilst buying all of his tunes off a certain german internet site.

This leaves us with the ragga selection that Paul signs off with. To give credit where credit is due, these would never have sat well with my selection. I personally don’t rate them over my tunes, but I can see that some people might. Paul has also been more choppy with his mixing. The contrasting styles make for a more interesting battle at the end of the day. It’s why I think we work better together, than against each other.

What I will say is that Droid has recently demonstrated that this era of JA music was far better when unhampered by riddimical history. Check his HUGE Blogariddims: Raggamortis Mix and be sure to read the wicked sleevenotes also.

But ultimately it isn’t my opinion on Paul’s mix which matters – over to YOU, the great listening public.

VOTE HERE.

Here is my contribution to this week’s big news.

 

 John Eden Answer Riddimclash! [44:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

45 minutes of prime reggae, rocksteady and dancehall – on varied (but all excellent) cuts of the Answer Riddim.

A one take live mix, with a few exclusive contributions from Hackney’s best female MC.

Tracklist:

1 Slim Smith – Never Let Go (Studio One)
2 Lone Ranger – The Answer (Soul Jazz)

Starting out with a foundation selection because building a mix without a foundation is like building a house on sand.

3 Brigadier Jerry – Pain (Roots Tradition)
4 Little John – What is Katty (Roots Tradition)

“Pain” is dedicated to my wrists. “What is Katty” is dedicated to Paul’s wrists.

5 Sister Nancy – Transport Connection (Techniques)

Moving nicely with Sister Nancy while other selectors stand still.

6 Carlton Livingstone – Rub a Dub Session (Roots)
7 Early B – History of Jamaica (Roots)

Carlton’s off to dance the night away while Early B educates certain people who are new to all this and perhaps don’t know the full story beyond tunes and warring.

8 Tippa Irie & The Colonel – Just A Speak (UK Bubblers)
9 Daddy Rusty – No No Way (UK Bubblers)
10 Daddy Sandy – Riddle Bubble (UK Bubblers)
11 Tannoi – Gunshot Salute (UK Bubblers)

Bringing it back to mid 80s London with the cream of Saxon Studio International in full swing. Meanwhile the enigmatic Tannoi has had enough of the macho warring in the dance ‘cos it’s ruined his date.

12 Peter Metro – Police In Jamaica (Jah Life Time)

Peter Metro also did Police Inna England for Jammys. On this tune he ends up in the nick with Nicodemus and is concerned that his sparring partner is cracking under the pressure whilst he remains calm and righteous. No further comment needed!

13 Paul Blake and The Bloodfire Posse – Rub a Dub Solider (Revue)

Paul Blake brings the digital vibe pre-sleng teng. Goes out to the all the 9 to 5 soldiers!

14 Dennis Brown – I Can’t Stand It (Joe Gibbs Music)
15 Junior Vibes – The Man In Me (Joe Gibbs Music)
16 Little U Brown – Locomotion (Joe Gibbs Music)
17 U Mike – Loving Galore (Joe Gibbs Music)

Everyone raves about Junjo in the 80s but Joe Gibbs’ stuff is just as good in my opinion. Proper! Little U Brown may or not be related to U Brown, but he is right about being “Big Inna London”. Surprisingly I haven’t been able to find any tunes about MCs being “big inna Sheffield” but I guess Paul has cornered the market on those with his mix.

18 Earl Sixteen – Batman + Robin (S.C.O.M.)
19 Jah Screechy – Walk & Skank (Blacker Dread / S.C.O.M.)
20 version (S.C.O.M.)
>> Stephen Marley feat Damian Marley + buju banton – The Traffic Jam (Tuff Gong)
21 Eek A Mouse – A Wah Do Dem (Blacker Dread)
22 Capleton – Punchline (Blacker Dread)
23 Super Cat – Vineyard Party (Wild Apache)

Possibly the definitive post- Studio One version of the riddim – and it was recorded in London! Credited to Blacker Dread at Easy Street studios with a line up including Jackie Mittoo, Horsemouth and Peter Chemist. Nice bit of rave crossover with Earl 16 going on to work with Leftfield and Jah Screechy forming the basis of SL2’s “On A Ragga Tip”.

At some point Blacker seems to have recorded a mentalist cross-fader dominator version which seriously does the business anywhere. I first heard the Capleton cut on the Still Blazing LP and, well, blimey.

Traffic Jam is dedicated to Droid. Shout out to all the pedantic posse!

24 Smiley Culture – Police Officer (Fashion)

Classics? I hate to belabour the point, but it’s a London/JA thing. Failsafe party stormer which still gets hands in the air when dropped by The Bug.

25 Marcia Griffiths – I Shall Sing (Penthouse)

Marcia’s singing and so am I. Because I only sing when I’m winning.

You can check out Paul’s absurd attempt to outdo me here .

Once you have listened to both you can vote for which mix is the best (i.e. for me) over at Dissensus. (You will have to register if you are not a poster there already. It’s easy to do and you should check out Dissensus if you like this blog in any case.)

Keith “Slim” Smith was one of the multitude of people who passed through the doors of Coxsone Dodd’s Brentford Road studio in the 1960s. A great solo singer, he was also a founding member of the Techniques and the Uniques.

Smith had originally been taken to Studio One by his friend Cornell Campbell, only to be rebuffed by the notoriously choosy Coxsone. He fared better for Duke Reid at Treasure Isle, gaining the confidence to give Studio One another go. He recorded S1 classics such as “Hip Hug” and “Never Let Go”. In the late 60s and early 70s he worked mainly with Bunny Lee.

All of his work is fantastic – soulful with a slightly manic edge.

In 1972 he was locked up in Bellevue Mental Hospital. In 1973 he smashed a window and bled to death from the resulting injuries. It is disputed whether or not this was a suicide attempt, but most people seem to agree that the action was the result of depression. He died at the age of 25.

As well as leaving a legacy of beautiful rocksteady music, Slim Smith will also always be remembered for being the first artist to record on the riddim behind “Never Let Go”.

In 1977 this riddim was revoiced as “The Answer” by deejay superstar the Lone Ranger. (An interesting side note is that Ranger’s innovative style is often credited to him growing up in the UK throughout the sixties, having moved here shortly after being born). “The Answer” has been a staple of dancehall music ever since its release. In fact at the last count it was the third most versioned riddim ever (after “Real Rock” and “Heavenless”, with “Sleng Teng” lagging in 4th place!) It doesn’t get more “Foundation” than that.

The Answer riddim (as it came to be known) has it all – crisp horns, a propulsive juggernaut bassline, the business. With so many cuts released over the years it is high time someone did a handy overview…

Every Night is a Soundclash: Paul Meme Gonna Get Mashed

Paul Meme recently challenged me to a “devastating” soundclash, using only the Answer riddim. Quite why he feels he will emerge intact from such an foolhardy venture remains to be seen.

A week today me and him will both upload our respective mixes, each with some killer selections (well mine are killer, and Paul reckons his are). YOU, the public, can decide who is the Don Gorgon and who is the dibby dibby apprentice.