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One of the great things about reggae’s “version culture” is how getting your mitts on a new tune can reactivate whole swathes of your collection. I stumbled across a storming UK twelve on the Boops riddim recently and spent a very pleasant Saturday afternoon on a version excursion tip, fishing out classics and long forgotten cuts from the dustier corners of my vinyl shelves.

So here’s a little mix for you, done live in one take – with a little bit of post-editing before the last track.

In some ways it’s a companion to my Answer one-riddim-clash mix, but no war business with Paul Meme this time.

Yousendit download link or:

 

 John Eden - Boops Specialist [40:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

TRACKLIST

1. The Ethiopians – Last Train to Skaville (1966? – from “Celebration: 25 Years of Trojan Records” LP)

2. Toots and the Maytals – 54-46 (1969 – from Soul Jazz “400% Dynamite” CD)

3. Johnny Ringo – I And I Number (From “JA To UK M.C. Clash” LP, Fashion 1985)

4. Asher Senator – Abbreviation Qualification VIP Mix (Fashion 12” 1984)

5. Horace Andy – Cool and Deadly (Tads 12”)

6. Superman and Spiderman – Roadblock (From “Superman & Spiderman” LP, Kingdom 1985)

7. Papa Face and Bionic Rhona – To the Bump (From “Great British MCs” LP, Fashion 1984)

8. Concrete Jungle Overcoat (from “Rubble Dub M.C.’s Choice” LP, Rubble 1986)

9. Supercat – Boops (Techniques 7” 1986)

10. Pam Hall – Dear Boopsie (Blue Mountain 12”, 1986)

11. King Kong – Don’t Touch My Boops (Unity Sound 12” 1986)

12. Papa Charjan And Jack Reuben Featuring Higgy Rygin – Moany Moany (Shuttle Records 12” 1986)

13. Bayley & Chacka Demus – One Scotch (Unity Sound 12”)

14. Papa Charjan And Jack Reuben Featuring Higgy Rygin – One Scotch, One Tennants, One Brew (Shuttle Records 12” 1986)

15. Rebel MC and Double Trouble – Street Tuff (Desire 7”, 1989)

SLEEVENOTES

The Ethiopians – Last Train to Skaville (1966? – from “Celebration: 25 Years of Trojan Records” LP)

The Ethiopians started in the 1940s and passed through Studio One in the sixties before recording this for WIRL. This opening track is a little on the quiet side, partly because that’s how I like to start, but also because Trojan have unwisely included 10 tracks per side of this LP. Which, to be fair, did make it good value – just not so great for playing out.

Toots and the Maytals – 54-46 (1969 – from Soul Jazz “400% Dynamite” CD)

Everyone has heard this, surely? So the story behind this tune is that Toots Hibbert was busted for ganja and the title of the tune was his prison number. Unfortunately that is just a story. Toots says he was busted (for what isn’t clear) whilst trying to pay bail for a mate – and the number is just something he made up.

So yeah, these first few tracks are off compilations and not crackly seven inches. People get snobbish about that I guess, so here is full disclosure. Both of these comps are brilliant, by the way.

Johnny Ringo – I And I Number (From “JA To UK M.C. Clash” LP, Fashion 1985)

JA MC on tour in the UK cuts album underneath the Dub Vendor shop, riding the riddim with some nice “definition lyrics”.

Unfortunately Ringo died in 2005, his passing was noted by me here.

Asher Senator – Abbreviation Qualification VIP Mix (Fashion 12” 1984)

Saxon MC Asher’s first single, which I’ve written about previously in my Born To Chat: The Asher Senator Story.

Horace Andy – Cool and Deadly (Tads 12”)

Sleepy brings his take on “ABC” by the Jackson 5 to the party. This raises the musical levels after Asher’s lyrical onslaught. I often play the two in combination like this on the increasingly rare occasions that I am trusted on the decks in public.

Superman and Spiderman – Roadblock (From “Superman & Spiderman” LP, Kingdom 1985)

Mysterious trademark-infringing duo in the mould of Michigan and Smiley.

Superman was born in Birmingham, but raised in JA. He now records UK Dub material under the name of Sandeeno. Spiderman I know little about but seem to recall he was JA born and bred.

Of course, superhero imagery has been well used in reggae, from Tony McDermott’s great covers for Scientist dub albums, to these labels:

Papa Face and Bionic Rhona – To the Bump (From “Great British MCs” LP, Fashion 1984)

“Nuff man chat on the Shank I Sheck, but me no hear no-one pon this one yet”

Underrated duo, previously written about here. Rhona is an uncarved.org reader, Face has continued to MC as mic man for David Rodigan and is a regular fixture behind the counter at Dub Vendor.

Concrete Jungle Overcoat (from “Rubble Dub M.C.’s Choice” LP, Rubble 1986)

Very talented musicians at Fashion. Their riddims and dub albums never get proper credit, but it’s nice gear. I meant to write about them all for Woofah but it didn’t quite happen. Gussie Prento production.

Super Cat – Boops (Techniques 7” 1986)

“And when you check it out Friday ah payday”

The tune that started the craze. Super Cat tells the story of an older guy who has the girls flocking – but only because of his wallet. The Techniques lick of the riddim is proper loose (in a good way) and even has a bum note towards the end.

Pam Hall – Dear Boopsie (Blue Mountain 12”, 1986)

“Since you’ve been gone – I’ve forgotten the taste of wine”

Pam is the sister of Audrey Hall. Dear Boopsie attempts to give some female perspective on the Boops phenomenon, though it’s hardly an advert for womens’ liberation. Oddly this seems to be the only tune in the mix which has troubled the UK Charts, skirting around the mid 50s for a few weeks.

The tune even appeared in one of the few reggae charts featured on ITV’s The Chart Show.

King Kong – Don’t Touch My Boops (Unity Sound 12” 1986)

“Gorgeous smile and she had pretty looks”

This is a King Jammy production which was licensed to Hackney’s Unity Sound label because of their strong connections.

Pretty soon Boops was inescapable, as is evident from Daddy Kool’s pre-release chart of April 19, 1986:

1. King Kong – Don’t Touch My Boops – Jammys
2. Anthony Red Rose – Me No Want No Boops – Firehouse
3. Michael Prophet – Nah Call Me John Boops – Techniques
4. Sugar Minott – John Boops – Cornerstone
5. Lyrical – No Try No Boops – 10 Rossevelt Avenue
6. Pompidou – I Love My Boops – Striker Lee
7. Super Dad – See Boops Ya – Blue Mountain
8. Radicals – Rum Tree – Roots Radics Gang
9. Ringo – See Foreign Deh – Harry J
10. Delroy Williams – Watchdog – Rockers

Sly and Robbie hit the national charts one year later with their own take on the fad… (major labels being unable to keep up with the street commentary of reggae culture).

Papa Charjan And Jack Reuben Featuring Higgy Rygin – Moany Moany (Shuttle Records 12” 1986)

Shuttle operated out of Haringey, with offices around Turnpike Lane and Green Lanes. This is a Fatman production. Fatman runs a longstanding soundsystem and label. There’s a nice piece on him here from Penny Reel’s 1981 NME Soundsystem Splashdown feature.

At that time, Fatman’s selector was Ribs (interviewed here). But Ribs then left Fatman to start his own Unity Hi-Fi sound. Charjan and his brother Reuben were two of Unity’s first deejays (soon to be joined by Peter Bouncer, Navigator and the Ragga Twins amongst many other key ‘nuum figures).

But then Charjan and Reuben really upset the applecart by leaving Unity and joining Fatman. Apparently the animosity is made abundantly clear in Fatman/Unity clash tapes from the mid eighties.

Whatever the history, this is a boss tune which equals most of the Boops ouevre for its slightly dodgy gender politics. In fact it’s intriguingly similar to “Rabbit” by that other cockney MC crew Chas and Dave. Charjan and Reuben’s double delivery on the chorus is breathtaking and there are some neat rhymes here also.

Admiral Bailey & Chaka Demus – One Scotch (Unity Sounds 12″ 1986)

Bailey and Chaka rework John Lee Hooker’s blues standard for Jammys, with added bonus reference to the Joe Gibbs oddity “In Heaven There Is No Beer (It’s Why We Drink It Here)” by The Happs.

Papa Charjan And Jack Reuben Featuring Higgy Rygin – One Scotch, One Tennants, One Brew (Shuttle Records 12” 1986)

“If you like drinking, let’s go on a drinking spree”

Charjan and Reuben come again with a London ting. Frankly the prospect of a scotch, a can of Tennents and a Special Brew is enough to make me feel decidedly queasy. Still, might be one to test out one weekend, purely in the interests of research…

Unfortunately my copy didn’t come with the ace picture cover, so it’s thanks to discogs for that. It does have this sticker on it though:

Other odes to Tennents Super include Alabama 3′s “Old Purple Tin” and “Purple Boy” by Smart Alex and Clever Cloggs.

Rebel MC and Double Trouble – Street Tuff (Desire 7”, 1989)

Not everyone realises this is the same bassline as Toots and The Maytals’ “54-46″ but then it is at 120bpm or thereabouts. A big chart hit, which will always remind me of everyone on the cheese factory production line grooving away when it came on Radio One.

Rebel MC went on to mutate into Congo Natty, but I guess everyone knows that now?

ADDENDUM

The Boops riddim was reversioned again earlier this year, but none of the tunes particularly grabbed me. So this remains an archival selection for your delectation.

As usual this is simply what I’ve picked up over the years so I make no apology if your favourite cut isn’t included. Feel free to have a heated debate in the comments boxes, or do your own mix – or simply enjoy the music for what it is!

…is a short film by photographer Shaun Bloodworth.

It was commissioned by Mary Ann Hobbs for Sonar, and has a soundtrack by my man Grievous Angel.

All three protagonists live in Sheffield as do the various clubs featured. It’s good – some nice energetic positive vibes.

Click the link to have a look.

Cooler Man – Kanjiwatanye

I absolutely love this tune. I like how it manages to be catchy as fuck – even though I have no clue what any of the lyrics are. Full marks for the rockstone delivery also.

The video is great, just random stuff that he and his mates are up to in the hood. Also some nice UK t-shirts on show, a couple of guys in football garms, whereas Coolerman himself opts for the bizarre choice of a Keep Britain Tidy tee – and rocks it!

Not to mention the re-appearance of all Ugandan rudebwoys’ favourite tipple – Bell Lager…

I can’t seem to turn up any info on Coolerman, leave a comment if you can find anything out – the people need to know!

I don’t spend enough time with my records (who does?). Most of my music listening is done on the walk to and from work.

Sitting at home in my cupboard the other night, I discovered that the ace Dug Out label were re-releasing “Hole Up Your Hand” by legendary north London reggae MC Raymond Naphtali on ten inch. Awesome news!

Then I thought about the pile of records in the living room, sitting there. Not exactly unloved, but certainly not attended to very well. And yes, eight quid plus postage is a reasonable amount of cash to lay down for such an item, but it seemed like quite a lot for something I wouldn’t hear that much and would play out even less (if ever – this is the first year for a while that I’ve not taken to the decks. And actually that is OK).

As TIm P over at Dancecrasher pointed out, Honest Jons are doing Dug Out mp3s for 60 pence a pop. Which is frankly a bit of a no-brainer, even for an mp3 sceptic like me. You get them straight away, for cheap, and you are still supporting a great shop and a great label (and presumably the artist/producer as well).

I splashed out on a whole bunch of Dug Out releases, including the stone cold classic “He Was A Friend” by King Kong, which I had also baulked at buying on wax a little while back. It’s a digital lament to the late Tenor Saw which has been much in demand (I think it was even on the notorious Boomshakalacka “Best 100 tunes of the eighties” list?).

All the tunes are great and I have been listening to them repeatedly on the commute. There isn’t the same visceral thrill of holding the vinyl in your hand and lowering the needle, but this lot will do me fine as a compromise.

Then comrade T-woc pointed out on the Blood & Fire forum that Boomkat has bundled up a bunch of “psyche-dub” mp3s as part of their weekly “14 tracks” special. 14 tracks for 7 quid. Seems about right to me.

I’ve been listening to a fair bit of mad stuff recently, so this fitted the bill nicely: some droney, some noisy, some abstract. But all tied together in a bassy, echoey package. Mostly artists I had never heard of – or had heard of, but not got the chance to investigate properly.

Again, high quality stuff for the most part, that I am enjoying wading through. It reminds me of the seminal Macro Dub Infection and Isolationism compilations that Kevin Martin put together for Virgin in the nineties. Dub as process (rather than a genre) which links the outer fringes of all sorts of mindwarping musics. It’s a great bit of curation in fact – something much needed in the avalanche of new things to check out… I’ve now got some new things to investigate and some future purchases to make.

If people keep doing good stuff like this, then I’ll keep supporting it. Hopefully I’ll not be alone in doing that – which means we might have turned quite a significant corner in terms of our little zone of the music industry surviving.

This week’s selection is brought to you by Sweet Kid:

In which our hero puts an alarming amount of amorous activity into wooing said Brenda. But she seems almost catatonic in her lack of enthusiasm for his efforts. Give it up mate, she’s more trouble than she’s worth!

Sweet Kid is a great name for an artist, I’m half sure there’s a grime “Sweet Kid” or possibly a mid-90s UK ragga version. This Sweet Kid is known to his no doubt proud Mum as Moses Sserwada, and she brought him into the world in 1982.

There’s a good article on him over at UG Pulse, which gives some more information – including the unfortunate come-back this tune had on his relationship when it became a number one hit.

Vagina Dentata Organ
THE LONDON PUNK TAPES
Exhibition
15 JULY – 26 SEPTEMBER, 2010
ARCHIVE

La Ramblas 7, Barcelona 08002

During 1976 and 1977 Jordi Valls recorded live on nine audio cassettes some of the early punk gigs in London. These tapes, featuring The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Subway Sect, Billy Idol & Generation X, The Slits and Buzzcocks, capture the true sound of punk — raw, countercultural and subversive — as a phenomenon that had a radical impact on popular music and fashion, first in Britain and America, and then worldwide.

Arguably the most interesting aspect of punk is its vital, visceral energy, and the demonstration that the only thing that really matters is the intention, the power of the imagination, and nothing more. Sound, photographs, an audio-visual with punk iconography by Franc Aleu-Urano Films and an installation combine here to profile a rebellious attitude firmly committed to its time.

More information

Vagina Dentata Organ on Uncarved

Unknown by Unknown. Pah. (Remember when Mixmag or Muzik would have those ridiculous DJ top tens every month, and one of them would always be some drum ‘n’ bass guy boasting about how he had loads of white labels of unknown providence? I swear that’s where Origin Unknown got their name).

Nice bit of female vocal anyway – not the best quality, but vibes galore (as they used to say when flogging you yard tapes). Seems like the last part of the tune is a series of shout outs to various districts, which is always good.

[listens again and googles a bit]

Actually, she might be Nazizi? Not sure who the guy is.

LOL at this curtailed interview – what a great opening question!

Ah, right “Necessary Noise”. And they’re from Kenya, not Uganda. OK, I’ll change the tagging on the clip. Phew!

Myspace.

It’s Noise with a “Z”? Right, then – wiki entry. Which reveals that the boy  is Kevin Wyre.

Hello Kevin and Nazizi – good tune!

Swedish Massive!

Droid and I are interviewed about Woofah magazine in the new issue of Reggae Galore.

(English massive – Kvalitet lönar sig translates as “quality pays off” – damn straight.)

This week’s selection from the man like Bobi Wine, the self-styled “President of Uganja”!

A tune called “Bam Bam” which isn’t the Toots or Pliers or Sister Nancy ones. Echoes of TOK or Ward 21 with the low backing vocals. Echoes of many JA videos with the visuals. Still a nice track, though – kind of thing you might hear Heatwave playing, maybe…

Hmm, he has a barely working Myspace.

Looks like he is up there for ragga swagger also, check this recent news story which features disrespect to dignitaries and also getting into trouble over weed smoking!

This interview gives the lowdown on his upbringing and career so far including forming the Fire Base Camp which Master Parrott was also a member of. He also has a pragamatic view of HIV/AIDS and its prevention.

But he’s obviously something of a (ahem) complex figure. In this interview he comes across as a bit of a mental primadonna, bigging up Idi Amin and saying he had to build a stupidly massive house because of some beef with another artist.

But then you get some raw stuff like this:

“I don’t hate poverty,” Wine said, as if the word hate was not strong enough.  “I.  Fear.  It.” The words seemed to tremble in his mouth.  [...]  “I was reading Milton Obote’s writing, and he said it’s good to die a bit,” he said softly.  “So you live longer.  There was a time…when I never existed.  I died—in poverty.  I didn’t have slippers, breakfast or lunch.  I had no hope.”

Other online sources go into his early days in music:

“Underground shows with a Walkman, a borrowed amplifier and a speaker was how I used to make ends meet. I would spread the word and after school charge students fifty shillings (less than half dollar) per head and we would jam! I got into trouble with the school administration but that was the way I made my pocket money.”

So he’s a mixed bag. Top tunes though, which I guess should be the main thing.

Thanks to Droid for alerting me to this surprising addendum to the Papa Levi story.

So this is an undisputed classic UK MC tune, OK? If you had a Papa Levi acapella in the early 90s, you’d seriously consider doing a jungle relick, right? No brainer!

But… would you make it a lounge-jazz version with completely pointless Malcolm X samples? Well, these guys did. And they also pitched up the acapella so it goes all Minnie Mouse. Which is probably par for the course, but not helped by the crappy bitrate here.

Sounds like the vocal is taken off Levi’s own ragga relick of the original, which was released on Birmingham’s Spider Ranks label – probably around the same time. That cut is wicked and I think I played it on RSI Radio vol 3.

I’m pretty sure Spider Ranks was allied to the Luv Injection soundsystem, so I guess this jungle tune (credited to “The Link (Love Injection Music)”) had something to do with them. There was a fantastic TV documentary about Luv Injection clashing Ricky Trooper in Birmingham in the 90s, which I have on a VHS tape around here somewhere.

Anyway, Papa Levi is still tearing it up. Check the most recent RSI Radio for a wicked 2010 tune by him on a grime tip, produced by Saxon-affiliate Dot Rotten.