Dub / Reggae: An Idiot's Guide

speaking of the love of the congos ..

this is not half bad you know :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dub-Feast-Congos/dp/B007633B8W/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1393186553&sr=1-5&keywords=the+congos

of course it does not come anywhere near the perfection of 'heart of .. ', but still, its a lovely sounding dub set..

hoping this means new blood & fire titles forthcoming:

He will be handling original B&F catalogue reissues with additional titles new to Blood and Fire.

"hopefully barrow (and maybe the original blood & fire team) gets complete control over the venture. my vague memory says that VP is an okay, but hardly-sublime, reissue label."

VP is a very mediocre reissue label, but they have the rights to a huge amount of great music (esp. since they also own Greensleeves).

you know, i have delved into the greensleeves groove.

is it not all 80s digital dancehall (something i have never really enjoyed) ?

i.e. tell me i am wrong and kick this narrow viewpoint into touch ..

i think greensleeves is pretty largely digital-dancehall, yeah. i don't like that genre, either.

VP is a very mediocre reissue label, but they have the rights to a huge amount of great music (esp. since they also own Greensleeves).

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Sunday, February 23, 2014

yeah. is VP basically hands-off with/gives ample financial support to greensleeves, or does VP severely downgrade what would otherwise be the quality of greensleeves releases?

sorry ..

i have = i have not

"is it not all 80s digital dancehall (something i have never really enjoyed) ?"

There is some late seventies roots/deejay stuff that's incredible (BEST DRESSED CHICKEN IN TOWN is on Greensleeves!) but definitely they're peaking in the early 80s.

"yeah. is VP basically hands-off with/gives ample financial support to greensleeves, or does VP severely downgrade what would otherwise be the quality of greensleeves releases?"

To be honest I've not noticed much of a difference.

BEST DRESSED CHICKEN IN TOWN is on Greensleeves!

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Sunday, February 23, 2014

people whose opinions i trust on the subject (like yours) seem to love this record. i've never heard whatever gets people so excited about it. why so much love for this album?

I'm not a digi dancehall fan either, but there's lots of great stuff on Greensleeves from 1980-82, Roots Radics/Junjo era.

like this here awesome comp
http://www.dubvendor.co.uk/ekmps/shops/dubvendor/images/various-artist-the-biggest-dancehall-anthems-1979-82-greensleeves-2xcd-8970-p.jpg

"people whose opinions i trust on the subject (like yours) seem to love this record. i've never heard whatever gets people so excited about it. why so much love for this album?"

Prime Perry/Tubby productions of amazing songs with great and often hilarious singjaying/deejaying. I'm not sure what's not to love.

Alex OTM; also fwiw I think '88-91 and thereabouts is an undervalued period of Jamaican music and Greensleeves was in its pomp then.

But you don't wanna hear me go on about that. "Original Rockers" was on Greensleeves and stands up to just about anything else ever IMO.

There's a good Wackies compilation of digital dancehall / early 80s stuff called Basic Replay.

I've been making a bunch of money buying and selling Blood & Fire CDs and LPs. Bit torn on the news. Shops don't realize that catalog is collectible so it's easy to buy low and sell high right now.

Here's the Basic Replay comp: http://www.discogs.com/Various-Basic-Replay/release/1154566

re marcus garvey :

but i have seen the 2 albums on one cd island edition in hmv every single time i have been there for years.

just assumed it was part of the never deleted catalogue

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marcus-Garvey-Garveys-Ghost-Burning/dp/B00002635E/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1393167677&sr=1-1&keywords=burning+spear

― mark e, Sunday, February 23, 2014 3:01 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it was OOP for a while but I have a pretty old cd version of it I picked up in the mid 90s so it seems to have reappeared a few times too.

i think the reissue came out in 2004 or so.

xp
Basic Replay isn't Wackies, it's the Basic Channel dudes' reissue label and they also reissued the Wackies catalog. "Basic Replay" is pretty varied.

it's also fantastic!

Pretty sure I picked it up when i was living in Dublin several years earlier. think it has come and gone a few times hasn't it?, been reprinted at least.
The first cd pairing of that set dates back to 1987, might be the one I have.

Since it was remastered in 2010 maybe I need to get a new edition

fwiw I think '88-91 and thereabouts is an undervalued period of Jamaican music and Greensleeves was in its pomp then.

this is otm, though I listened to reggae intensively for over a decade before I dipped a toe into anything post ~1982 so I try not to get mad at the lack of love for digital dancehall/ragga among the majority of ILM's JA music fans. The Jazzbo productions on that Basic Replay comp were a key to that though--that stuff sounds like dubby John Carpenter

the original version of marcus garvey is noticeably different. it is a little slower. slightly different, muddier vibe. i mean, it's obviously the same album, but the original does give you a different perspective.

Basic Replay also reissued plenty of roots/dub stuff (like Keith Hudson for example). Dug Out is the post-Basic Replay Basic Channel guys label and that is all digi-dancehall and universally awesome.

Although the aforementioned Dadawah album is also on Dug Out so even all not correct in that case.

xp
I need to catch up on Dug Out. I only have the Dadawah, which is amazing, and Tempo Explosion, which is good. Alex, do you have the Nitty Gritty? I'm not sure why I haven't got that yet, I love that guy's voice.

this sweet rare reggae site is really good. lots of gems to mine-for there.

Yes it's awesome! As are both Tenor Saw singles.

I feel like I've mention it elsewhere but this:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Posse-Tempo-Collection-Volume/dp/B000QR1A7E

and it's sequel:

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7324569

Are both amazing. Two of my favorite 80s dancehall collections.

fuck.

so if i walk into hmv tomorrow and buy the island issue of MG (+ dub set) , the edition i buy will be crap and not representative of the actual album ?

There is a third volume apparently which I've never seen for sale.

xp uh no it will be the VERSION that basically everyone has heard for the past 40 years.

so if i walk into hmv tomorrow and buy the island issue of MG (+ dub set) , the edition i buy will be crap and not representative of the actual album ?

― mark e, Sunday, February 23, 2014

no. it's got its own charms, and the differences are matters of minor degree, not wholesale.

cheers people. its mine.

so much great material remains relatively undiscovered or lost to time, e.g., the jolly brothers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUpvFL_sGg

^^^^^^^
you seeeeee ..

that's the beauty of reggae.

cheap to record and it still sounds glorious decades later .

i.e. loving that ..

That Jolly Brothers single got a major label release in the UK (on Ballistic / UA)! I love it but the LP it was part of was a bit disappointing.

Seven Leaves put out a fine LP of their work with Lee Perry but I rarely see it around any more.

okay d/led Marcus Garvey and Garvey's Ghost

one of the things I was getting at w my "apocalyptic reggae" question is that I am always on the lookout for albums that marry the more esoteric religio-politico righteous rastafari lyrical stuff with the spare, ominous minor key boom of the best dub and tbh this seems to be kind of a rarity. I mean I love War in a Babylon and Two Sevens Clash but musically they aren't exactly dark sounding, loads of major key melodies and harmonies etc. This juxtaposition isn't a bad thing at all, but I was just wondering how much of a flipside there was to that, how much is out there that is sort of ... scary sounding? I guess?

Garvey's Ghost mostly fitting the bill btw

shakey : have you got any prince far i ?

if not, then he's your man for the apocalyptic reggae groove.
not called the 'voice of thunder' for no reason.
and as someone has said before, 'come for voice, stay for the dub'
a perfect marriage of dark vocal tracks of heavy religious , and deep dub.
love the opening track on this album :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv2sqbdJfEQ

yeah I have Under Heavy Manners and Livity. don't have Voice of Thunder but yeah his voice definitely fits the bill (moreso than, say, the sweet falsetto of Junior Murvin)

voice of thunder is embedded within this trojan release :

http://www.discogs.com/Prince-Far-I-Heavy-Manners-Anthology-1977-1983/master/254468

great stuff ..

Xpost

Fave Far-I LPs Mark?

"Under Heavy Manners" is probably mine, but that's one of the first reggae LPs I ever really, really loved. Still know every second of it (and wish my copy was the proper coloured sleeve Joe Gibbs with the extra 30secs of dub at the end).

Also love the first 2 dub encounters (3 and 4 also fine but maybe not quite as good), Psalms For I. Never heard a actual bad one.

i dont have that much far i other than that compilation

however, its when adrian sherwood uses samples of his vocals that things really hit the spot for me.

all time fave prince far i track = bedward the flying preacher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arWbdzckkSA

That's such a winner!

I think a fair bit of the Cry Tuff Dub Encounter series is Sherwood.

yeah, before On-U, AMS worked a lot on Prince Far I material ..

I am always on the lookout for albums that marry the more esoteric religio-politico righteous rastafari lyrical stuff with the spare, ominous minor key boom of the best dub and tbh this seems to be kind of a rarity. how much is out there that is sort of ... scary sounding? I guess?

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, February 24, 2014

__________________________________

Garvey's Ghost mostly fitting the bill btw

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, February 24, 2014

i love this particular subset of roots reggae and dub, too. i don't think it's rare; i just think it takes some digging. marcus garvey pretty much nails it, top-to-bottom, in this regard. honestly, tho, aside from the title track, i don't think garvey's ghost does. the title track's ghostly, dark arrangement gives you the sense you're huddling with revolutionaries underground, while some enemy is moving troops overhead. it's a powerful song. the rest of that album, tho, doesn't live up to the same standards. brighter melodies and a lighter atmosphere. have you heard prince alla's stone? i think it fits the bill, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPDOqoB0klE

I mean I love . . . Two Sevens Clash

never understood the appeal of this disc.

huh I am unfamiliar with Prince Alla

really worth your time.

^yes

a few more for you, shakey (trying to choose songs that meet your criteria, too, but YMMV in that regard).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9G_Hb11KwA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bsuSlHSgqA

on a related subject, this is a reggae song, from 1970, i think, but this version is very recent (which, yes, makes it "inauthentic" for me). it does have that suffocating, dark atmosphere you mention, tho it lacks any religious overtones. i think the artist is from germany or something. "whatevs," as the kids say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9AbUKeiltQ