80s dancehall and it's progeny always come off as too cold and lyrically hard-edged to me. And I can't explain why that's been off-putting for me; I mean, I like plenty of other types of lyrically hard-edged music (from old murder ballads like Pretty Polly to to new rap acts like Ghostface and unapologetic celebrations of violence, like Drive-By Trucker's Sinkhole). Something different about 80s dancehall-type stuff that I can't warm to but for reasons I can't articulate well. I definitely don't like the homophobia and misogyny in it.
Sorry for the rambling post.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 3 March 2008 23:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Admit that last year or two I've been too busy to keep up much with new dancehall or really new anything. It's a lot of work.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:02 (sixteen years ago) link
There is shitloads of 80s stuff that's not homophobic or misogynist. If anything I feel like homophobic lyrics were a lot bigger from the 90s on. Check out something like this:
http://www.discogs.com/release/1026208
and see if you don't change your mind.
― Noodle Vague, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:05 (sixteen years ago) link
I can get that on eMusic! Thanks, NV, I'll try it.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 3 March 2008 23:07 (sixteen years ago) link
If you just try 1 track, get the JC Lodge and Tiger song. Sweet vocal interplay, total badass bassline.
― Noodle Vague, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:09 (sixteen years ago) link
as far as dancehall goes for me, harder & more syncopated = better, so the stuff that really gets me excited is post-'00s.
― Jordan, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Jordan have you heard any soca?
― Alex in SF, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:13 (sixteen years ago) link
no!
― Jordan, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Hah well I would give it a shot. It is the harder more syncopated side of dancehall in a lot of ways.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:23 (sixteen years ago) link
And this is my hero
-- Noodle Vague, Monday, 3 March 2008 22:55
NO WANGA GUT NO WANGA BELLY
― am0n, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:27 (sixteen years ago) link
looking up some random stuff on youtube...is it all this uptempo (and happy)?
― Jordan, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:31 (sixteen years ago) link
That Tiger video is funny. Reminds me of the "homemade"-type videos I liked so much in the early days of MTV, when things happened for no reason in a video except that the artist and/or director thought it would be entertaining (to themselves, at least).
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 3 March 2008 23:34 (sixteen years ago) link
"looking up some random stuff on youtube...is it all this uptempo (and happy)?"
Haha yeah mostly.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:42 (sixteen years ago) link
re: congos being overrated
this is truly an idiot's guide well, elan, ni gistubus non disputandum and all that. and i feel olde saying i've listened to lots of reggae over the last 25+ years and that record did not hold up for me
― outdoor_miner, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:43 (sixteen years ago) link
haha, maybe not for me then.
― Jordan, Monday, 3 March 2008 23:46 (sixteen years ago) link
De gustibus non est disputandum = GREAT PHRASE and certainly true. Except here, since Heart Of The Congos, is indisputably fantastic.
(j/k)
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 3 March 2008 23:49 (sixteen years ago) link
This is sooooooo fantastic:
http://www.discogs.com/release/223248
i heard this a long time ago and wasn't into it. i'll have to give it another chance
― am0n, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Do you no like Scientist, am0n?
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:29 (sixteen years ago) link
this is truly an idiot's guide
well, elan, ni gistubus non disputandum and all that. and i feel olde saying i've listened to lots of reggae over the last 25+ years and that record did not hold up for me
-- outdoor_miner,
I'll probably be shot down for this as well but I'm not a huge fan of that record either. There's only so much falsetto I can take in one sitting. I still love Perry's production on it of course.
― sam500, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Real question for non-Congos fans. Do you generally like Jamaican harmony groups (Mighty Diamonds, Gladiators, Abyssinians, Meditations, Royals, Wailers, etc) or are you mostly a fan of solo singers and deejays?
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd have to say the latter, but mainly because I've heard very little from those groups unfortunately.
― sam500, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:42 (sixteen years ago) link
@Alex: nah i like scientist, i probably heard that before i was into that kind of 80s/junjo period stuff
on separate note - i really can't hang with those uk reggae bands, steel pulse, uhuru, etc. rock guitar solos? - no thanks
― am0n, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Uhuru are def. not UK.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Also don't remember too many solos on Love Crisis, Showcase, Sinsemilla, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. Seriously great Sly & Robbie stuff though (actually the first is Jammy, I think, but still.)
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:49 (sixteen years ago) link
ahah i'm confusing them with Aswad
― am0n, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:50 (sixteen years ago) link
see that steel pulse youtube upthread re: guitar solo
― am0n, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm not a huge UK reggae band fan actually. I much prefer the lover's stuff from the same period.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 00:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Aswad's Live and Direct is a total jam, probably the only Aswad you need to own. Misty in Roots are my favourite British reggae act, pretty much all of their stuff is worthwhile.
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 01:26 (sixteen years ago) link
you're right, outdoor miner, i was just going for the cheap shot over one of my favorite collection of songs.
― elan, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 03:05 (sixteen years ago) link
i agree on that, but the studio shit is better.
― Jordan, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 04:17 (sixteen years ago) link
BTW for some prime slices of pre-digital dancehall try these currently cheap comps of Uptempo label stuff (featuring classics like "Golden Hen" and "Lazer Beam" and plenty of other rarer goodness.)
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 21:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Ernie B's! That place is the shit, I've bought a bunch there lately.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 21:35 (sixteen years ago) link
It's the best webshop around (by a huge margin.) Everything is cheapest prices around, ships quick and everything they say they have they actually have (with one exception like two years ago.)
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 21:37 (sixteen years ago) link
king jammy book arrived, looks really nice. kind of short but they added excerpts from some old reggae mag to pad it out. more than worth the little i paid in any case.
anyone seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPz6lAa4y-I looks excellent judging from the trailer but the list of names featured at the end leads me to believe it might be full of crap electronica acts bigging up lee perry
― am0n, Sunday, 16 March 2008 02:23 (sixteen years ago) link
also this blog has a sick linval thompson dub album that i've never heard of for download here
― am0n, Sunday, 16 March 2008 02:30 (sixteen years ago) link
http://agonyshorthand.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/original_rockers_fr-768759.jpg
― am0n, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 03:20 (sixteen years ago) link
I dunno, Am0n, it seems that in addition to the 'crap electronica acts' the most important figures (that are still alive) are featured: http://www.dubechoes.com/?page_id=5
I wonder if this will ever make the UK. Film distribution in this country is notoriously crap.
― Daniel Giraffe, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 11:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Thanks for the tip, anyway. And Original Rockers is a truly fantastic record!
http://members.shaw.ca/dublp3/scientistandjammystrikebackA.JPG
― am0n, Monday, 24 March 2008 22:31 (sixteen years ago) link
ahhhhh so many copyright violations
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 24 March 2008 22:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Currently listening to Scientist & Prince Jammy's awesome Dub Landing (which I got for $6 from Ernie B's.) Seriously stellar stuff.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 24 March 2008 22:52 (sixteen years ago) link
hmmm I don't have that one. god there's so much of this stuff.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 24 March 2008 22:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Seriously nothing but good on Auralux. Everything that was out on the label at the time was at last year's big sale for $5-6 a piece.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 24 March 2008 23:04 (sixteen years ago) link
i think i have dub landing vol. 2?
this one is really good too http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=26101 its actually a scientist album even though it says coxsone etc. on the cover
― am0n, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 01:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually the CD is Dub Landing 1 & 2. There is another Scientist/Jammy disc on Auralux too called DC Dub Connection, I think. That came out last couple of months.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 16:10 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.timbuktunes.com/covers/cover-5060130070972.jpg
one of the better things i've heard recently. lazer beam dub hell yeah
― am0n, Tuesday, 25 March 2008 22:49 (sixteen years ago) link
dood Ernie B's is selling that Jammy and Scientist Strike Back LP for $150.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:36 (sixteen years ago) link
someone recommend where to start with the following: U-Roy I-Roy Roots Radics Band Sly and the Revolutionaries Gregory Isaacs solo Wailers stuff (besides Legalize It!)
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:42 (sixteen years ago) link
U-Roy = I like the Right Time Rockers album. . . some people swear by the Treasure Isle stuff, but I tend to prefer the stuff he's versioning I-Roy = that Blood Fire collection is pure fire Roots Radics = virtually everything released between 80-84 seriously you can't buy a record from this period where they weren't the backing band The Revolutionaries = for 74-79 kind of the equivalent of the Roots Radics (although they changed names a bit and there are some other great backing groups although often these included Revolutionaries members). Gregory Isaacs = everything up to and including Night Nurse (there are a few things post this esp. some Gussie Clarke and Tubby productions) Bunny Wailer = Blackheart Man
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Roots Radics and the Revolutionaries are basically impossible to recommend just one record, but if I had to I guess I'd say the Barrington Levy's Shaolin Temple and the Mighty Diamonds Right Time respectively.
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 3 April 2008 23:00 (sixteen years ago) link