Reggae Reviews Special – with Freddie B
June 3rd, 2003 by susanna
With summer just around the corner it’s time to let the sunshine saturate your sound system. Here’s Freddie B to take you through the season’s latest reggae compilation nuggets
Richard Dorfmeister presents A Decade In Dub 92-02 (Different Drummer LP)
Here is something that marchers to the beat of a different drum will luxuriate in. Thirteen prime cuts, all culled from Different Drummer’s varied vaults, beautifully sequenced by the dubmeister himself into over an hour of pure pleasure, with the smoothest of transitions – including some minimal MCing from the sweet-talking Tweed. Moving deftly between energetic club dub and more spacious soundscapes, this is the kind of mellow mix that gets better and better the more you listen to it.
I could go on but luckily for you the lazy grooves of Rockers Hi Fi and G Corp have blissed me out. Quick, rewind to Overproof Soundsystem’s Watch What You Put Inna, as that one always lights the touchpaper. Literally. Then sit back and re-read the great sleevenotes from a certain AJ. As he aptly puts it: ‘Crashing out through quality rigs from Kingston to Kingswinford. Forward – in all directions.’ A landmark release that shows just how vitally alive dub is in 2003.
Rodigan’s 25th Anniversary (Kiss 2xCD / 2xLP)
When I was in Jamaica a couple of years ago, I became accustomed to being asked whether I knew Dave Rodigan. For he is so loved there that many Jamaicans consider him as their own, little knowing that he has a similarly devoted following in the UK. My introduction to his radio shows came via my brother, a devoted lover of punk and reggae, back in the early 80s when Rodigan was in residence at Capital Radio. He was something of a curio then but now we are celebrating his quarter century, it’s evident that Rodigan is to reggae what Norman Jay and John Peel respectively are to soul and indy – a life-long enthusiast who is driven by a compulsive need to share the music he loves.
Indeed, this double compilation could easily have been called Good Times, containing as it does forty solid gold slices of pure bashment. It’s refreshingly diverse, showcasing almost every single major male vocalist from both Jamaica and the UK (for some curious reason there are no women on here). So alongside heroes like Bob, Bunny, Desmond, Freddie, Dennis, Junior, Johnny, Horace and Beres you will also find Shaggy, Beenie, Luciano, Bounty, Peter, Ini, Maxi and Tenor. (You won’t find all of these on the special vinyl version, but it still packs in 22 of the best which is plenty hot, as they say.)
It’s an unashamedly crowd-pleasing set, deftly dropping the more offbeat cuts amongst the golden oldies to ensure your hand never strays to Skip. It’s also a hugely energetic set that often revels in the larger than life sound of contemporary Jamaica. And with thirteen Greensleeves tracks on here, it is a refreshing reminder of what a powerhouse that now overshadowed label once was. In short, it’s Rodigan’s immaculate taste distilled down into over two hours of tunes, and the most impressive compilation of its kind I have encountered. A must for dancehall devotees.
Jackie Mittoo: Champion In The Arena 1976-1977 (Blood & Fire CD)
How sad it is that so many of the reggae legends didn’t live long enough to witness their work getting its due appreciation. Jackie Mittoo is one such towering talent. He was the keyboard king of Studio One who, as its musical director and founder member of the Skatalites, did so much to define its unique sound – yet never received adequate recognition.
This fine album comes from the latter half of his career, by which time he was perhaps best known as an easy listening performer in Canada. His peers, however, weren’t fooled, and so he came to enter Channel One studio in Kingston with legendary producer Bunny Lee and the dons of drum and bass, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. Together they revisited Jackie’s 60s tunes in a late 70s stylee, including classics like Ram Jam and Champion Of The Arena. This album re-releases seventeen of these instrumental cuts in the loving Blood & Fire manner – ie. with seven extra versions and some elegiac sleevenotes from Penny Reel, recounting his personal memories of the gentle giant.
Suffice to say it’s a beautiful album, by turns triumphant, mournful and reflective. There has always been something about that organ sound that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but no-one makes it quite as emotive as Mittoo did. An album to love and cherish – fitting proof that Jackie’s legacy lives on.
High Explosion: DJ Sounds from 1970 to 1976 (Trojan 2xCD / 2xLP)
It’s certainly a bumper month for reggae lovers. Under normal circumstances, when a compilation as hugely enjoyable as this one hits town it would be given pride of place. Although it is inevitably overshadowed by the likes of Rodigan and Different Drummer, it still contains many a hidden gem – no less than 50 of them, if truth be told.
The Jamaican DJ is now widely recognised as a key figure in the evolution of contemporary music, creating a form of musical and verbal interaction that paved the way for almost everything that has since happened in dancehall, hip hop and rap. Yet in many respects it has been neglected by the celebrants of vintage reggae who have been busily repackaging Jamaica’s musical heritage for the modern ear. Perhaps this is something to do with the obscurity of some of the lyrical stylings showcased here – there is lots of sexual, political and drug-related material here which is addressed obliquely – which of course doesn’t exist with lovers rock or dub.
But no matter if you don’t always get the words, High Explosion is still essential listening. These tunes might not have entered the reggae hall of fame (yet), but they have heaps of the freshness and inventiveness that made the 70s such a vital decade. So let’s hear it for U Roy, I Roy, Scotty, Sir Lord Comic and Jah Woosh, pioneers one and all.
Don Letts presents The Mighty Trojan Sound (Trojan 2xCD)
I never really know what to make of Don Letts. Seminal reggae DJ from the Roxy, Kings Road clotheshorse, punk filmmaker, BAD mainman… he is an ambiguous, Protean figure. While not really an entrepreneur or self-promoter – allowing his punk films to be screened at the NFT and creating compilations of 70s reggae won’t make him rich or famous – he seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
In many respects he is the perfect person to educate the yout’ of today in the wise of the righteous riddim. Certainly his Heavenly compilation, Dread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown, showcased an impeccable taste in roots and dub. As its title suggests, The Mighty Trojan Sound ploughs a more narrow furrow, although with an excess of 40 tracks narrow is perhaps not the right word.
As with most Trojan compilations, the greater proportion of tunes dates from the late 60s and early to mid 70s. So this is predominantly a tribute to the music that Letts grew up with (and there are some hilarious snapshots of him inside that show just how much he has grown up over the years). CD1 ranges freely through singers, players and DJs, while CD2 is billed as a Dub Cartel Session. This isn’t quite true – there is a lot of pre-dub instrumental material here that will not satisfy the true basshead – but it works well enough as a miniaturised history of the pure reggae spirit. All in all this compilation falls short of seminal status but makes some very refreshing selections from a classic period.
