V/A – DJ DEREK PRESENTS SWEET MEMORY SOUNDS (SANCTUARY)
March 24th, 2006 by rui
“Excellent”, I said, rummaging around on The Big Chill web editor’s desk. “A DJ Derek reggae compilation… can I steal this?
“Sure”, says he, “providing you write a review for the site”.
“Great. Shouldn’t be a problem at all…”
Oh, how I wish he hadn’t been so accommodating, for now I have to write bad things. Bad things about someone whom I totally respect. Bad things about an icon to Big Chillers and all who’ve swayed to his glorious reggae sets. Bad, bad things.
First, let’s get the basics out of the way. We’re talking 22 tracks from what mostly looks like Trojan back catalog (a guess, but a calculated one it being a Sanctuary Records release n’all), all of them fairly light ska and reggae.
Now, before we start upsetting people, I’ll talk about the good things. There are a few recognised artists – Gregory Isaacs, John Holt, Toots and the Maytals, but not obvious selections of theirs – and a few recognisable covers (more about them later), but most should be new to everyone barring the most avid jamacian collector. Three recognisable tracks for me: Justin Hinds Over the River; Better Must Come by Delroy Wilson and Max Romeo’s Chase the Devil and One Step Forward, are blindingly good. There’s also a run out for The Abyssinian’s ground breaking Satta Massa Gana, the first rastafarian anthem and the starting point for roots reggae. Finally Junior Murvin’s title track from Police and Thieves, produced by Lee Scratch Perry and later covered by The Clash, rounds up those that I’d happily have on high rotation.
Behind those there’s a bakers-dozen tracks that shouldn’t have you reaching for the skip button if they came up on shuffle.
But, and for me it’s a huge but, there are a few covers here that would have Paul Merton instantly reaching for the Room 101 lever, no foolish pre-amble, just straight down the chute, no questions asked. How and why they could appear on a commercial compilation, particularly one that’s got such an eminent author, is totally bewildering and, without labouring the point, they completely kill this as an album for me.
There’s a warning shot fairly early on with a reggae version of Mr Bojangles, which in itself is pretty bad, but made worse with the knowledge that of the hundreds of Holt releases this was deemed worth resurecting. It was a crap pop song when the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band made it a hit in the 60s, it was still a crap pop song when Robbie Williams covered it 35 years later. Why, Derek, why?
Then there’s Marcia Griffiths’ (Something Inside) So Strong, Labi Siffre’s anti-apartheid anthem, done in a 80′s euro-reggae-slash-my-wrists-and-hope-not-to-hear-this-again style. Ever.
But the worst and, for me, the most sacriligeous, is the final track on the album. Dean Fraser is one of the foremost jamacian sax players, working with everyone who’s anyone – Marley, Tosh, Sly Dunbar, Jimmy Cliff… – as well as releasing a number of his own albums. So what the f*** he thinks he’s doing putting out a version of Redemption Song, on the saxophone, with a trio of female backing singers doing the chorus is anyone’s guess. It is so appalling, it disappears past the point of being so appalling it’s good, into the realm of so appalling it makes you want to take a sharpened pencil and drive it into each eardrum. Repeatedly. I simply can’t describe how bad this track is.
So I’ll burn this album onto my computer, throw those three tracks away, plus another couple for good measure, and copy the rest back to a blank cd so I can enjoy it without twitching. And all that I’d be missing would be the infectious patter between tracks that makes an audience with DJ Derek one of the highlights of my festival.
kris burford
