probably my first introduction to the reggae was through calypso and/or ska, either way it doesn't matter. like most about my age, we knew harry belafonte, and the my boy lollipop song. even dylans first record was harmonica on belafontes midnight special . i'll side track here for a bit, when i think about midnight special, a leadbelly song , done by others. such as , lonnie doneghan and creedence clearwater revival ,etc. the thing that blows me out. is one day i was looking through a sheet music book with different songs in it. it had the midnight special credited to j. fogerty. i thought leadbelly wrote it, i talked to a friend about it he reckons no one had the copy right for it , at that time. anyway, i probably heard desmond dekker, Israelites next , i think i actually owned one of them el cheapo, not the real artists versions, top of the pops things with it on it, when i was young. the first real reggae type record i owned , wasn't too distant from them, it was 20 electrifying hits, i got for christmas 1970. it had bobby bloom singing montego bay. the keys to the mg. i liked that song
27jan2014
okay , i done the google research, bobby bloom wasn't jamacian after all and lead belly didn't write midnight special, though he did write/do the version most know of. all them years of thinking bobby bloom was jamacian. you never really knew what people looked like in them days. although jimmy cliff was on 20 electrifying hits, he was more calypso really. wonderful world beautiful people isn't really dread. another one a bit after was johnny nash, i can see clearly now. the real big one was double barrel by dave & ansil collins. that was really the start of the chart, ska dub, reggae thing. here, after that was mainly led zepplin d'yer mak'er and eric clapton doing bob marley. bob marley had albums out, but people were more into things like santana and osibisa. me personally couldn't afford such records , even if i had been exposed to them.
29jan2014
30jan2014
you know most of these blogs are just my memory recollection, so i could be out a bit. i checked when legalise it was released, apr 76. a year and a bit before the mag, maybe it was released later in the u.s., i had it on cbs label, virgin released it in the uk.i know there was also a richard pryor album in the mag as well, first time i'd heard of him, too. anyway, now comes bob marley with the kaya album, it was a big hit here. i never brought it , at that time i wasn't buying records much , if you've been reading these blogs, you'd know why. mainly cash and had enough. i never really got into marley for some reason, his name was robert, that's about the only connection. he seemed mainstream. then the peter tosh ,mick jagger thing . alot of people bought that. an okay song , but i never really brought that either, and when i did i seemed disappointed .
1feb2014
now comes the punky reggae party with the clash, the slits, stiff little fingers, ruts, among others. many of these bands done okay versions of reggae tunes, a bit like led zepplin and the blues and other 60's bands. what the punk bands did was expose reggae music to the wider audiences, although people like john peel, played reggae on his shows but not everyone was listening and even john lennon tried to push it. being the punk clobber cobber you got to meet friend and foe in equal proportions. you tended to meet the likes you would otherwise wouldn't. i meet such a friend who had a very good record collection, so around 1981, he puts on big youth dreadlocks dread on the turntable record player. i really liked this album, not so much the message. but more the music. it was different in that it combined, reggae and harmonica . the two seemed to blend well together. there was probably others who did this, but this was the first time i heard it.
2feb2014
most music has it's place and time, i try not to be prejudiced, but i know what i like. life is short now , with so much. anyway, i was allowed to make a tape of big youth, good. i never knew others like it ,too. most people around me didn't like reggae much, or would say bob marley, that annoyed me. or there's better than big youth. again around this time or maybe before, i heard eddy grant ,do you feel my love. it was the music that hit a nerve, i liked this song. i got the single b/w symphony for michael ,opus 2 . again not really jamacian, but this was the first single of reggae i brought. i don't remember that michael song at all now, strange the guy who had the big youth record was named michael, i thought i'd throw that in. again ,not long after that he had hits with i don't wanna dance and electric avenue, they were okay, but a bit mainstream for my taste. why i say such is mainly because i'm seen as an outsider or fringe by what i call mainstream, so the feelings mutual. i bought new age steppers first album , the one with elvis on the cover, also around this time on the missing link label, and creation rebel album. so, now i had a couple of dub reggae things.
new age steppers cd cover, missing link lp had blue instead of red
creation rebel lp psychotic jonkanoo statik lp4
4feb2014
i thought i didn't miss something, but it doesn't matter what you think there always something missing, even now i probably still forgot something. i forgot all about ub40 . the album signing off, i bought as soon as it came out. at that time i was listening to mainly fastish punk stuff and buying albums ,1980. ub40 was different again, i thought i could have got into it a few years earlier , when i was listening to laidback stuff. i remember taking it and a few other albums to this girls house. the people there then didn't like it much, they said they liked bob marley but that was it. i played that album a few times, it was seen by me as not quite muzak but in that field, relaxing stuff to wind out to. i never got into their later stuff, i have a few singles with okay b sides. the reason i thought about ub40, was their sight and sound appearance. probably 1983 here, i taped it , i remember riding this bike to a friends place some 50km away. i set the player and watched it later when i got home. i'm glad i did . not so much ub40, but the guest appearance of mikey dread doing roots and culture, great. it didn't click that i had him on sandinista doing a few , or his involvement with clash. that's pretty much it for ub40, although the video clip, i got mine ,was filmed in part not far from here , bombo beach. i also used to play a song of theirs on a greatest hits cd ,on jukeboxes around pubs and that, mainly because of the length, don't let it pass you by. i'm not sure if it was an extended version, by it worked well in the pub, playing pool. i think they turned into a covers band .
here's some ub40 trading cards from dandy 80s ,
rock 'n bubble other artists also, i hear astros run out of dough, i preferred his vocal
6feb2014
did i mention ,i was buying records again. in that case i might buy a bob marley, which one? i gave catch a fire a try. i found it short, a couple of ok numbers, i thought things have moved on since 1973, and preferred tosh. then i got to see them on some old grey whistle test clips, concrete jungle and stir it up. i think shows like that and peel done fringe music or not so pop a boost. i got the album out and gave it another listen, not as good as ogwt. i got a few singles like buffalo soldier , could you be loved, one love,, waiting in vain. thats about it with the marley as far as vinyl records are concerned.
9feb2014
probably around 1982 , i was in a now defunct record bar, they had a small blues, jazz , reggae etc section. flicking through the same old, suprise, a big youth record, amazing. must of got shipped by mistake, most of the others were , you know. some great big youth, came out in 81 on heartbeat, some okay songs there , a few standards, i like 'get on up' a good song still to this day, when i used to play that song some people didn't like it, i don't know why. i used to have 60 minute tapes for the car at that time, and missed out on a couple of end songs. songs like we can work it out , great cover of the beatles song, missed out. i learned much later on that everyone like the clash raved on about screaming target, i never heard the album til a few years back. i bought the cd after many years of wondering, i can understand the screaming target thing, but i think it's a bit over rated, it's probably ok, but then again i prefer keith hudson, flesh of my skin, for that time period.
this is the cd cover from amazon, similar to the lp
with having a video was good to really check out clips and things, i got to know and like people like gregory issacs - night nurse, and a few others. probably around 1984/5 i got to see a reggae sunsplash on telly. here i learned of yellowman and eek a mouse, as well as some more big youth. so i was learning a bit. the 80's was a good time for learning, but you never really stop. it just becomes too much
12feb2014
if you're wondering why i left out the two tone, and madness and the beat, i haven't really thought about them much. i think the beats first album was closer to reggae than the others, a great album. anyways, probably after the sun splash show, i didn't think there would be much more. then came mikey dread at the controls with deep roots music, i missed the first one , but caught the rest. a good doco. here's where i learned of lee scratch perry and the mighty diamonds and a couple of others.
15feb2014
been thinking about that sunsplash show, in particular, yellowmans performance. at that time i don't think many could match his toast/rap. i think it came down to his colour, like he had to really show them. i used to watch that performance over and over. you couldn't get any of his stuff round here. i was once in melbourne at a record bar , 1985. they had a few reggae things down there, even a sunsplash album, i never bought it. i thought nothing could top yellowman , til i saw lee scratch perry on deep roots music, black ark. again i could not get none of his around here, so i thought. someone was once complaining about him, more or less giving away bob marley tapes and things, el budgeto. if he didn't do that , they'd be moulding in some shack somewhere. what he did was a good thing , getting the thing out there. there was a lot of that el budgeto bob marley stuff around , i bought one album probably 81 something it had a soul rebel version on it which i liked.
17feb2014
with the onset of the cd,i think i was somewhat pissed off with the whole music thing ,in particular the cost. i didn't buy much from about 1987 on woulds, i had enough and was happy with my music. why should i sell all my records for a pittance and by cds , the titles i was interested in weren't on cds or you couldn't get them. i never really bought a cd until about 1990, even then they were very expensive.
20feb2014
that's about it, for this blog. i started buying a good selection of reggae music through the 90s on cd. they became reasonable in price, etc etc etc...
24feb2014
etc indeed, you know i try to make these things end with the beginning. in 1992 i saw dread zepplin, i think that covers it.
