Desmond Dekker: King of Ska

Desmond Dekker: King of Ska

2014

Secret Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.  Israelites  2. Jamaica Ska  3.  Wise Man  4.  Intensified  5.  Rudy Got Soul  6. The More You Live  7.  0.0.7 (Shanty Town)  8.  Pickney Gal  9.  Pretty Africa  10. Problems  11.  It Mek  12.  Don't Blame Me


 Dang, this is an album  put out by one of those record companies that tries to fool you into thinking it's something else entirely...Looking at that cover anyone would reasonably think that they're picking up an album by a young, still in his prime ska legend Desmond Dekker...You might look at the back cover and see the list of well-known Desmond Dekker songs and reasonably think, "Oh, this must be a greatest hits album..." 

 But, if you look at the small print on the back cover this is actually a bunch of re-recordings by an old Desmond Dekker two years before his death in 2006...This is one of those Cleopatra Records situations where at least they're ripping you off with some good music...The thing is that this misrepresentation is really unnecessary...Why wouldn't I want to hear some of the last music Desmond laid down? I probably would have picked it up sooner if that was the case...You have to ask yourself, "How many 'greatest hits' albums does the guy have?" and  "How many final recordings are out there?" The answers to those two questions are 1. a bazillion and 2. This is the only release of this material that I know of...So why not go with the uniqueness of this particular product? Slap on a picture of a 60 year old Desmond on the cover and call it, "Desmond Dekker: The Final Recordings"....Honest and I would have bought it just the same...

 Anyway, let's focus on what it is...It's a great listen and the packaging really is beautiful...Secret Records did a great job on that front. And the music is wonderful...Who knew it was even possible to make ska that sounded this authentic in 2004...The tempos might be a half-click slower and Desmond likes to r-r-r-r-r-roll his "R's" a lot more than he used to, but let me put it this way...If I didn't know half of these songs so damn well they could have 100% passed this off as 60's ska to me...The handful of songs I wasn't familiar with sound very period-accurate...And Desmond sounds as high and sweet as ever...If he sounded like a 15-year old girl on his original recordings, he sounds like a 25-year old woman here...I mean, none of these will supplant the classic versions, but for a nice shot of sweet ska it sure does go down pretty easy on a Saturday Night with a couple beers...Head nod city...
 
Here's "Jamaica Ska" by Desmond Dekker...Enjoy...