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...
Desmond Dekker: Israelites/My Precious World (The Man)
1969
Uni Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Israelites/My Precious World (The Man)
Oooo, I love that pretty Uni Records label...
I found this single a few years back at Zia records in Tempe...I was surprised to read this was the first ska song to crack the US top ten charts, since it seems to have been forgotten by everybody here except for us die-hard ska/reggae fans....But this thing totally deserved any success it received, since it's easily one of the all-time best ska songs ever...
A closer listen to the lyrics reveals a downcast tone, but the performance is so radiant and life-affirming that it seems inconceivable to be in a bad mood while this is playing...I never fail to get caught up in Desmond's high, honeyed vocals and the bouncy rhythms...And who can resist singing those deep bass harmonies?
The B-Side (My Precious World (The Man)) is much different, with an American Soul sound, but it's a lovely track too...There's just no way it can stand up to that flawless A-Side though (which I guess is why it's the B-Side, duh)....
Anyway, here's "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker...Enjoy...
Desmond Dekker: This is Crucial Reggae
2007
Sanctuary Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1.
Israelites 2. You Can Get It If You Really Want It 3. 077 (Shanty Town) 4. It Mek 5. Sing A Little Song 6. Intesified '68 (Music Like Dirt) 7. Licking Stick 8. Honour Your Mother And Father 9. Fu Manchu 10. Unity 11. Pickney Gal 12. Jamaica Ska
I love these "This is Crucial Reggae" compilations...The running times are usually a bit skimpy and they tend to stick to a very specific portion of the artist's career, but the song selection is always fantastic and they're usually dirt cheap to boot...I can't recall ever paying more than 3 bucks for one...
And if you want to know why Desmond Dekker is considered the King of Ska, this gives you 12 good reasons why...Desmond had an interesting style; a mix of slice-of life rudeboy ghetto stories mixed with a healthy dose of morality...He discusses street violence one moment ("077 (Shanty Town) ") and then reminds you to always value your parents ("Honour Your Mother And Father") and the value of setting aside differences ("Unity") the next...And it's all done in such a buoyant manner that you can't help but skank along...The only touch of musical darkness is maybe the slightly ominous "Fu Manchu."
No use pointing out highlights on a "Best Of" set...It's all perfect...The only weak point comes when the track listing suddenly jumps ahead 20 years for Desmond's collaboration with the Specials on a remake of Byron Lee's "Jamaican Ska." And while I love their take, the production values are so radically different that it does come across as a bit jarring...Even though it was recorded in the 90's there's something so very late 80's about it...Like it'd fit in perfect on the soundtrack to some summery 80's movie...
(no not this one...) I definitely wish I could find some more Desmond Dekker releases, but I usually just run across greatest hits packages that share about 3/4ths of "This is Crucial Reggae"'s track listing,...But I'm keeping my eyes peeled... In the meantime, here's "Honour Your Mother and Father" by Desmond Dekker...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Jimmy Cliff: You Can Get It If You Really Want 2. Scotty: Draw Your Brakes 3.The Melodians: Rivers of Babylon 4. Jimmy Cliff: Many Rivers to Cross 5. Toots and the Maytals: Sweet and Dandy 6. Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come 7. The Slickers: Johnny Too Bad 8. Desmond Dekker: 007 (Shanty Town) 9. The Maytals: Pressure Drop 10. Jimmy Cliff: Sitting in Limbo 11. Jimmy Cliff: You Can Get It If You Really Want 12. Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come
Hey, I drew a picture of the pie up in the sky waiting for me when I die...
...So I have that to look forward to...
Anyway, this isn't technically a Jimmy Cliff album, it's actually a compilation of various artists, but since his name is written in really big letters across the top of the cover, I file it under the Jimmy Cliff section... This is the 1972 soundtrack for the film of the same name, that starred Jimmy as a reggae-singing criminal...
(Wow, what a bad-ass poster...I've only had a chance to see the movie once in the late 90's and I enjoyed it a lot...That poster just inspired me to check it out again...)
I picked up this record sometime in the 90's, and it functioned as my gateway into Jamaican music, and you can't ask for a better introduction,...To this day, I don't know of a better reggae album, whoever complied this did the most outstanding job ever. The only criticism I can muster is the odd choice of putting "You Can Get It If You Really Want" and "The Harder They Come" on the album twice, but screw it, I'll hear 'em twice...
Highlights are hard to pick out, but I'm going with the two Toots and the Maytals selections...The minute I first put this album on, the Maytals became one of my all-time favorite bands...They're noticeably rougher than the other artists...Their music pounds and grinds, and Toots sings in a gorgeously guttural voice that somehow makes everything he sound jubilant and uplifting...Plus "Sweet and Dandy" introduced me to the phrase "Cola Wine." I'm not quite sure what it means, but I like it...Isn't mixing wine and cola a thing now? Let me google it real quick and I'll get back to you...
Here it is...You can make your own bottle of Cola-Wine...
1 1/4 liters of Cola...
1 bottlered wine...
Vigorously mix together in a 1 gallon serving jar and marvel at the resulting explosion. Serve chilled over ice. Vomit gently into a Spanish gutter...
I honestly can't choose between "Pressure Drop" and "Sweet and Dandy." I guess we're going to have to listen to them both...
"Sweet and Dandy"
"Pressure Drop"
Another song that never fails to leave my head, once it gets in there, is the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad." Lyrically menacing, yet so sweet-sounding...
I also love "Rivers of Babylon" by the Melodians. This song couldn't be more lovely...Beautiful harmony singing by the group over lyrics that come from a couple of biblical psalms...Psounds pso Pstupendous..I've met a couple people now who only know this from the Sublime cover and when I point them to the direction of the original, they flip over how much better it is..Check it out for yourself...
Since this is under the Jimmy Cliff heading, I better talk about one of his songs...They're all good, but I don't think I'd be alone in saying that "Many Rivers to Cross" is the real classic here...If you've never heard Jimmy before, I guess the best way I can describe his singing is comforting and umm...womanly...He sounds like how you wish your Mother would have sounded singing lullabies to you, and this is best demonstrated on "Many Rivers to Cross." Okay, I'm going to share a personal moment here...I remember a particularly lonely December night, I had locked myself alone in my bedroom to spin a couple of records and chose this one...I sat on my bed and watched the snow fall serenely onto the ground from my second story window as "Many Rivers to Cross" played in the background...The white of the snow starkly contrasted by the deep black night...It was one of those moments where you're playing the right song in the right moment...It seems unlikely that a song recorded in sunny Jamaica fit a deep-freeze Michigan night so well, but that's the magic of music...So its song has always held a special place for me...
Oh yea, I forgot to mention why I bought this record in the first place...Honestly, the reason I picked this up was because of a phrase someone wrote on the cover with a pen...
"Revolution '83-Germany July '83"
I'm a huge fan of personalized records...You've seen a couple examples earlier (notably in the AC/DC: Highway to Hell" post) and you'll see this more and more as the blog goes on, but this is my favorite example. What a perfect phrase! I've stolen it on many occasions...I released an album under the name, I've written songs with the title, and have done countless allusions towards it, such as the first album I recorded with TA-80 2001's "80-83"...
I don't really know what it means, but this is how I picture it:Somewhere in Germany during 1983 a music fan finds a decade-old copy of "The Harder They Come" and is so moved by the revolutionary spirit of the record they can't help but scrawl "Revolution '83" across the cover...Awesome!
I've always been a fanatic for the inserts they used to put into records showing you the other albums available for sale...This one was particularly appealing to me...I'd made it my goal to own every one of these albums...I haven't wholly succeeded but I'm not as far off as I used to be...
I'm especially intrigued by the "Mutant Disco" record but have never ran across it...Amazing album cover...Apparently there's a lot of Was (Not Was) on it...
That Excalibur" soundtrack looks pretty nifty too...
Here's the other side of the insert, minus the bottom row...My scanner is really tiny and I'm too cheap to buy another one...Oh well...I'm done scanning pictures...Let's check out "The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff...Enjoy...
In keeping with the spirit of the album, I'm going to post the same video for "The Harder They Come" twice, for no reason at all...Enjoy again...
