Once again, a request allows me to weasel out of my homework assignment by reprinting an earlier piece. Thank you, John!
The Harder They Come and Catch A Fire were the gateway reggae drugs for many who'd failed to be hooked by ska and rock steady. The Marley album, with its clever Chris Blackwell sweetening, opened up a whole world of music that was at once exotic and yet somehow familiar. It just sounded right. Natural. It made no demands on the listener - you didn't have to get up and dance (if you're listening to ska you're missing the point), you didn't have to analyze the lyrics, struggle with difficult progressions - this was at the height of prog - or do anything other than lie back and let it massage you up. It helped to have an interest in home bakery - in the sense of getting baked at home - but this deep-heat groove got you lightly cooked on its own.
When Culture released the epochal Two Sevens Clash everyone who heard it became an evangelist, if not for its entertainingly eccentric Rastafarianism, then for its transportational power to beam you up. Roots became the favored term, to distinguish the righteous from the cash-in pop party sing-along singles.
Today's Romper Room o' Roots© offers five slabs of original vinyl rootier than a field of hemp, in their rare (-ish - this is the internet) original Jamaican pressings, complete with original crackles and scuffed genius cover art. Culture's Africa Stand Alone, Bunny Wailer's Blackheart Man, Heart Of The Congos, Burning Spear's Marcus Garvey and Studio One Presents. These pressings often differ significantly from later editions, and are guaranteed to impress any swivel-eyed collector scrolling through your digital content. Sigh "I had that on vinyl" in a tone of infinite regret to complete the effect.
All I ax of youse bums is to wait for th' loaddown link to appear. G'wan - take th' day off! You deserve a break, too.
ReplyDeleteVery attractive bunch of Lps/talented artists... Okay, resting my laurels for now.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteShe went of her own accord.
Boom Boom.
DeleteJakarta?
Here in the Bay Area, I had a different experience to the U.K. There had been unique one-shots: Johnny Nash's "Hold Me Tight" had a reggae beat in '68, Desmond Dekkar's incomprehensible "Israelites" in '69. But we had no idea they were connected in any way, didn't know there was this other universe of music. For me, personally...it was entirely "The Harder They Come" soundtrack, followed by the Wailers' Burnin' LP.
ReplyDeleteBy '77-'78 I was deep into punk but also Tapper Zukie, Burning Spear, Toots & the Maytals, the Heptones, Max Romeo, Aswad. I had to drive into Berkeley to buy the albums; they were not stocked at the Record Factory in Walnut Creek.
As the most amateurish of musicians, we bashed away at a reggaeified cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" that in more skillful hands might actually have sounded interesting (we put a guy who was an excellent jazz trumpet player on bass guitar, an instrument he'd never played, as we didn't want any horns. Horns were like...Chicago, and we hated Chicago. Why oh why didn't we have him play the mariachi horn part over a reggae beat? Because we lacked vision...).
To this day, though....none of my friends listen to reggae. My wife, who has a wonderfully diverse musical appreciation, tolerates it when I play it but has no real favorites (except, she says from the next room, "that Johnny Nash LP but I didn't know it was reggae, and of course, Israelites.")
I was aware of The Israelites in the UK - everybody was - but like you say it was perceived as a one-off, with no wider scene behind it (which there wasn't in '69, really). Reggae suffered from being associated with tourist party music, with cover versions that made everything sound the same.
Deletein the us, rolling stone had an amazing amount of writers that could make you crazy to hear something. i bought that marley album and it was my first hearing of certified reggae. it took me a long time to get over my disappointment. i think i was expecting something ferocious. it seemed dull and my ass could not connect to the groove. i then found a local shop (a block from my apartment} that carried lots of reggae 45s that sounded like they were recorded on old tires. those did the trick.
DeleteWithout having ever been to the UK, it looks to me that there was a large enough Jamaican immigrant community to support stocking the records and also live or sound system shows. In 1968 I had no reference point for the Beatles' "Ob La Di.." but now I can hear that McCartney had picked up on the ska beat. I've also heard that the skinhead subculture liked ska; there was no equivalent in late 60s/early 70s American pop culture.
DeleteSo it came out of nowhere, and pretty fast...all of a sudden reggae beats turned up everywhere from the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. DEPRAVOS DE LA MOUR mentions the Rolling Stone coverage; I recall some of that, but don't remember it being in the radio (I know that KSAN-FM did a very early 1973 broadcast of Marley from Sausalito's Record Plant).
And let's not forget the skinheads support of reggae, circa 1969. I've picked up quite a few Trojan lps from that time from car boot sales, notably The Upsetters, Clarendonians, Clancy Eccles, Dynamics, Rico, Tighten up Vol 1 & 2. Plus some Prince Buster. A bunch of these must have belonged to a Sunderland based skinhead, as they are covered in scribbles about Sunderland Aggro Boys and names of the Sunderland Football team players of that time.
DeleteAlthough all the music on them is available on countless cd compilations I would find it hard to part with them as the artwork is so brilliant or naff depending on your outlook.
Changing topic slightly, have you noticed how often we used to use lps as a support when writing out shopping lists, letters, scorecards for card games etc... Hold an old lp sleeve up to the light and you'll see what I mean. Good game, good game, as Brucie used to say.
Like draftervoi said, the ska revival seemed to come out of nowhere in the US. The rockabilly revival brought back a genre that was familiar to Americans (both musically and visually), but the sound and the signifiers of the ska revival were unfamiliar. How do you "revive" something that never happened on these shores?
DeleteBut it wasn't much of an obstacle. My friends and I loved the first LP's from Madness and the (English) Beat. I interviewed two members of the Beat (during their 1981 US tour with Bow Wow Wow), the same two guys who later formed the Fine Young Cannibals. They were very kind, and generous with their time.
When I was younger, I used to like the "clever Chris Blackwell sweetening" as you call it. Now, I can't stand it, and much prefer the stripped-down original versions of Bob Marley's tracks. And that Burning Spear Studio One record, reggae doesn't get any better than that. I just wish it was recorded better, but I guess that's part of its charm.
ReplyDeleteI was the same with the Chris Blackwell production, liked it at the time. Which made it (and him) clever, because white ears weren't yet ready for the real thing. Without sweetening, the album wouldn't have made Marley the virtually overnight success he became. But his music is always the last thing I want to hear when I want me some roots.
DeleteHeart of the Congos is another favorite. I fell in love with that one when the deluxe 2 CD version came out in 1996. I'm a big fan of Lee Perry's work from that era.
ReplyDeleteA favorite of mine, too.
DeleteSo is Culture's Two Sevens Clash.
Two of the best plus
DeleteAugustus Pablo : Original Rockers
And
Misty in Roots : Live at the Counter Eurovision
And
Lee Perry : Arkology
Let's not forget
DeleteThe Heptones - Cool Rasta
The Mighty Diamonds - Right Time
Jacob Miller - Who Say Jah No Dread
why has no one mentioned the Piglets?
ReplyDeleteWhat's he like, Mavis?
DeleteHe's a real tasty geezer.
DeleteI Am The Upsetter (The Story Of The Lee "Scratch" Perry Golden Years)
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/archive/NmqtXbxu
Thank 'ee!
DeleteBTW....in the world of bands that sank without a trace, Berkeley had one of the first white reggae bands, The Shakers, who managed an LP on Asylum Records in 1976. This being the future where we can just ask the Internet, here is a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gtMQkY4t4g
ReplyDeleteAlso....a detailed article on the Shakers, that again mentions The Harder They Come, Israelites, and Nash's Hold Me Tight http://marcoonthebass.blogspot.com/2009/08/american-reggae-of-1970s-80s-shakers.html
DeleteIn the UK there was Trojan Records from late 60's, then Greensleeves mid 70's, releasing a lot of Jamaican Reggae.
ReplyDeleteAlso after he left The Equals (Baby, come back) Eddie Grant set up his own Label called Torpedo (1970-75)releasing mainly English groups recording their own songs but also lots of reggae or ska versions of songs from the 60's. Eddie then went on to become a huge hit himself of course.
I quite agree about Chris Blackwell sweetening Bob Marley for a white audience, it was a great way for the music to be appreciated by all, and opened the door for countless others over the next few years. By 1980, I was able to see Aswad, Eek-A-mouse, Black Roots and Misty in Roots all in my sleepy seaside hometown.
Thanks, F. I really dig reggae!
ReplyDeleteI got similar memories when ska & reggae 'suddenly' were played on Dutch radio, it didn't do anything to me. But later at a birthday party someone played the dub version of Peter Tosh's 'Don't Look Back' which blew me away. I bought some reggae records, but it wasn't until I got my 2nd(!) CD, a 1990 Island sampler called 'Reggae Refreshers' that I got seriously hooked, still enjoy listening to it. It's follow up 'Reggae Refreshers Vol 2'is even better! So thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteI'll give these a go though the 'Roots' ethos never appealed to me much. Too much like Charlie Manson in blackface.
ReplyDeleteWell, you really lost me there, and I suspect I'm not alone.
DeleteI thought it was an odd take, and an unfair one. If anyone is interested, I can share the e-book "The First Rasta: Leonard Howell and the Rise of Rastafarianism".
DeleteShare! Share!
Deletehttps://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/334282.The_First_Rasta
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/4DaD7QeeRY2